Read This Book Because You Must . . .



Our summertime bookbags are often filled with light and airy fiction, easy-to-page-through magazines, and a random accumulation of recommended volumes stacked in teetering piles around our living spaces.  That's all good ... in fact, I've been going there myself these days and loving every minute of it.

But I'm going out on a limb to say that if you read only one book this summer, may it be Kate's powerful real life story.

Everything Happens For a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved

Right off the top I'm telling you that this might end up being my favorite book of the year.

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Stunning, raw, tragic, with wisps of humor and wisdom that refuse to be quenched, author Kate Bowler gently extends her hand to the reader as she walks through the valley of the shadow of searing loss and the unspeakable diagnosis of Stage IV cancer at the age of 35 ... in the midst of caring for those she adores, forging ahead with the beloved work she's been called to do, and wrestling with broken-hearted faith.

There's something about the author's writing that is absolutely compelling ... I can't put my finger on it but I can tell you that I was totally immersed in the cadence of her words for three hours without ever thinking of getting off my chair.

It was like curling up on the sofa crying with a beloved friend, captivated and mesmerized by the sound of her voice, the enormity of her sorrow, the interwoven hope.

And if that weren't enough, this Duke Divinity School professor tucks in Absolutely Never Say This To People Experiencing Terrible Times: A Short List and Give This A Go at the end of the book for all of us that might be prone to responding to tragedy by doing nothing ... or saying the most ridiculously hurtful things.

Read this because you must.  Read this because you can't not go there.

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Listen to a wrenching snippet right here.

Kate's website is certainly worth your time - it's right there.

Read her New York Times Op-Ed piece, Death, the Prosperity Gospel and Me, on 'the irony of being an expert in health, wealth and happiness while being ill.'

This is an A+ pick for your book club, friends.  Yes, yes.



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i've just got to share
this book with
Anne  .  Mary  .  Holley