With this entry we introduce a new monthly service from Spirituality U. at Interfaith Paths to Peace)
A Prayer Journal by
Flannery O’Connor
The One Minute Book Review from Spirituality U.
Sponsored by Carmichaels Bookstore, Louisville, Kentucky
The most
memorable thing about this book is that there’s nothing particularly memorable
about it. But that’s a compliment not a criticism.
What is
most spiritually eloquent about this tiny volume is the verbal ineloquence of one of the 20th
Century’s most eloquent writers. The covers of this book enclose just 40 pages
of printed text followed by a facsimile of Flannery O’Connor’s handwritten
journal, kept when she was in her early twenties and a student at the University
of Iowa’s renowned writers program.
The insights
are not particularly insightful; the wording not well wrought. But in those
facts lie the brilliance of her writing—and the hope for the rest of us. For,
here we see that one of the last century’s most celebrated writers is just as
clumsy, just as confused, just as awkward as the rest of us. At least when she
tries to speak to God. Grab a copy and read it. It will only take an hour so.
Well worth the time.
A Prayer Journal, by Flannery O’Connor.
2014, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York.
Support local merchants; buy this book at Carmichaels!
From our friends at Carmichaels:
On Sunday, March 9th at 4 PM (at our Frankfort Ave store), Carmichael's Bookstore and Interfaith Paths to Peace welcome activist, author, and organizer Penny Rosenwasser for a discussion of her new book "Hope into Practice : Jewish Women Choosing Justice Despite our Fears." Anchored in Jewish ethical tradition, community-building, and an activist's call to repair the world and end racism, "Hope into Practice" asks Jewish women for the courage to love ourselves enough to face our fears without acting on them - to free ourselves of internalized anti-Semitism, expanding our sense of possibility, empowering our activism. We hope you'll be able to join us!
