My Favorite Book...

So, I love to read. In fact, a little known fact (until now) is that my parents sent me to a therapist as a kid becuase that is all I did. I know, I sound like a real winner! I have a couple of favorite books. Two are fantastic, but not real pick-me-ups; The Catcher in the Rye and The Bell Jar. But, my all time favorite is a little book called "Gift from the Sea" by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. It's a short book; a memoir of a mother of five who spends one week a year in solitude. It is the most incredible, empowering book I've ever read. She talks about our relationships, as women, throughout life's course, and how we really need to take care of ourselves first in order to best take care of those we love. I hope you'll all read it. It is the best! What are some of your favorites?
A little more about this amazing author...
Anne Morrow Lindbergh
A gifted and insightful writer, Anne Morrow Lindbergh was born in 1906 in New Jersey, the daughter of U.S. Senator Dwight Morrow and poet and women's education advocate Elizabeth Cutter Morrow. She married Charles Lindbergh in 1929, and began a life of flying. Ms. Lindbergh was the first licensed woman glider pilot in the United States. She was awarded many honoraria, including the National Geographic Society's Hubbard Gold Medal.
Gift from the Sea
As the New York Times book review stated, "Gift from the Sea is like a shell itself in its small and perfect form . . . It tells of light and life and love and the security that lies at the heart." In her warm and inspiring collection of sea-side meditations, Ms. Anne Morrow Lindbergh writes about life and its circle of relationships. The classic Gift from the Sea (review or buy), continue to enchant readers around the world.
This is the review for O Magazine by Maria Shriver
My mother gave me this book when I was in college, and I'm embarrassed to say I didn't read it until my forties. Even though Lindbergh wrote this back in 1955, her message is still relevant today Married to an American hero, she suffered a huge public tragedy when her son was kidnapped and murdered. After that she went on to rear her children in private and to forge an independent and successful career as a writer. This book is about her search for simplicity within the complications of modern life: motherhood, marriage, jobs, and friends. She also offers a lot of valuable lessons about feminism and being a wife. I especially like the following passage: "Woman must come of age by herself. This is the essence of 'coming of age'-- to learn how to stand alone. She must learn not to depend on another, nor to feel she must prove her strength by competing with another.... She must find her true center alone. She must become whole."