Beautiful Inside and Out

Five thoughtful and thought-provoking essays by authors Heather B. Moore and Angela Eschler, gathered together in Christ’s Gifts to Women. Much more than essays is going on in this book. It is graced by design and content as well as words. 
           

The design of the book jacket (and, peeking underneath I see of the book itself) is tastefully purple and portrait. Mary Magdalene at the garden tomb shows by the look on her face that she has seen that the Christ lives. Inside the book covers, end papers reminiscent of fine publications of the last century and pages in brown and sepia tones remind us of first editions. Pale spring flowers spill over edges and tops of the pages illuminating the fine art and careful words that grace each essay. Pull quotes in graceful script draw us into the text and teach and comfort us even if they are the only things we read. 

The content of the book treats five gifts that Christ gives to women. Each gift is intriguing to me. Mercy, Experience, Wholeness, Nurturing, and Seeing are the subjects of the five essays. They are surrounded by fine art, much of it by gifted Latter-day Saint artists—several very nice pieces that I have not seen before. Some paintings are full page and full color. Others are smaller with tasteful golden frames around them. Still other appear as drawings, sepia-toned, increasing the sense of a fine old work that has been connected to our very lives.           

The words are crafted around each of the five gifts and quote liberally from scripture and latter-day prophets in exploring how each gift blesses a specific scriptural woman. Here we meet the woman at the well and the woman taken in adultery; Mary and Martha; the woman with the issue of blood; Mary, the mother of Jesus; and Mary Magdalene. In each case the teachings Christ gave to these women are applied to us, modern women, who wrestle with struggles women always face.  

Memorable quotes live here. In the Mercy section we read, “”. . .He is a merciful judge. He, our only legitimate accuser, does not condemn.”  In the Experience section we find, “We are in the process of perfection. It was not meant to be a single event.” In the Wholeness section, “The gift of wholeness is available to each of us, no matter how broken we might feel.” 

I like the intention of this book. I like the beauty of it—making it a treasure for any library or coffee table or loved one. And I like the sense of it that provides something insightful to think about when the reading is done. 

These are not the only five gifts Christ has given us. What about hope? Blessings? Giving? Loving? Receiving? Creating? Being? And many more. But these five are a good beginning and give insightful understanding and hope when they are pondered and hopefully understood. An excellent volume that deserves reading again and again.

An Excellent Read

I’m intrigued by the premise—four books in a series by four different authors. In the Newport Ladies Book Club: Olivia we meet eight women. Eventually each will have a book of her own.

Julie Wright, in Olivia, has launched a “must-read” with her themes, characters, plot, humor, and style. 

Wright’s theme of friendship is strengthened and modeled by the books within a book. The books the friends study together are reflective of the issues Olivia is facing in her own life. Good books they are. In fact, knowing that I am often lifted by good writing, knowing how truths channeled through a good book solidifies my own truths, I would have enjoyed even more of the study in book club. 

The characterizations in Olivia are developed through Olivia’s—Livvy’s—eyes. I like the Pollyanna part of her character as she struggles with a modern woman’s life of busy husband, children, and large house. In fact, surely she is like someone I know—a neighbor, a family member, maybe myself. Her efforts to be perfect are laudable and her dismay as her life seems to be crumbling around her is puzzling and troubling, just like someone I know. Livvy’s husband, Nick, is, I suppose, necessarily less dimensional because we aren’t in his head. We see him only through Livvy’s eyes, strengthening the power of point of view. Characterizations of some of the children are more developed than others, but I find them interesting and, well, normal. 

Wright deftly weaves plotlines through everyday life. In fact, everyday life is the plot. However, this plot development has none of the “slice of life” seediness we expect from realism; nevertheless this family and these events ring true. 

Wright’s sense of humor raises its head at most unlikely times. I like that. After one difficult interchange with her husband Livvy thinks “I stuck out my tongue at his retreating back because that’s what classy, mature women did when their husbands irritated them.” At the first meeting of the book club, Livvy, necessarily self-conscious, reflects “They’d think I was a lunatic for sure, and that would be before they discovered that I talked to myself.” 

The writing style, the controlled use of language and the twists and turns of Livvy’s life lured me back to the book every free minute. Development from suspicion to discovery and the revelation of the “problem” kept me reading and keep me thinking about Livvy long after the last page has been turned.

On the whole, an excellent read. Wright has crafted a tight, interesting, insightful novel. I wanted little things tweaked a bit more. For example, I wanted more detail in the setting (I know Newport Beach, California) and more insights into the books discussed in book club, and I’m looking forward to the next three books about the Newport Ladies Book Club which will surely bring me some of that.