Loved the story of these women, their friendship, and the way they supported each other. I want to join their circle and go out on the porch in my tackiest prom dress on the night of the Splendor Belle Gala and share a toast with them!

Annie Jones paints a delightful picture of a Southern town and the eclectic, or rather eccentric, group of women who have become friends rather unexpectedly. She uses humor and humanity to tell the story of how these women face the biggest challenges of their lives and overcome those with the help of their friends, God and their own inner strength. If you've never read Jones you don't know what you're missing and don't miss the prequel to Saving Grace!

In the midst of a non-stop barrage of fearfull news, and tragedy upon tragedy, it is most helpful to be able to refresh one's spirit, one's soul. This book provides a soul-restoring breather and more. With its live examples, and helpful instructions about how to find reasons for gratitude, and how to share, I feel calmer, with a renewed sense of optimism. This is no preachy text. Yet clearly it is inspired by a pair of lives lived with a strong sense of the eternal. I find comfort and guidance in their stories and lessons.

Now, my task is to try to limit the number of friends to whom I will send the book. So many of us need the encouragement, need the sense of wonder that courses through this work. I am grateful for its appearance in my hands, for its messages in my life.

Read, enjoy, follow...

I don't know about you, but I've been pretty cynical the last couple of years. Watching TV has become almost intolerable. The economy ..., world peace seems like a ridiculously impossible dream, and the environment is paying the price of the money-mongers in charge of most governments. This book helped me see the rainbow in the middle of the storm. SEASONS OF GRACE showed me how that just being alive is a miraculous gift. Being grateful does not mean just sitting back and taking whatever those "in charge" will try to fob off on us -- it means being mindful and practicing gratitude for the gifts we have been given, while we mobilize to change the world for the better. Money-mongers, watch out.

In Seasons Under the Son, Tim Wesemann undergirds his readers with stories of God's Grace in his life and the life of others. You'll discover the courage of a death row inmate who finds Christ, laments his sin and longs to set things straight. You'll delight in God's grace that protected a post operative baby in a massive pile up on a snowy highway in a circle of indemnity.

But you'll also benefit from watching Tim interact with these and other people and see how their faith journey affects his. This book touched my soul. I'm a better person because I read it.

This is one of the best books I've ever read! Tim Wesemann has a unique writing style that helps me to apply spiritual truths into my daily life. His words touch me deeply because of his refreshing honesty and need for God in his life. He also desires a deeper relationship with Jesus as his Savior and his love for Jesus is shared authentically through the writings of this book. Jesus' story is one worth telling and these words do so in a powerful way. I'd highly recommend it to Max Lucado, John Ortberg, and Walt Wangerin ("Ragman") fans. I doubt you'd be disappointed. Buy two ... one to keep and return to again and again. Enrich someone's spiritual life and give the other away. Check out his website at ...and find out what Rene Gutteridge, Karen Kingsbury, Gayle Roper, and James Scott Bell say about it, too!

Shaken & Stirred is like a huge marketplace where one can walk through and pick into the basket of their soul the poetry that best suits their own world.

This is a collection with great potential and one to which a reader of modern poetry will want to come back for inspiration, again and again.

Opening poet PF Allen uses idyllic imagery combined with modern thought: "Four syllable word martinis and tiffany lamps". Here the reader will find echoes of their own everyday life. Allen's poetry is surreal and humorous, as with the poem Jesus Christ, Roy and Ted at 7 Eleven and her experience is easily discernible in the obvious care taken over every line that is committed to the page.

Donna Biffar's poetry is mature and precise. Anyone who appreciates the work of Carol Ann Duffy or Selima Hill will be drawn to Biffar. Her lines depict images of growing up, loving, and travelling through emotional maturation. Such poetry, it seems, is best written by women poets-as the feelings exposed are very specific and real.

Heather Grace, the editor of this collection, is perhaps the poet who exhibits the greatest love of life. Her poems are filled with a deep inner passion for the most ordinary things. Not every poet can express this. Grace successfully makes a poem become a short film where everything can be imagined just the way the author wants us to see them. In a Café and Afternoons show this with clarity. Her best afternoons are "shaken and stirred" with imagination, just like this collection. Although she sometimes finds it hard to escape the obvious topics, such as the September 11 tragedy, Heather still reflects these topics in a much different light than an ocean of other poets would, and do. However, the main thing is-the passion is always there, even in a cup of coffee.

Jan Oskar Hansen is the only poet who gives Shaken 'a non-English language' cultural angle. Although he writes in English, he has not lost the Nordic sentiment. Even in his brief interview he admits to the strong influences of Scandinavian literature, old and new. His poetry is concise and wise. The wisdom is revealed in poems Serenity - Their whisper is a gentle ripple/against the strand of time... and in others like Portrait and Homecoming, whilst the beauty of metaphors is expressed in August and Town in Italy. Hansen uses no unnecessary words.

The poetry of Dazz Jackson is filled with political influences and arguments where the poet uses language to display cries for freedom, racial equality, human understanding. Such themes dominate the work of many poets, but rarely do they do so with a compassion to match Jackson's.

A few stolen kisses, the beer unleashing/all sensibility and with it a truth/consuming... Truth and the hunger for it, in poetry and life, is the dominant feeling one gets after reading Athena Karnesis's poem Truth, a theme repeated in poems 1947 and Nightly Judgement. Life memories are beautifully displayed for all to bite on in The Dance and Mother's Hands, but it is the cunning use of adjectives and metaphors that makes Athena's poems so readable.

'A modern Emily Dickinson' is probably the closest description of Lyn Lifshin. Her works are mature, exact, often sharp. This is a female sharpness, one of matriarchal images, daughters, the Madonna. Uncommonly, Lifshin often becomes cold in places where one expects warmth. Conversely, she boils with passion in places where someone else (read less experienced poet) would come across as common and plain. And that unpredictability is absolute splendour as used here.

Dr. Maiti uses imagery of snow, sand, sky to express his adoration for the beauty of the Asian landscape but his poems are equally filled with love of existential feeling. Calcutta is the Mecca of his poetry. The multicoloured days and streets are a stage set up for philosophical thinking.

The Scottish poet, Hugh McCracken, is unlike anyone in this collection. He runs with a Henry Miller-like hunger through cafés, concentration camps, passages of time, religion, even aliens. His poetry is the most varied in choice of topics and shows true originality. Even when one looks carefully and deeply, one cannot find strong influences of almost any poet in McCracken. He truly speaks with language of his own.

Andrew J. Muller is the most mysterious poet. Obviously influenced by landscapes and travel, his poetry voyages through emotions like a Fenland train. Using rhyme in poetry can often cause predictability and vagueness, but Muller uses rhyme cunningly, and thus avoids taking the reader on an already familiar journey through clichéd language.

The most gentle poetry comes from the Argentine born Carmen Ruggero. Although she is represented with only four poems, she reflects warmth and sincerity through and through. The poem for her daughter shows motherly love, whilst poems The House that Floyd Built and The Passage express cosiness and homely sentiment.

Aspects of modern life and classical poetry influence Wynn Wheldon's work. He is a family man even in poetry (or perhaps he sees poetry as his own family), but the family in his mind is more than sacred. Not just plain and simple love, but the adoration of family life and actions are easily spotted in his work. His language and standpoint is both ironic and witty, and this gives real joy to the reader.

Although David Whippman's poems are quite narrative, they are at the same time analytical, especially of relationships. Different Myths and Relationships in a Landscape mirror the affiliation of two souls. I hate the way the clock cuts time... the opening line of Time Piece is one of the most memorable. It perhaps sums up the aspect of time and expression as the two dimensions in which poetry resides. It certainly explains the way Whippman writes his work.

This anthology features thirteen up and coming poets from all over the globe. Two of my favorite mid-western USA poets - Donna Biffer and PF Allen are well represented. Heather Grace has selected a group of poems that play off each other so well that the blending of these separate voices into one volume amplifies their song.

I like seeing the work of poets I am familiar with in this anthology - letting me explore new work and new poets along side familiar friends like the haunting "In Stings" by PF Allen. This anthology is definitely a must have for anyone who is interested in keeping abreast of next great wave of poetic voices.

These new voices include:

PF Allen, Donna Biffar, Heather Grace, Jan Oskar Hansen, Dazz Jackson, Athena Karnesis, Lyn Lifshin, Prasenjit Maiti, Hugh McCracken, Andrew J. Muller, Wynn Wheldon, and David Whippman

This book helped get me out of a legalistic group that was draining every bit of life out of me. It brings the love of Jesus into sharpest focus. Before reading this book, I could not love God because I dreaded Him far too much. Read this book, it will change your life! Jesus loves you, and if you trust in Him, you "Shall Never Perish."

I love this book. It teaches the reader not only about the Eternal Security of a believer but also about the Salvation of Jesus Christ. Be prepared to be amazed! This is a must for anyone seeking God!

As an experienced psychologist working from a collaborative framework with eating and dissociative disorders, I was delighted to find Shared Grace. It has a wealth of information and makes a unique contribution to understanding several aspects of healing. The book describes two parallel journeys. From the beginning, we are introduced to Teresa, a woman who has endured a life of incredible sadism, abuse, neglect, hatred and pain. To cope with her suffering, she has developed DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder,) formerly known as MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder). Developing many "parts" of herself has allowed her to cope, protect herself and survive a life of horrifying abuse. Her complex healing journey is one centerpiece of the book.

Parallel and interwoven with Teresa's story, is the story professional collaboration between Dr. Marion Billich, a Jewish psychologist, Steven Carlson, a Christian minister and Susan Bonfiglio, a social worker. Together, these three special human beings developed a collaborative approach in working with her towards healing. Based on their shared belief that the core of healing is developing the capacity to love, they help Teresa deepen her spiritual relationship to each of them, God and the universe. They grow with Teresa and from their work with one another

Shared Grace presesnts a broad theoretical framework for understanding the importance of spirituality and love as the basic ingredients of healing. The authors draw from religious, spiritual and therapeutic experts. The book is especially useful in several ways. In one chapter, it offers hands-on, concrete suggestions regarding creating a collaborative professional relationship. In another chapter, the authors delineate a wide variety of techniques that bridge the gap between psychotherapy and spirituality and are appropriate for therapist, minister or both.

When I finished reading the book, I was reminded of the closing line from the film Shindler's List, "If you save the one life, you save the world." If Teresa's story is a testament to the resiliency of the human spirit, the story of Bilich, Bonfiglio and Carlson is a testament to the power of collaboration. As a psychologist with years of collaborative experience, I learned a lot. Shared Grace is a book I will turn to over and over--it is inspiring, uplifting and educative.

As a social worker I appreciate the professional message of Shared Grace--that our work as mental health professionals is enhanced immeasurably by working collaboratively with clergy--and that through that work we can bring a spiritual dimension into our clients' healing. As a human being, I was touched by the story of Teresa, a woman with multiple personalities, whose story is told throughout the book. The description of the collaboration of her therapist and her pastor and how all were affected by that work together was poignant and meaningful. I especially appreciated how each member of the collaboration spoke in his or her own voice, including one of Teresa's personalities, Justin. The book is practical, clinical, and spiritually satisfying all at the same time. This is one book I intend to read over again.

Amory is living with her worldly family, and not liking it very well. Then she meets Gareth, and falls for him in a short time. He leaves for a flying stunt, and then something happens to Gareth...

One of my all-time favorite books

All of Lowen's books are a MUST for anyone interested in health, freedom and emotional vitality, but The Spirtualiity of the Body is for me his greatest. I consider it one of the most important books of the 20th century. This may sound overblown, but if you really understand this book it will transform your life. It offers real solutions to a deteriorating society. Lowen's writing style reaches its most beautiful level of clarity and cleanness in this wonderful addition to his amazing series of books.

This latest of Lowen's books revisits the theme he covered earlier in "Depression and the Body," by with the added benefit of many more years of therapeutic practice. This book is another small miracle for those interested in the life and emotions of the human body -- I have begun to follow the exercises Lowen recommends, with very positive results. The only drawback of the book is the deep sadness reading it engendered -- the sadness in realizing just how much of the precious life given us is lost or suppressed. You will come away from this book with new eyes (albeit sad ones) for modern society and its manic pace. In terms of a physiological spirituality, Lowen takes time to look at bodily grace in spiritual terms. This is a form of "faith" that even atheistic athletes can appreciate, because it is so well grounded. The book proceeds by examining some of the body metaphors that we use in our culture (eg., "The eyes are the windows to the soul."), and expanding upon the kernel of truth that is found there. So, this book is also about language, how we use it, and what it means. I highly recommend this book, as well as the other Lowen books, for anyone interested in the mind-body link, the meaning of psychological and physiological well-being, and the role of spirituality and faith in maintaining health and vitality. Glen

I picked up this book quite by accident, having been recommended to another Williams, or, perhaps, another Joy. Frustrated, I glanced at the first page, and, finding it not repellent, read a bit more. The next thing I knew, I was immersed in something extraordinary and rare. It's amazing--and depressing--that a book like this can exist, no longer heralded, buried on a shelf in a bookstore where a handful of people might discover it by accident. About the book there is little to say that can adequately describe what it's like, except that it's like plunging into the soul of a very particular young woman.

One of my all time favorites! I've written graduate essays on the book and always list it as being a major influence on my own writing. Joy Williams is one of the few authors who can describe the world's craziness and how we live in it.

This book made me laugh (I loved the author's "mental notes") and it made me cry (little Christian's teeth marks)! It opened my eyes to realize that God's grace and mercy are gifts worth sharing with all of my friends and acquaintances, and gifts not to be taken for granted. This book shows how God is with us in every rise and every fall in our lives, and how He is beside us even when we don't realize it. Thank you Sheila for a great book! (please note: I read it straight through...I just couldn't put it down!)

My wife recommended that I read this book, stating that she thought every one should. I was hesitant at first, but after laughing and then crying my way through it, I believe she's right. Everyone should. I was deeply touched and reminded again of the importance of all the relationships around me, not just the one's that make me feel good. Of the need to look below the surface to find the true person. Thanks to God for using Eleanor and Sheila to remind me of what is really important in life - others.