Our Own Bookstore: Open Minds Books
In August, the bookstore will be open on the 15th.
The following featured books are in the bookstore for your review, to order. We also have other books available for immediate purchase.
More book information and recommendations can be found in most issues of The AGAPE Newsletter
Three of this month’s selections are on the theme of grieving – both of the children’s selections, and the first of the adult selections. In addition, we are offering a book on homelessness, and one that is a resource for individual prayer and meditation.
Children’s Books:
Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs by Tomie De Paola
Annie and the Old One by Miska Miles
The Other Side of Sadness: What the New Science of Bereavement Tells Us About Life After Loss by George Bonanno, $21
According to Bonanno, there's little evidence to support the existence of stages of mourning or the corollary that if the stages aren't followed completely, there's cause for alarm. What Bonanno does find is a natural resilience that guides us through the sadness of loss, and grief, rather than distracting us, actually causes the mind to focus; it also elicits the compassion and concern that humans are hard-wired to offer in response to another's suffering. With this work, science and common sense come together in a thoughtful, kindhearted way.
Souls in the Hands of a Tender God: Stories of the Search for Home and Healing on the Streets by Craig Rennebohm and David Paul, $17
Since 1987, Craig Rennebohm has ministered to people who are homeless and struggling with mental illness. In this book, he tells the evocative stories of those who desperately need psychiatric, psychological, and spiritual support, like Mary, who surrounds herself with bulging trash bags, and Jerry, barred from every shelter and meal program in Seattle. With gentleness and grace, knowledge and wisdom, Rennebohm reaches out to each of them, and their stories become parables that explore mental illness and the spiritual heart of care and recovery.
Psalms for Praying: An Invitation to Wholeness by Nan Merrill, $17
Merrill has re-visioned the Psalms, to be something new, fresh, contemporary, and yet themselves. The Psalms of the Hebrew Scripture often reflect a patriarchal society based on fear and guilt that projects evil and sin onto enemies. Psalms for Praying reflects Divine Love that opens the heart to forgiveness, reconciliation, and healing. It is a more loving movement toward engendering peace, harmony and healing in our wounded world. This book is meant to stand, not as a replacement, but as a companion, a dialogue, of one age speaking with a later age - an invitation to listen to the Voice of Silence that speaks within your own soul.
