NOTE:  BOOK CLUB WILL BE MEETING AT OTTERBEIN COLLEGE LIBRARY ON:
June 14, 2010 DEVOTION: A MEMOIR by Dani Shapiro.  "Shapiro's newest memoir, a mid-life exploration of spirituality begins with her son's difficult questions - about God, mortality and the afterlife - and Shapiro's realization that her answers are lacking, long-avoided in favor of everyday concerns.  Determined to find a more satisfying set of answers, author Shapiro (Slow Motion) seeks out the help of a yogi, a Buddhist and a rabbi, and comes away with, if not the answers to life and what comes after, an insightful and penetrating memoir that readers will instantly identify with.  Shapiro's ambivalent relationship with her family, her Jewish heritage and her secularity are universal as they are personal, and she exposes familiar but hard-to-discuss doubts to real effect: she's neither showboating nor seeking pat answers, but using honest self-reflection to provoke herself and her readers into taking stock of their own spiritual inventory.  Absorbing, intimate, direct and profound, Shapiro's memoir is a satisfying journey that will touch fans and win her plenty of new ones." (from Publishers Weekly)


August 9, 2010 THE RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL SON: A STORY OF HOMECOMING by Henri Nouwen.  A Beloved Priest's Last Great Spiritual Adventure - Who was Henri Nouwen? And why do we urgently need to hear his voice today?  On The Return of the Prodigal Son, you will learn how a chance encounter with a painting by Rembrandt led this beloved Dutch priest and writer on the last great spiritual adventure of his life.  Celebrated as the author of many books on contemporary spiritual life, Nouwen spent his final years ministering to handicapped adults before he died unexpectedly in 1996.  In this rare archival session, Nouwen shows how, like the prodigal son, we find ourselves today in a "distant country" where we spend our lives searching for love where it can never be found.  Nouwen explores the "mystery of homecoming", into the embrace of an all-loving, all-forgiving God who is both mother and father.  Enriched with many stories from Nouwen's remarkable life as a theologian, a peace-worker, a pastor, and a seeker. (from the publisher)


September 13, 2010 SOUTH OF BROAD by Pat Conroy.  From a review by W Ray on amazon.com: "I read an advanced reader's copy of this new Conroy novel and must say that it is simply beautiful from the first line.  The story, set in the late sixties till the nineties, most in Charleston, is centered on the life of Leo King.  Born into a devout Catholic family, Leo is haunted by his brother's suicide, and trying to salvage a ruined adolscence with the help of a handful of best firends, who have their own histories and ghosts to deal with.  Conroy often writes of salvation through friendship, and this is his strongest novel yet on the subject.  It is also an unexpectedly Catholic novel, and at base, a very devout one.  The South and the Low Country in particular, are exalted, beloved, and cherished in prose so fine it breaks your heart.  I don't want to spoil the story in any way, but have to say that the last pages did that thing that modern novels seem incapable of doing these days: it lifted my heart, ending on just the loveliest, most affirming word (won't say what).


October 11, 2010 THE WANDERERS by Henry A. Garon.  Henry Garon is a retired professor of physics and a married deacon in the Catholic Church who has worked for many years at Ozanam Inn, a Society of St. Vincent de Paul residence for the homeless in New Orleans.  A recent survey has shown that the number of homeless in America is estimated to be in excess of three million and increasing.  These people are wanderers of every type.  Nearly one-third of street people have serious mental and emotional disorders.  In addition, many homeless people suffer from lower-leg vascular disorders, including swellings and foot ulcerations that are the result of so much walking, standing, and sleeping in upright positions.  Garon shares stories of the wanderers in New Orleans and the daily challenges they face in getting food and shelter from the elements.  The author believes that the homeless need to hear about their worth as human beings.  He knows they desire to receive little acts of kindness or just to be listened to by somebody.  Garon's postscript includes suggestions for Getting Involved with the homeless: "The poor are especially dear to God's heart.  Only by getting involved can we experience the privilege of descending into the valleys and climbing the mountains, of accompanying them on their journey and so, with them, drawing closer to the Lord.: (book review from spiritualityandpractice.com)


November 8, 2010    We are checking into the availability of books and wish to choose one on Edith Stein (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross).  Title to be announced at a later date.