Tag Archives: Memoir

North of Hope by Shannon Huffman Polson

By Ordinary Servant | Published May 1, 2013

Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Zondervan (April 9, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0310328764
ISBN-13: 978-0310328766
Price: $16.99
Purchase: Amazon | CBD | BN

 

 

 

 

 

 

Description

After her parents are killed in a rare grizzly attack, the author is forced into a wilderness of grief. Turning to loves she learned from her father, Polson explores the perilous terrain of grief through music, the natural world, and her faith. Her travels take her from the suburbs of Seattle to the concert hall where she sings Mozart’s Requiem, and ultimately into the wilderness of Alaska’s remote Arctic and of her heart.

This deeply moving narrative is shot through with the human search for meaning in the face of tragedy. Polson’s deep appreciation for the untamed and remote wilderness of the Alaskan Arctic moves her story effortlessly between adventure, natural history, and sacred pilgrimage, as much an internal journey as a literal one. Readers who appreciate music or adventure narratives and the natural world or who are looking for new ways to understand loss will find guidance, solace, and a companionable voice in this extraordinary debut.

Review

What could I possibly add to the wonderful description of this beautifully written book? My words are small and won’t adequately convey my true sentiments. My review will not do justice and encompass the beauty of this memoir, North of Hope.

Shannon Huffman Polson is a virtuoso. She is one of my heros. She writes with such brilliance, as she weaves her story of loss and hope. She takes you on her pilgrimage through the Alaskan Artic in search for answers. Her experiences will leave you breathless, in wonder and awe.

I love memoirs like this one, written with such depth, thoughtfulness and creativity. Besides which, Shannon Huffman Polson is an extraordinary writer.

I really enjoyed this memoir and was sad when it ended. I hope she writes more books.

I highly recommend North of Hope, it is brilliant. One of the best memoirs I have read in a long time.

Shannon Polson lives and writes in the Pacific Northwest. She was a contributing writer to More Than 85Broads, and her work has appeared in Seattle and Alaska Magazines, Cirque Journal, Adventure Magazine, and Trachodon, among others. Polson graduated with a B.A. from Duke University in English Literature, an M.B.A. from the Tuck School at Dartmouth, and an M.F.A. from Seattle Pacific University. She served eight years as an attack helicopter pilot in the Army and worked five years in corporate marketing and management roles before turning to writing full time. Polson serves on the board of the Alaska Wilderness League and sings with the critically acclaimed Seattle Pro Musica. She has looked for adventure and challenge anywhere she can find it, scuba diving, sky diving and climbing around the world, including ascents of Denali and Kilimanjaro, and completing two Ironman triathlons. She and her family enjoy backpacking, any kind of skiing, paddling, and spending as much time outdoors as they can in the Western states and Alaska. In September 2009, Polson was awarded the Trailblazer Woman of Valor award from Washington State Senator Maria Cantwell.

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Tolstoy and the Purple Chair by Nina Sankovitch

By Ordinary Servant | Published October 16, 2012

Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Harper Perennial; Reprint edition (June 19, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061999857
ISBN-13: 978-0061999857
Price: $14.99
Purchase: Amazon | BN

 

 

 

 

 


Description

Caught up in grief after the death of her sister, Nina Sankovitch decided to stop running and start reading. For once in her life she would put all other obligations on hold and devote herself to reading a book a day: one year of magical reading in which she found joy, healing, and wisdom.

With grace and deep insight, Sankovitch weaves together poignant family memories with the unforgettable lives of the characters she reads about. She finds a lesson in each book, ultimately realizing the ability of a good story to console, inspire, and open our lives to new places and experiences. A moving story of recovery, Tolstoy and the Purple Chair is also a resonant reminder of the all-encompassing power and delight of reading.

Review

Have you ever fell in love with a book? Well, I fell in love with Tolstoy and the Purple Chair. I did not want this book to end. As a matter of fact, I even stalled to finish it.

Nina Sankovitch is a beautiful writer. Every page of this book spoke to my heart. I will forever remember this exquisite and graceful memoir.

This memoir is about how Nina Sankovitch dealt with the untimely death of her sister Anne-Marie. She decided to read one book a day for an entire year. She did this as a way to grieve and heal.

Now, for a old bibliophile like me, this equates to heaven. I couldn’t help but live vicariously through this inspiring memoir.

Tolstoy and the Purple Chair begins with the stark reality of Anne-Marie’s illness and all that it encompasses. I felt as if my heart was going to burst from sorrow. I was in tears and felt everything Nina Sankovitch described. If I could have jumped into the pages to console her and her family, I would have.

I was grateful for Nina Sankovitch’s generosity in writing this poignant and transparent memoir. I felt as if I was walking alongside her on a beach and listening to the twists and turns of her life, her story. She really won my heart.

I enjoyed the progression of this memoir; the richness, nuances and color. There is beauty exuding from each page. Each chapter brought insight, wisdom and meaning.

The following quote encapsulates this memoir for me:

“I was ready–ready to sit down in my purple chair and read. For years, books had offered to me a window into how other people deal with life, its sorrows and joys and monotonies and frustrations. I would look there again for empathy, guidance, fellowship, and experience. Books would give me all that, and more.” (Page 31)

I wholeheartedly agree, books do that for me too. Nina Sankovitch and I are kindred spirits for sure.

I highly recommend Tolstoy and the Purple Chair. I do hope Nina Sankovitch writes another book because I definitely want to read it.

In conclusion, I want to thank Regina Eckes of HarperCollins who generously sent me a complimentary copy of this book to review.

Nina Sankovitch launched ReadAllDay.org in 2008, and at the end of her reading, she was profiled in the New York Times. She continues to review books on ReadAllDay.org and for the Huffington Post. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and four sons.

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Book Review: Faith and Other Flat Tires

By Ordinary Servant | Published July 10, 2012

Faith and Other Flat Tires

by Andrea Palpant Dilley
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Zondervan (February 6, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10:031032551X
ISBN-13: 978-0310325512
Price: $14.99
Purchase: Amazon | BN | CBD

Sample Chapter

Description

At age twenty-one, Andrea Palpant Dilley stripped the Christian fish decal off her car bumper in a symbolic act of departure from her religious childhood. At twenty-three, she left the church and went searching for refuge in the company of men who left her lonely and friends who pushed the boundaries of what she once held sacred.

In this deeply personal memoir, Andrea navigates the doubts that plague believers and skeptics alike: Why does a good God allow suffering? Why is God so silent, distant, and uninvolved? And why does the church seem so dysfunctional?

Yet amid her skepticism, she begins to ask new questions: Could doubting be a form of faith? Might our doubts be a longing for God that leads to a faith we can ultimately live with?

Review

Faith and Other Flat Tires is as unique as its title. The subheading reads, “searching for God on the rough road of doubt”.

I have a penchant for memoirs, and this one was especially captivating.

Andrea Palpant Dilley was the daughter to Quaker missionaries who served in Kenya most of her childhood.  She had grown accustomed to living in Africa, that when she returned to the States, she had difficulty assimilating into the American culture.

While living in Africa as a child, Andrea Palpant Dilley was exposed to a great deal of suffering and death.  Those early experiences planted a seed which then germinated into doubt and her crisis of faith.

As we traverse this earth, sooner or later, we will face doubt.  We will wrestle, as Jacob did, with an invisible God, we can’t see or touch. Doubt will inevitably be our companion or foe on this sojourn.

The following excerpt encompasses the beauty and brilliance of this thoughtful, philosophical and superbly written memoir:

To me, longing for God was like hearing music from an open window on the street or seeing mountains off in the distance. The yearning felt almost like grief.  A cry born into my heart before the human heart ever existed. A desire so deep and far back that it seemed almost prehistoric. I sensed the imago Dei, the image of God within me. I was Plato’s child searching for the lost language of my origins. I was a homing bird traveling with my outspread wings, carried by the innate compass and crossing a thousand miles to get back to the place where I began. (Page 235)

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Faith and Other Flat Tires and highly recommend it to adults who are struggling with faith and doubt.

In conclusion, I want to thank Zondervan and Handlebar Marketing for sending me a complimentary copy of this book to read and review.

Author

Andrea Palpant Dilley grew up in Kenya as the daughter of Quaker missionaries and spent the rest of her childhood in the Pacific Northwest. She studied English literature and writing at Whitworth University. Her work as a writer has appeared in Rock and Sling, Geez, and Utne Reader, as well as the anthology Jesus Girls: True Tales of Growing Up Female and Evangelical. Her work as a documentary producer has aired nationally on American Public Television. She lives with her husband and daughter in Austin, Texas.

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