Book Review: Women Food and God

Have you ever read a book that articulated something you have been thinking - or feeling - in a way that finally clicked...you know, gave you that "AH-HA!" moment that you have been waiting for?!  Well, I just finished reading exactly that kind of book, and I am looking forward to sharing it with you today.  The book is Women Food and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything by Geneen Roth.

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No matter how sophisticated or wealthy or broke or enlightened you are, how you eat tells all. 

After three decades of studying, teaching and writing about our compulsions with food, bestselling author Geneen Roth adds a powerful new dimension to her work in Women Food and God.  She begins with her most basic concept: The way you eat is inseparable from your core beliefs about being alive.  Your relationships with food is an exact mirror of your feelings about love, fear, anger, meaning, transformation, and, yes, even God. 

A timeless and seminal work, Women Food and God shows how going beyond the food and the feelings takes you deeper into realms of spirit and soul - to the bright center of your own life.

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Yes, back in 2010, Oprah Winfrey had Roth on her show.  In fact, after reading Roth's book, Oprah vowed that she was through with dieting - forever - as in, never again.  I don't know about you, but if something as simple as a book could get Oprah off of her decades-long diet rollercoaster, well then, I'm intrigued.  After reading the book myself, I can understand Oprah's reaction.  Practically every other page of my copy is dog-eared, lines upon lines of Roth's words are underlined, and the margins are covered with my written reflections, reactions, and responses.

If you struggle with body image, disordered eating, or a full-blown eating disorder, this book is a life-changer.

Roth says, "every single person has a shtick with food and therefore everyone should read this book." 

The take-away is this, whoever you are, READ. THIS. BOOK.

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Just in case you aren't convinced, here is a L-O-N-G list of my favorite quotes from the book.  If these quotes don't perk your interest, well then, I give up.  Here goes:

• About God - "And I believe in love.  And beauty.  I believe that every single person has something they find beautiful and that they truly love...And I believe that if you follow this love all the way to its end, if you start with the thing you find most beautiful and trace its perfume back to its essence, you will perceive an intangible presence, a swath of stillness that allows the thing you love to be visible like the openness of the sky reveals the presence of the moon." (Pg. 25)

• Ending the War - "But fixing ourselves is not the same as being ourselves...The relentless attempts to be thin take you further and further away from what could actually end your suffering: getting back in touch with who you really are.  Your true nature.  Your essence." (Pg. 32-33)

• Beyond What's Broken - "Realize that brokenness is learned, not innate, and that [your] work is to find [your] way back to what is already whole. " (Pg. 65)

• Breath by Breath - "The problem isn't that we have bodies; the problem is that we're not living in them...Change happens not by hatred but by love.  Change happens when you understand what you want to change so deeply that there is no reason to do anything but act in your own best interest.  When you begin to inhabit your body from the inside." (Pg. 120-121)

• Being Hot Fudge Sundaes - "It's never been true, not anywhere at any time, that the value of a soul, of a human spirit, is dependent on a number on a scale.  We are unrepeatable beings of light and space and water who need these physical vehicles to get around   When we start defining ourselves by that which can be measured or weighed, something deep within us rebels." (Pg. 174)

• Breath by Breath - "There is no way back to the body; the body is the way.  You leave and then you return.  Leave and return.  You forget and then you remember.  Forget. Remember.  One breath and then another.  One step and then another...And it doesn't matter how long you've been gone; what matters is that you've returned...Soon you begin wondering where you've been all this time.  How you wandered so far.  And you realize that torture isn't having these arms or these legs; it's being so convinced that God is out there, in another place, another realm, that you miss the lavender slip of moon, your own awakened presence." (Pg. 125)

Question of the Day:

Have you ever read a book that said something in a way that you had an "AH-HA!" moment?  If so, I would love to hear all about it in the "Comment" section below!

Blessings,
Ally and Bo

Book Review: The Night Circus

Since early September, I've been suffering from a SERIOUS "book hangover." The culprit, of course, was Tiger's Destiny (The Tiger's Curse Series: Book 4).

And that's the problem with a really good book.  

Inevitably, that really good book makes it incredibly hard to find another book that grabs your attention and makes you want to read again.  With that said, over the last month I have picked up no short of half a dozen different books, only to put them down again after reading the first 20-30 pages.  They just weren't good enough to follow-up Tiger's Destiny.

Until now.

I just finished The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and it was AWE-some!  I think the fact that it falls into the "fantasy fiction" genre didn't hurt either.  That certainly helped it's case in following up one of the books from my favorite series of all time (of course, I'm talking about the one and only Tiger's Curse Series).  So, without any further ado, here's a synopsis of this newly released must-read!

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Synopsis:

The circus arrives without warning.  No announcements precede it.  It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.  Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements.  It is called Le Cirque des Reves, and it is only open at night. 

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors.  Unbeknownst to them both, this is a game in which only one can be left standing.  Despite the high stakes, Celia and Marco soon tumble headfirst into love, setting off a domino effect of dangerous consequences, and leaving the lives of everyone, from the performers to the patrons, hanging in the balance.

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Review:

Pros:

For fans of The Time Traveler's Wife and The Tiger's Wife, The Night Circus will be an automatic hit.  Much like The Time Traveler's Wife, the novel jumps back and forth through place and time during the 19th century, "and that dislocation mirrors the magic afoot in the circus tents.  Points of views shift, narration and tangential vignettes occur, and the short chapters are more cinematic in their pacing than literary." (Source)  If you like novels that jump around while narrating from different times and perspectives, well then, Morgenstern's book will be right up your alley!

If you are drawn to stories rich in detail, background, and description (much like The Tiger's Wife), then the telling of The Night Circus' decades-long duel will be a perfect fit for your reading pleasure.  Uniquely, the duel is not punctuated "with wands or light sabers - but via [Celia and Marco's] heartfelt creations and manipulations - a maze of clouds, an ice garden, a living carousel.  They one-up each other until they fall madly in love. (Source)

Cons:

The Night Circus is a relatively slow read.  Much of the book is constituted by elaborate descriptions of the circus and its main characters; and if for no other reason, that means that this book is a perfect fit for some readers and a total misfit for others.  If you are a reader that craves action and dialogue, well then, The Night Circus might not be the book for you.  However, if you appreciate descriptive narrative and enjoy learning about what's going on in the hearts and minds of a stories' protagonists, then this book should be a perfect fit!

Finally, some of the books biggest potential questions are left unanswered...untapped...undiscovered.  In some ways, I am inclined to say that Morgenstern played it a little too safe.  So many of the questions related to love and loss are left untouched.  I was left wondering - or rather, having to figure out on my own - how two orphaned children that were raised without love or affection could so naturally have the ability to love one another.  Is love innate?  Is it learned?  How are children that were unloved for so long inherently able to love one another so perfectly?

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Regardless, in the end I was happy to have read The Night Circus.  It was fun.  It was beautiful.  It was a love story...albeit an imperfect one.  And, thankfully, at the end of the day, it pulled me out of an almost month-long "book hangover"!

Question of the Day:

What's the best book you have read recently?  I NEED suggestions!

Blessings,
Ally and Bo

Book Review: The Dovekeepers

I have already told you that a dear friend sent me The Dovekeepers as a gift.  At the time - when I told you that the book was so "passionately magical" that I was trying to read it slowly, savoring every page, and enjoying Alice Hoffman's narrative voice - I didn't realize that I would come to write this review as a changed reader.

In every reader's life there is a book - perhaps two or three - but rarely more than half a dozen, that forever alter the experience of reading a novel.  Alice Hoffman's The Dovekeepers was the third novel in my life to do just that.

Note: Just in case you are wondering, Wurthering Heights by Emily Bronte was the first, and The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion was the second.

Through its pages I felt wonder, pride, and such an intense sorrow that I even shed a few tears (which makes The Dovekeepers only the second novel to have made me cry...Didion's Magical Thinking was the first).

Synopsis:

Nearly two thousand years ago, nine hundred Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on Masada, a mountain in the Judean desert.  According to the ancient historian Josephus, two women and five children survived.  Based on this tragic and iconic event, Hoffman's novel is a spellbinding tale of four extraordinarily bold, resourceful, and sensuous women, each of whom has come to Masada by a different path.  Yael's mother died in childbirth, and her father, an expert assassin, never forgave her for that death.  Revka, a village baker's wife, watched the murder of her daughter by Roman soldiers; she brings to Masada her young grandsons, rendered mute by what they have witnessed.  Aziza is a warrior's daughter, raised as a boy, a fearless rider and expert marksman who finds passion with a fellow soldier.  Shirah, born in Alexandria, is wise in the ways of ancient magic and medicine, a woman with uncanny insight and power. 

The lives of these four complex and fiercely independent women intersect in the desperate days of the siege.  All are dovekeepers, and all are also keeping secrets - about who they are, where they come from, who fathered them, and whom they love.

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Review:

Books are like food in the sense that everyone has slightly different taste buds.  So, while I found The Dovekeepers to be an enormously rewarding and engaging novel, I don't expect my review to convince everyone that Hoffman's novel is a "must-read".  Obviously, I am not a professional book critic.  My review will not be particularly academic or over-analytical.  Instead, my review is based off of the fact that I read for enjoyment - and sometimes to learn a thing or two - and in regards to that criteria, The Dovekeepers was outright phenomenal!

I am not a huge history buff, nor do I particularly enjoy reading historical books, but I did learn tid-bits about the battle at Masada in college, and I always had a vague curiosity about what really happened.  Obviously, Hoffman's telling isn't necessarily the "real story," but while it might not be 100% real, it is most certainly compelling in the most beautiful of ways.

Perhaps unexpectedly, Hoffman's "creative path into Masada is from the ground up: not through its generals and warriors, but through its mother, daughters, and wives." (Source)  While the story unfolds through the voices of four distinct narrators, I found myself being entranced by Yael (the first of them), only to be further entranced by Revka (the second), and then Aziza (the third), and finally Shirah (the fourth).  By the end of the novel, the four, distinct, narrative voices blended together in a single voice saying: "Let my burden be your burden, and yours be mine." (Source)

The Dovekeepers is not for the frail of heart, or the reader that only enjoys a lighthearted tale.  It is beautifully raw and incredibly emotional (at least for me) to read.  Reading it is an exercise in dichotomy, for it left me feeling both heavy and light, depressed and hopeful.

In the end, it left me contemplating persecution.  

As Jennifer Raymant - a goodreads reviewer - wrote, "the persectution of Jews over and over again just completely baffles me.  They truly are one of the most formidable, strong, and resilient race the world has ever seen."  After all, "we are all souls anyway, aren't we?  Here to learn.  Here to grow.  Let us see each other as souls. Let us bounce around in the imperfection of our soul bodies, dancing in their pure light way, on this dense earth planet." 

So what's my thesis?!

It's simple really:

The Dovekeepers is elegant.

It is graceful and intelligent.

It is haunting.

It is devastatingly tragic.

It is beautiful.

READ IT.

Question of the Day:

Have you ever read a book that made you cry?  If so, which one was it...I might want to put it on my reading list!

Blessings,
Ally and Bo

Reading vs. Listening: Is listening to an audio book REALLY reading?

Recently, I have started listening to quite a few audio books.  Since the studio that I co-direct is approximately a 30 minute drive away, I do a lot of driving.  Once I add in my regular errands, I can easily listen to a complete audio book every one or two weeks.  In fact, over the last couple of months I have "read" five Diana Gabaldon novels, including:

• Dragonfly in Amber;
• Voyager;
• Drums of Autumn;
• The Fiery Cross; and
• A Breath of Snow and Ashes.

You might recognize Gabaldon's name because I did a book review of the first book in her series, Outlander.  You might also remember that Outlander is a 625+ page treatise novel, and was the shortest novel in Gabaldon's series!  Truth be told, the size of her novels is actually what led me to "reading" the subsequent installations in audio book form.  

And it has really worked for me!  

Honestly, without the audio books, I don't think that I would have had the time - not to mention the dedication - to read the five (now six) additional novels in the Outlander series.  As much as I would have liked to, the truth is that I just don't have that many hours in my day to dedicate to sitting on the couch reading.

So here's the conundrum: 

While the purist bookworm in me says that my recent infatuation with audio books makes me a cheat, a phony, a poser, a hypocrite, and an outright charlatan, the realist in me says that I am simply fitting my love of reading into the difficult reality of a busy life.

Even more to the point:

Can I really even call what I listen to in the car "reading"?

To help me answer that question, I did a little a lot of research, and here are a few things that I learned:

• Research that predates CD's suggests that reading and listening are strikingly similar cognitive processes.  For example, a 1985 study found listening comprehension correlated strongly with reading comprehension - suggesting that those who read books well would listen to them well, also. (Source) 
• In a 1977 study, college students who listened to a short story were able to summarize it with equal accuracy as those who read it. (Source)
• Language comprehension and production evolved in connection with HEARING probably 150,000 years ago, and to some extent is "hard-wired." (Source)
• Writing is 5,000-7,000 years old - partially piggybacking on the same circuits as hearing.  So, it's possible that LISTENING to speech is more spontaneously comprehensible and linked to emotion brain center - hence more evocative and natural. (Source)
• On the other hand, reading allows you to pause and reflect and go back to do a second take. (Source)

As for me, I agree with John Colapinto from The New Yorker because I, too, have "discovered that audio books are (among other things) an ideal way to get to know a work that [I couldn't], for whatever occult reason, bring [myself] to read in book form."

But, even with that said, the purist bookworm in me is still a little skeptical.

As Jenni Laidman from the Chicago Tribune writes:

Still, more than 100 audio books later, I remain on the fence between reading and listening.  Audio books are good.  They're enjoyable.  They're wonderfully efficient.  But I wonder if the audio book experience is quite as full and as nuanced as reading.  Is the world I create as a listener as rich as the one I form as a reader?  Then again, there's [the audio book reader} and the intimacy of a performance even more personal than reading and more original than I would have conjured.  I cannot decide.

And if a professional reader and writer cannot decide, then why should I?!

Next up - an awesome recipe that I am SO excited to share with you all!  If you've been craving something with an Asian flare, you won't want to miss out on this one!

Question of the Day:


Have you ever listened to a book on tape?  If so, what was your experience?  Did you like it as well as reading a book in the traditional manner?  Did you like it better?  Did you feel like you were actually "reading"?


Tell me all about it in the "Comment" section below! :)

Blessings,
Ally and Bo