Words from the Heart

This week, I have the pleasure of sharing with you a new book, The Last Conception that I found captivating as well as enlightening.  The Last Conception   surprised me in that it kept me glued to the computer screen.  Right in the middle of reading it, my computer crashed.  You know that feeling you get when you are all wrapped in a great episode of your favorite series, like Dr. Who and suddenly the credits start rolling before things are resolved?  Well, that was me a few weeks ago when the computer crashed and I had to wait to upload the book again. Anyway, fellow educator and writer, Gabriel Constans , the author of this book has been so patient with me.  He has also been most gracious in answering a few questions I had when I first started reading his story about a young, professional woman from the East Indian culture, who finds herself in the middle of Major - with a capital M! - life choices.   ~~~~~~ Gabriel, how did you co...

I don't often review books, mainly because I think people should read books and decide whether they are relevant to them rather than taking the word of someone else.  However, I am making an exception with Beyond Belief: The Secret Lives of Women in Extreme Religions, an anthology of stories by women from a wide and diverse range of religious communities.  I learned of this book through Women on Writing , who are sponsoring the Beyond Belief Blog Tour. The first thing that hit me was the use of the word extreme.  What, I thought, was an "extreme" religion?  As an interfaith minister, I had some ideas, but like most judgements, they were my own personal feelings.  So, I delved into the introduction to the book written by the editors, Susan Tive and Cami Ostman.   Susan and Cami tell the readers in their introduction about how "women living life inside extreme religions have much in common despite their differences of practice and belief." ...