My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira & Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriett Beecher Stowe

This novel contained all I want in a book: well-researched historical setting, captivating narrative of true humanity, and revealed the medical profession for that time period in which I was totally ignorant.      

Book cover summary:   "Mary Sutter is a brilliant young midwife who dreams of becoming a surgeon. Determined to overcome the prejudices against women in medicine --- and eager to run away from recent heartbreak --- Mary travels to Washington, D.C., to help tend the legions of Civil War wounded. Under the guidance of two surgeons, who both fall unwittingly in love with her, and resisting her mother's pleas to return home to help with the difficult birth of her twin sister's baby, Mary pursues her medical career against all odds. Rich with historical detail --- including cameo appearances by Abraham Lincoln and Dorothea Dix, among others --- and introducing a heroine whose unwavering determination and vulnerability will resonate with readers everywhere, My Name is Mary Sutter is certain to be recognized as one of the great novels of the Civil War. " 

Review by Journal of the American Medical Association: "Oliveira's scrupulously factually researched canvas allows it readers to witness through human experience the agonizingly complex relationship of disease, mutilation, death, and healing in war ... Oliveira makes the horrifyingly unimaginable become vivid through the drama encircling the intersecting lives of her central characters, for whom war reveals untold depths of human misery as well as compassion, new understanding, and indomitable, undefeated creativity."


It was interesting for me to note that shortly after I read My Name is Mary Sutter, I was rereading, as an adult, Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriett Beecher Stowe. I was completely impressed and encouraged by the deep faith given to the character of Tom.     

  

A Mystic Garden by Gunilla Norris

A Mystic Garden, Working with Soil, Attending to Soul is another book by Gunilla Norris. I shared Inviting Silence back in November 2014.This book was read last month as I was anticipating gardening with much longing. The weather of these past few weeks has not brought gardening any closer and I have yet to be able to make the beds ready for seed.

Making the Bed

   Here it is then, three feet by five feet --- a place for greens, a box of hope. It has plenty of sunlight but it's also closer to the garage, and therefore shade lasts longer into the day.  That is good for lettuce.
   The sides of the bed are almost a foot tall. This is a space with a specific purpose. I am not confused about what should be here --- good soil and a variety of lettuces.
   In the house I have a space just for prayer and contemplation. It's a space to help me stay on purpose, to not be confused about what I am doing. Even so, all kinds of things crowd into my mind and heart, thinking, planning, drifting, it's hard to leave room for just being in the presence of God. I'm boxed in by old habits.
  Limitations are necessary for development and growth. Any limitation can be a prison or a place of freedom.  It depends on our attitudes. I need to accept that I can't grow cabbage and broccoli and tomatoes all in the same place.  I have to keep to one or two crops to grow anything decent here,. This kind of limitation is true about a lot of things. In contemplation especially, the willingness to be confined to deep listening, to patient stability, is a proven way to root into God. This can feel like a kind of pregnancy if we will only stay quiet, if we don't interrupt what is really happening. No wonder it was said of pregnant women that they were "confined" with child.

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY --- "Norris cycles through the four seasons of a gardener's heart...She writes lyrically about dormancy and transformation, soil and nourishment, roots and blossoms."

Lists to Live By, Compiled by Alice Gray, Steve Stephens, John Diest

For those of us who love lists this is a must have book. It goes beyond just the normal list and says it is "for everything that really matters."  There are over two hundred lists within Lists to Live By with topics such as Life's Transitions, Standing Strong, and Wisdom. "The lists are brief and usable, and at the same time, valuable and thought provoking. Lists are a great way of wrapping up powerful thoughts in and easy and accessible package." There are three collections of  Lists to Live By.
Here is a list:

WHAT CANCER CANNOT DO
Cancer is Limited ---
It cannot cripple love
It cannot shatter hope
It cannot corrode faith
It cannot destroy peace
It cannot kill friendship
It cannot suppress memories
It cannot silence courage
it cannot invade the soul
It cannot steal eternal life
It cannot conquer the spirit.
    

Brother Hugo and The Bear written by Katy Beebe, illustrated by S.D. Schindler

This book is so beautiful! A friend told me about a book she had read to her daughter and thought of me while reading; thanks Suelinda!  Just the title let me know, it was one I needed to read. In the Author's Note to the reader, she shares how there is truth behind this story. In a letter by Peter the Venerable (Benedictine abbey of Cluney 1092-1156), he told about his unfortunate incident with a bear and a manuscript. The illustrator gives life to the medieval setting. http://www.amazon.com/Brother-Hugo-Bear-Katy-Beebe/dp/0802854079/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1425396347&sr=1-1&keywords=brother+hugo+and+the+bear