Memoir

Solo Passage: a Memoir to Read this Fall

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In Solo Passage: 13 Quests, 13 Questions, author Glenda Goodrich takes us on her solo journeys into the wild to heal, to seek answers, to uncover truths, to let go, and to become more fully herself.

Going on quests like this isn’t a part of our modern culture, so it seems unusually brave for a woman to begin doing these yearly quests at age 50. And it is! Glenda is such a fantastic storyteller that you will be engrossed in this book from page one.

She takes the reader through the preparation part of each quest: deciding on a campsite, bringing in water and basic equipment on foot, describing the landscape at each site, and explaining how the quests were organized with guides who planned for support and safety and were stationed a mile or so away.

She also writes of the shyness she had in sharing her true self and also the sense of camaraderie she builds with the other women as they gather before to share why they’re going and again at the end of each quest to share their experiences.

During each four day quest, we get a glimpse into her colorful past as she brings a part of her lived experience to light and lets it heal. She faces some really difficult memories, asks questions, and processes her pain in a different way each quest. Sometimes she gets a clear sign; other times her answer comes more subtly. She also shares vivid stories of her interactions with trees, earth, sky, all kinds of animals and insects, and what she experiences while fasting and being exposed to the elements.

She takes the reader on these thirteen riveting adventures with her and with each one she grows wiser, forgives and accepts herself more and more, and becomes more rooted in who she is. Glenda’s writing is so warm, alive, and she’s so down-to-earth and relatable, she invites the reader in and captivates us with her stories.

Solo Passage is highly recommended for midlife and beyond women who are looking for insight into their own experiences, who want to heal and become wise women who can nurture and love themselves and others. If you enjoy memoir and stories about wild places, you will want to read this book.


Thank you to She Writes Press for the Advanced Reader’s Copy in exchange for an honest review!

Engineering A Life (Book Reviews)

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As you head off to work or to your home office this Monday morning, you may feel the need of some motivation. The following is a short book review of a highly inspirational true story. 

Krishan Bedi is someone I admire. He came, as a young man, to the Southern U.S. during the early 1960s with the purpose of obtaining a degree in engineering. He had little money, didn’t speak English very well, and had no experience with American culture or the American educational system.

In short, he took a huge risk to leave everything and everyone familiar behind and live an adventure. Because that’s what it was. He had a very courageous, impulsive and fun-loving spirit, which, I’m sure, helped him to face and overcome the numerous challenges that presented themselves. Sudden disaster, foolish decisions, and working menial jobs to earn enough to survive kept his life quite interesting in the early years.

But even finding a measure of success doesn’t mean that circumstances stay at an even keel the rest of one’s life. He faced hardship and unanticipated difficulties, but he kept going, kept trying, kept looking for the next step, for a better path. You will laugh at some of the hilarious situations he finds himself in, you will gasp at some of the unwise decisions he makes, you will share in his grief as he goes through loss and disaster, and you will cheer when he comes through it.

The book is called Engineering a Life: A Memoir by Krishan K. Bedi. I highly recommend this one. First, as a book to motivate and inspire you. Second, to see life through the eyes of another.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion and review.

Everything Happens For A Reason (Book Review)

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I just finished reading Kate Bowler’s Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved, a memoir of her life before and with incurable Stage IV colon cancer. If you’re like me and tend to shy away from books about terminal illness, you might think it will be a dark, depressing, hopeless tale that will leave you in tears and in a blue mood for a week.

This book isn’t like that. Kate is smart, funny, and endearingly honest with how she faces this illness day by day. She has a young son and a husband whom she loves and doesn’t want to leave. There is no way to ignore her sense of grief as she lives with the fact she is dying, but she is no Debbie Downer. Her narrative goes along with her emotions and thoughts in a way that is tender and raw and completely relatable. She feels sadness, anger, and despair, but also joy, gratitude and hope.

Throughout, she expresses her thoughts on Christianity, particularly the prosperity message and how it does not serve people who face terminal illness or catastrophic events of any kind. By relating not only her experience, but those of many others who have gone through the loss of loved ones or who are ill themselves, she shows how this message does a lot more harm than good. Although she remains a believer, how she thinks about God and Divine interaction does go through an evolution as she attempts to make sense of her circumstances.

What stands out to me, aside from the fact that the book is interlaced with references to the Christian prosperity gospel, which I am very familiar with, is how well she brings the reader so close to herself and her story. You will feel like a trusted friend who is allowed to hear her unedited version of what it’s really like to be her as she makes this journey. Kate Bowler has given the world a gift with this book. I walked away thankful for even the tough things in my life and with a determination to not waste a moment of it. I highly recommend that you read this book for yourself.

* I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.