The Barn at the End of the World by Mary Rose O'Reilly

I truly sank in and savored this book. It explored the author's experience (and my pet interest) of practicing Buddhism as a way to practice Christianity in the barn, monastery or wherever you happen to be. It helped me to quiet my "what next?" brainstorming and listen. It was most satisfying to read of a spiritual journey where the author is not in the end docile. O'Reilly is as feisty and testy when she ends the book as when you meet her, and yet genuine spiritual growth is evident. Something in my questing soul was answered when I read this book.

The Zahir by Paulo Coelho

I have long wanted to read Paulo Coelho and I was not disappointed. At times I felt I was reading a book of magical realism like Nick Bantock. In the end it is a book about the nature of love and the stories we tell to obscure its true meaning. It is written conversationally with the gloss of popular culture and the mists of mysticism. I throughly enjoyed it and will now have to add Kazakhstan to my travel wish list.

Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

I picked up the book hoping for a feminine version of The Da Vinci Code and got much more. Immediately it was apparent this was a more intelligent book with a different, but no less mysterious/mystical, subject matter. Mosse hovered between thriller and literature. There were the thriller plot devices but woven in with real skill and thought to the consequences. Unlike The Da Vinci Code I was not disgusted with the ending, but found I had spent my time pleasantly and picked up something new about the langue d'oc.

Life with Mother by Clarence Day

Life with Mother does not remind me of my grandmother, but I enjoyed it none the less. The essays are similar to those in Life with Father, some making me laugh out loud, however they tend to be more descriptive, longer, and less focused. This unedited feel can be attributed to the fact that some were published posthumously.