Kathleen Norris has captured those moments when the questions and the search come into contact with the Living God in unlikely and serindipitous ways. "Imperatives" is succinct, glorious and the essence of Christian belief.

Her theology is pure, concise and completely without "party line" interference. "Lovers with Pizza" and "She Said Yeah" among others validate those "God moments" which are profound and true, but don't quite seem to fit with what we've learned in church.

this is one of my favorite books! full of mystery and romance! a must read!

Those who are interested in taking a thoughtful look at how to nurture their spiritual lives by incorporating monastic values into their lives will find this book helpful. Unlike many popular writers who speak of the monastic journey even though they themselves do not live it, Mother Gail is a real pro. She obviously knows what she is talking about since she is the abbess of a cloistered community of monastic women. Her book is a beautiful collection of insights into what it means to seek God by paying attention to how He is present in our lives -- through each season of the year. This book is highly recommended.

If you've ever been to Yosemite National Park or are thinking about going, this book will appeal to you. It was given to me as a gift when I moved from the Yosemite area and all I have to do is open one page to be transported back to the "Valley of Thunder".

I chose the title of this book review for my website long before I knew how poignant the words would be. Even though I'm enjoying my new geographical location, the book helps to fill those moments of nostalgia.

Ann Zwinger's well-written text is evocative of my every Yosemite memory and Kathleen Norris Cook's breathtaking photography truly does justice to the magnificent scenery to be found in the Park.

If you're able to find a copy and purchase it, don't just put it on your coffee table, read it!

I have anticipated this newest edition of "Sunset" for several years, and find it to be all that I have hoped it COULD be. As a nurseryperson fully aware of all the newer cultivars being made readily available to the public, I am very pleased to see that Sunset has obviously consulted with growers and distributors in order to provide information on many new genus and species available to the consumer. This newest edition contains a beautifully done introduction which defines gardening IN TANDEM with Nature in very inspiring form, complete with tantalizing photographs. The Plant Encyclodpedia now includes color in its renderings of plants, in addition to listing many "new" cultivars and charts for plant families with many cultivars. The special Guide to Plant Selection has been re-done beautifully with valuable enhancements to the previous edition. The re-worked Practical Guide to Gardening at the back has been done in a very comprehensive manner, providing many wonderful charts and graphics which "teach" effectively. No matter how many previous editions of Sunset you might own, adding this Millenium edition is well worth the investment. With this newest edition, it seems Sunset has finally caught up with the gardening times!

Buy the hardback version because this book will get your fingers walking frequently. The first book I reach for and often the only one I need. For me it is particularly helpful for desert plant selection and descriptions, but any western gardner will find a wealth of information. There are 24 sections on plant selection for specific needs and situations including shade, color, site, fragrance, native, season, foliage, compatibility, birds/butterflies, and others. Color plates accompany many of the selections along with growing requirments. Double index of gardening topics and common/scientific names. Excellent sketches of 6000 individual plants with similar family members. Much peripheral info such as how to read scientific names, pest problems/solutions, resourses, fine tuning of climatic zones. This is a fine reference book. An excellent source for new and experienced gardners.

If you could only have one garden book and you live in the west, this is the one to choose. It is an absolutely indispensable tool for the novice and master gardener alike. Any question regarding a particular plant can usually be answered quickly and easily through this resource. As editor Kathleen N. Brenzel states in the dedication, "This book remains a no-nonsense garden guide for Westerners, built upon the rich legacy of previous editions." It is a guide designed purposely to bring gardening in the west into the new millennium .

One of my key questions before purchasing this book was if there were significant improvements over the 1995 which justified the expense of a new copy. That is a question which each individual should assess. The new 2001 edition has significant improvements over the 1995 edition. 2001 contains 768 pages as compared to the 624 of the 1995. The first section of this edition is "Gardening for the New Century" with a look to traditions of the past and ideas for the future.

The Sunset division of climate zones has always been meticulous and more precise than other zone guides. The West has so many micro-climates which are separated by short distances and differ by altitude, morning fog and delta breezes that it is important in choosing plants to know which are likely to survive in your zone. The big addition to the latest edition is that it is inclusive of Alaska, Hawaii and Western Canada. For gardeners who live in these areas, Sunset has now made their day.

The ever thoughtful Plant Selection Section has been reworked to include divisions for color, basic landscaping, special situation and problem solvers. The problem solver is particularly helpful including plants to use for dry areas, shade, seacoast and deer resistant plants.

The meat of the Garden Book has always been its encyclopedia and continues to be. When choosing a plant from a nursery this reference guide is critical. Editors took extra care to make this section even more attractive by including color illustrations of many of the plants. For each plant information included describes zones where they will thrive, exposure to sun, amount of water necessary and if the plant is poisonous.

The Practical Guide to Gardening section provides information on various gardening techniques, problems and pest. Information on weeds, gardening to attract wildlife and drip systems are included in this section.

The last two sections of the Western Garden Book are Public and Historic Gardens and the new Gardening Glossary which is quite helpful to the novice gardener.

The Western Garden Book continues to be an invaluable resource for gardeners of the west. Those who already have the 1995 edition but who feel the need to have all the latest in information and equipment should purchase this edition. Residents of Hawaii, Alaska and Western Canada should be thrilled with this edition. Anyone who is planning a new landscape would also be advised to have the most current version of The Western Garden Book.

Kudos yet again to Sunset for their excellent work.

Kathleen Norris was an excellent writer, but there appear to be two. One reader earlier commented on this. You need to differentiate between these two authors. The earlier one died in the sixties and didn't write on religious themes.

This was a very heart-stirring book for me. When I reached the end, I found myself weeping. I subsequently gave the book to a friend, who found it so inspiring that she is afraid to loan it out to others for fear it will get lost and she will no longer have it in her possession. We believe it is a book that all young women should be required to read.

I happened on this book in my husband's grandfather's barn. I read it and felt a kinship with the mother depicted in this great story of family life. Motherhood entails small sacrifices that bring great reward. This story will warm and strengthen mothers around the world now as I am sure it did when it was first published.

The "wisdom" here is mostly Benedictine (except for Thomas Merton and a few others), which left me wishing that the editor of this volume would have included more from a wider range of monastic traditions. Nevertheless, there are a lot of good seeds for contemplation and action here, and, after all, Benedict is the one who codified the life of the monastic to begin with. This is definitely a good volume to have on hand.

'Listen!'

This is the first word of the Rule of St. Benedict.

It is the first commandment in spirituality, as well as pastoral care, and should be in any good relationship.

'Monastic life is a training in the art of listening, which begins in silence, develops in attentiveness, and is perfected in communication.'

Many people have gone on monastic retreat to look for spirituality, to look for some enlightenment and wisdom, ancient and timeless yet hopefully accessible and useful. Many people come away from the monastery disappointed, for they never quite realise that the monastery is not where this wisdom is. The wisdom they seek is from inside.

In this volume of the 'Essentials' series Hugh Feiss has put together a worthy little tome the explores some of the mechanics and the principles of monasticism. He begins with a section on the ordering of the day: Prayer, Reading, Work, Mutual Support, and Hospitality. How many of us think in these terms? How many of us put cooperation and hospitality as side aspects rather than central necessities to our lives?

Samples of the teachings on these are:

--Prayer--
Those who wish to pray quietly by themselves at times when there is no community prayer should simply enter and pray, not in a loud voice, but in tears and with full attention of heart. (Rule of Benedict)

--Reading--
Benedict wants us to do more than read the Scriptures. He wants us to study them, to wrestle with them, to understand them, to make them part of us, to let them grow in us through the work of traditional and contemporary scholarship so that the faith can stay green in us. (Sr. Joan Chittister)

--Work--
Just as the work of God, which mankind is, will not be exterminated, but will rather endure, so also human work will not fade away, because human work that is directed toward God will shine in the heavens...When God created human beings, he enjoined them to work on created things. And just as he will not come to an end--he will be changed into ashes but afterward he will rise--so his good works will be seen unto glory. (Hildegard of Bingen)

--Mutual Support--
Whoever knows himself knows all human beings....But whoever can love himself loves all human beings. (Antony, Letters)

Give aid to the poor, clothe the naked, visit the sick, bury the dead, help those in difficulty, console the sorrow. (Rule of Benedict)

--Hospitality--
When upright men and friends arrive, [the monks] can speak with them at suitable times about whatever is proper, even if it is outside the time for community conversation. (Louise de Blois, Monastic Statutes)

These are brief glimpses into the five activities into which the Benedictine tradition divides a monk's day.

Part two begins to develop a bit of the monastic character -- one of the vows most monks must take is that of 'conversion of life', which means the never-ending task of trying to conform life in the physical, mental and spiritual senses to one of community and conformity to the will of God. These involve (as Feiss has laid them out) Silence and Speech, Reverence, Humility, Simplicity, Discernment, Peace, Patience, Separation, Stability, Obedience, and Authority.

Similar to the first section, each attribute here is supported with excerpts from the Rule of Benedict as well as other monastic writers, past and present. Rather than recount a section from each as I did above, let me give you a poem, from St. Gertrude, that sums up many of the monastic qualities:

Dear Jesus...
make me perfect in fearing you.
Make me pleasing to you
in humility of spirit,
in sisterly charity,
in chaste simplicity,
in humble modesty,
in purity of heart,
in the guarding of my senses,
in holiness of life,
in ready obedience,
in gentle patience,
in spiritual discipline,
in freely chosen poverty,
in holy leniency,
in maturity of conduct,
in cheerfulness of spirit, and
in all truth,
in good conscience,
in steadfast faith,
in holy perseverence,
in strength of hope,
in fullness of charity, and
in the blessed consummation of your cherishing-love:
so that the thornbush of my heart may be converted into a paradise of all virtues and a red berry bush of total perfection, as if it were a field blessed by the Lord, full of all peace, holiness, and devotion.

Benedict himself was almost entirely unconcerned with the 'success' of the monks -- the journey is the destination. He is concerned about mutuality and relationship, and a fullness of humanity. 'For the glory of God, said Irenaeus, an early Christian writer, is a human being who is fully alive.'

He concludes with a discussion of the Good, both desired and possessed in the monastic vision, inclusive of both Longing and Love, and a subtle warning that even monks cannot used the monastery as an escape.

'The worst temptation, and that to which many monks succumb early in their lives, and by which they remained defeated, is simply giving up asking and seeking. To leave everything to the superiors in this life and to God in the next--a hope which may in fact be nothing but a veiled despair, a refusal to live.'
- Thomas Merton

Hugh Feiss has opened the doors of the cloister and let us wander through the various "rooms" of Benedictine living, including: Prayer, Reading, Work, Hospitality, Silence, Humility, Simplicity, Stability, Obedience and Love. (...)

Kathleen Norris brings to the table a unique perspective on the monastic life for two reasons:

1.) She comes from a Protestant background

2.) She is not writing from the outside to the extent that someone researching a novel would do.

She is involved with the Benedictines as an Oblate. This means that she is actively involved in the life of the monastery the morning and evening Psalms, the liturgy, and other elements of the monastery. Thus, she writes as an 'insider' of sorts. The book is written rather liturgically in that she covers the topics as they crop up in the liturgical year. This includes different books of the Bible as they are read in the monastery, different saints and Fathers from earlier periods of Church history. She also delves into a diversity of topics on life in the monastery and the different difficulties of the monastic life. Yet she sheds a reflective lens on the Benedictines and it is far from the common caricatures that are bandied about by those who consider themselves 'paragons of wisdom' in the world today.

It helps to see that striving for sanctity is not easy even to the Benedictines for often we get the stereotype of monks and nuns having some repressed view of humanity and its stresses/temptations. Perhaps the most important element (if one can be singled out) is that the monks and the nuns are shown in their humanity. This sadly is often not done. The monastery life may add up to a big fat zero in the eyes of the world. However, in Norris' book it takes on an aura of richness and splendour. She also does a wonderful job of showing the positive side of celibacy - which it seems the all-wise world wants to deface at any cost whatsoever. I cannot imagine someone reading this book and not coming across with a new vision of monastic life. A view that accompanies a realization that far from antiquated, the principles of the Rule of St. Benedict are applicable to all us in our daily lives. They would vary slightly of course in accordance with our states in life (religious, married, single, widowed, etc). Another plus is that the sections are generally shorter with few longer than 10 pages (many are about 1-5 pages or so). Thus unlike reading a novel where you have to at times stop in mid chapter with this book you are seldom too many pages from finishing the section you are reading.

The book holds together and has a common thread binding the sections but at times it seems that the author has difficulty focusing on a topic without veering into another topic and then another. Other reviewers spoke of it being a series of shorter writings and that is probably how this book was written. As one who is not unfamiliar with the process of writing, I understand where the author is coming from but it might seem disjointed to some readers. Ms. Norris also shows how the principles she reveals in the monastery she applies to her everyday life including her marriage and her relationship to others. I recommend the book highly and feel that for those who are of the patient sort, the book will read quite well and they will mine many wonderful antidotes and unexpected jewels from it. For those who have difficulties in that area, this book could serve as an instrument of sorts to help with learning patience: the calming effect of meditation coupled with the rhythms of life. The ebbs and flows of liturgy and the gradual fashioning of persons being conformed them to the will of God. Themes in other words familiar to the monastic and which are so often shunned today by the wisdom of the world. Better though is the wisdom of God, which the world thinks is foolish. Ms. Norris' work provides a wonderful source for meditation and enlightenment and I highly recommend it.

I must agree with the Boston Globe's description of this book as both strange and beautiful. The Cloister Walk is mesmerizing. An extraordinary book that is at once memoir, poetry and meditative reflections that can leave one poised in long moments of silence. Norris, in sharing her experiences as a monastic oblate, opens the door for the reader to experience the power of 'lectio devina'-- "represents the power of words to resonate with the full range of human experience . . . [as one attempts] to read more with the heart than with the mind" (xx). Norris carries the reader along into the hymns and prayers of Christianity and the Rule of St. Benedict. As Norris shares many passages from the monastic bible(dating back to the 4th c.), one realizes that not much has changed in the past sixteen centuries. Acts of violence against one another and our environment continue to be played out through the centuries. The bible is a book of philosophy as well as psychiatry with the power to heal our collective wounds. "In expressing all the complexities and contradictions of human experience, the psalms act as good psychologists. They defeat our tendency to try to be holy without being human first" (96). There are two faces to the heart: one of evil and one of good, we must be willing to accept both in our search for inner peace and harmony. Bogged down by dogmatic interpretations of the bible, I walk away from the Cloister Walk inspired and uplifted with a greater interest in understanding the true, unadulterated intention of the bible.

I've recommended and loaned out my copy to several friends and now regret that I didn't spend the extra money for a hardcover copy of this excellent book which I intend to read again should it ever be retruned to me. Reading over other reviews, I am surprised by comments that Norris is self-absorbed. To the contrary, I found her self-deprecating humor to be refreshing for a book of this genre. And although she rambles a bit, she always returns to her central themes regarding the beauty of the Benedictine way that brings order to chaos and a soothing, meditative approach to developing one's prayer life.

Having spent two years as a second grader in Sr. Romuel's class in the mid-fifties, I had a special appreciation for those stories of saints and hermits. The chapter on the virgin martyrs was particularly entertaining!

This book was recommended to me by my wife, who had read it as part of a church discussion group. I am not at all religious so I only accepted the proffer on the gounds that it would be a good travel book to accompany our vacation trip to North Dakaota. I found the book lacking in many respects. I can't comment on the spiritual portions obviously. As to the geographic descriptions, I came away with the feeling that Norris is not really happy with Dakota and really would be more comfortable in an urban area. In many ways I found her lamenting the loss of city life, instead of really comtemplating the small-town life. Further, her thesis bout small town life in tbe Dakotas really applies to small towns everywhere. I see the same problems in the small West Virginia town where my family has a weekend cabin and in the central North Carolina textile region where I grew up. Worldwide, small towns are declining and perhaps Norris is correct in pointing out some of the causes. Nonetheless, she fails to capture the awe and wonder of traveling the great plains of the United States. Norris did not manage to put what I always feel into words, but I have yet to capture the correct mood in my own words either. By the way, during our trip we pulled off Interstate 94 at Richardton, ND for a picnic lunch. As we drove back to the highway, my wife noticed a couple of steeples in an otherwise pretty abandoned town. We found the Assumption Abbey, a beautiful building quite at odds with the more pioneer appearance of the remainder of the town. A monk in robes confirmed this as the location of Ms. Norris's visits. I guess this sums up the experience of Great Plains travel better than the book -- it is a place where wonderous experiences, both good and bad, can occur at any moment. It is the mystery and one's insignificance in its midst that I could not ultimately find in this book.

I had previously read two other books by Norris: The Cloister Walk and Amazing Grace:A Vocabulary of Faith. I had given copies of both to friends and family. To be honest I didn't expect Dakota to be any better than those two, but I was mistaken. Norris' descriptions of her corner of South Dakota were breathtaking and almost made me want move there. I share a similar faith journey to Norris'and I find her understanding (and lack of understanding)of God as she is learning to know him to be very believable and at times very moving. Norris has to be one of the best writers currently writing about Christianity. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a closer relationship with God, and also to anyone who appreciates good writing.

Kathleen Norris is the author of Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith, and The Cloister Walk. She is a poet. Dakota was her first work of nonfiction/memoir. Having read both Amazing Grace and The Cloister Walk, I had an idea of what to expect from Norris's work. She writes deeply personal and deeply spiritual books. Dakota has the same type of feel to it, but the location and the subject is different.

Kathleen Norris's past lay in western South Dakota, but for twenty years she had abandoned both her faith as well has her history. She went to school in New York but decides to move back to Lemmon, SD with her husband. Her book is subtitled "A Spiritual Geography". She writes early on that geography comes from the words for earth and writing, and so knowing that this is a spiritual geography we immediately know that this is a spiritual discussion of the Dakotas, as well as also being about Norris herself.

Norris writes about small town life and small town church, and a semi-history of the town of Lemmon. Since most of the details are told in anecdote, it makes things easier to read. One thing that struck me was how she was comparing monastic life to small town faith and how much things tied together like that. The focus on monastic life and on monks is a theme and a topic that will run throughout the book as well as into her subsequent books. Kathleen Norris may not have a mainstream Christian faith, but she has a deep reverence and respect for the Christian tradition and faith, especially that which has come from the monasteries.

This is a slow moving, peaceful book. It is thoughtful, intelligent, and moving. It is filled to the brim with a steady faith in Christ and in some ways, it moves like time spent in a monastery. I don't know if this sounds like a recommendation, but it is meant to be. I found Dakota to be very interesting and along with Dakota, I would recommend Norris's later book: Amazing Grace.

The enchanting quality of the prose in Kathleen Norris's "Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith" far outweighs our sporadic vexation with the elasticity of Norris's theology. A charming exploration of the "buzzwords" of the Christian faith, with occasional touches of progressive snobbery, as if she were saying, faith isn't just for functionally literate housewives or octogenarian bead-tellers, it's for people like you and me, college-educated readers of poetry who are turned off by the more moralistic exponents of Christianity.

But even if we differ with Kathleen Norris on one or two things, we cannot reprehend her evident love of the monastic tradition (this, from a Presbyterian), nor can we find fault with the mellow, benevolent tenor of her prose; reading this book gives one a sensation not unlike that of hearing the Anglican monks sing their vesperal antiphons at the Charles River monastery.

Women have contributed much to the literature of 20th century Christianity, whether it be Caryll Houselander, or Evelyn Underhill, or Dorothy Day, or Marianne Moore (whose book-reviews frequently got quite metaphysical!). And there is a broad range of Christian apologetics by women: what kinship do we find between, let us say, Mother Angelica and Rosemary Radford Ruether? Kathleen Norris is between these two extremes, sometimes finding herself bewildered to be participating in the Christian liturgy at all!

When I was called for jury duty last January (a bitterly cold day in Boston/Cambridge, three degrees above zero), I brought this book, and four others, with me to the courthouse. The graceless tedium of waiting, waiting , waiting, was leavened and lightened somewhat by the gracefulness of Norris's meditations. Think of "Amazing Grace" -- if you like -- as a less austere version of Thomas Merton's "New Seeds of Contemplation." A few passages will vex, but many more will enchant.

Being someone who comes from a right-wing fundamentalist background, I have been a victim of an overly-abused vocabulary of faith. And also being someone who happens to be gay, words like "judgment" and "hell" can be especially painful things to hear from the mouths of people who call themselves "Christian". In "Amazing Grace", Norris takes some of the words used in the hateful religion of my childhood and shows me how they can be applied to a more progressive faith, centered around love and inclusion, not hatred and exclusion. After reading this book, the Christian vocabulary has taken on a whole new meaning for me - a meaning that needs to be defined on my terms with my ideas - not those of an overzealous preacher or televangelist. Norris says it so beautifully in her book: "I refuse to be shaken from the fold. It's my God, my Bible, my church, my faith. It chose me." And like so many others out here in the Christian wilderness, my faith has chosen me and not the other way around. My thanks go out to Kathleen Norris for showing me how to redefine the basics of the Christian faith - the vocabulary - with definitions that won't be found in any dictionary.

In Amazing Grace, Kathleen Norris challenges her readers to take the Christian faith seriously, just as the she has struggled to do. Her book affirms a call I am receiving, at 26, to embrace my tradition. There is exclusivism, I am realizing, in embracing a religious tradition. This is what makes traditions different--they don't agree on certain points. "Amazing Grace" takes as a point of departure the particularities of the Christian tradition expressed in the language of faith. Norris challenges Christians to find meaning in this vocabulary, even in its exclusiveness, which is, as she knows from experience, not an easy thing to do. If you are interested in a thoughtful, intelligent, and poetic interpretation of what makes Christianity a living religion, this book will be a blessing along your journey.