Heirloom recipes, family secrets…and a chance for love The youngest heir to a French-Italian restaurant dynasty, food writer Juliette D’Alisa has spent her life negotiating her skill with words and her restaurant aspirations. When her brother Nico offers her a chance to open a restaurant together, she feels torn—does she really have what it takes? Should she risk leaving her journalism career? After the death of her grandmother, Juliette discovers an antique photograph of a man who looks strikingly like her brother. As the truth behind the picture reveals romance and dark secrets, Juliette struggles to keep the mystery away from her nosy family until she can uncover the whole story. Inspired by her grandmother’s evolving story, Juliette resolves to explore the world of online dating. To her surprise, she finds a kindred spirit in Neil McLaren, a handsome immunologist based in Memphis, Tennessee. With a long-distance relationship simmering, Juliette faces life-shifting decisions. How can she possibly choose between a promising culinary life and Neil, a man a world away in more ways than one? And is it possible her grandmother’s story can help show the way?

A Table by the Window: A Novel of Family Secrets and Heirloom Recipes (Two Blue Doors)

Literature & Fiction

Manton Lodge, Hillary

United States

The Crown Publishing Group

It’s easy to get high on God in America. But is this good religion? In a compelling follow-up to her memoir, Girl at the End of the World, Elizabeth Esther explores how religious fervor can become religious addiction. The evidence is everywhere. In families who inexplicably choose to harm their children in order to abide by cultic church doctrine. But in ordinary believers too who use God the same way addicts use drugs or alcohol—to numb pain, alter their mood, or simply to escape the realities of this messy, unpredictable thing called life. If you’ve ever wondered how a religion that preaches freedom and love can produce judgmental and unkind followers; if you’ve ever felt captive to the demanding God of your own childhood; if you’ve struggled to find contentment without needing another emotional hit from a “life-changing” conference or “mountain-top” experience, then Spiritual Sobriety is for you. The author, who grew up in a hyper-controlling church cult, will help you find hope and rebirth in the ruins of disillusioned faith. Filled with stories and warm, practical advice, Spiritual Sobriety offers a gentle path out of the desperate cycles of craving-euphoria-hangover and into a freer, clean-and-sober faith practice.

Spiritual Sobriety: Stumbling Back to Faith When Good Religion Goes Bad

Religion & Spirituality

Esther, Elizabeth

Christian Books & Bibles

“With his engaging blend of travelogue, conversations with a wise and charismatic spiritual father, and musings on the big questions of life and death, Professor Markides takes us as companions on his journey of discovery. The insights that he communicates with such enthusiasm are timely ones: here at last is a writer who challenges the seeker after mystical understanding and Eastern spirituality to discover Christianity.” —Dr. Elizabeth Theokritoff, independent scholar and co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to Orthodox Christian Theology In Inner River, Kyriacos Markides—scholar, researcher, author, and pilgrim—takes us on a thrilling quest into the heart of Christian spirituality and mankind’s desire for a transcendent experience of God. From Maine’s rugged shores to a Cypriot monastery to Greece’s remote Mt. Athos and, ultimately, to an Egyptian desert, Markides encounters a diverse cast of characters that allows him to explore the worlds of the natural and the supernatural, of religion and spirit, and of the seen and the unseen. Inner River will appeal to a wide range of readers, from Christians seeking insights into their religion and its various expressions to scholars interested in learning more about the mystical way of life and wisdom that have been preserved in the heart of Orthodox spirituality. Perhaps most important, however, is the bridge it offers contemporary readers to a Christian life that is balanced between the worldly and the spiritual.

Inner River: A Pilgrimage to the Heart of Christian Spirituality

Markides, Kyriacos C.

"Never am I more I than when I stand serene, survey the field, weigh my choices, set my face in one direction, and advance with firm step and joyful heart. To know what I want to do and do it is the essence of life." Our decisions -- from the most mundance of day-to-day living to those fork-in-the-road choices of great consequence -- chart the course of our existence. How can we make decisions carefully and thoughfully, so as to live more deliberately meaningful -- and happier -- lives? Carlos G. Valles, author of Mastering Sadhana: On Retreat with Anthony de Mello, here explores the process of discernment and decision-making. Using scripture, insights from Ignatian spirituality, and contemporary examples, the author illustrates the how and why of making choices and living comfortably with their consequences, whether they be positive or negative. "If my life is my choices," he writes, "I want my choices to be the best they can be. I want to master the art of choosing."

The Art of Choosing: Working Through Daily Decisions and Discerning our Path in Life

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Valles, Carlos G. G.

Alternative Medicine

In this new edition of his classic work, Religion and the Rise of Western Culture, Christopher Dawson addresses two of the most pressing subjects of our day: the origin of Europe and the religious roots of Western culture. With the magisterial sweep of Toynbee, to whom he is often compared, Dawson tells here the tale of medieval Christendom. From the brave travels of sixth-century Irish monks to the grand synthesis of Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century, Dawson brilliantly shows how vast spiritual movements arose from tiny origins and changed the face of medieval Europe from one century to the next. The legacy of those years of ferment remains with us in the great cathedrals, Gregorian chant, and the works of Giotto and Dante. Even more, though, for Dawson these centuries charged the soul of the West with a spiritual concern -- a concern that he insists "can never be entirely undone except by the total negation or destruction of Western man himself."

Religion and the Rise of Western Culture: The Classic Study of Medieval Civilization

History

Dawson, Christopher

Europe

For more than 250 years, this simple classic of inspiration has guided readers of all faiths to the open-hearted acceptance of God's will that is the sure path to serenity, happiness, and spiritual peace. "A spiritual classic of the first order... a book for all those who truly seek God." --Dom David Knowles "Father de Caussade has a wonderful way of encouraging the doubtful, of nurturing the personal surrender that is so much a part of the development of faith. The book is a mystery of its own -- and is definitely not for Christians only." --Rabbi Joshua Chasan "Abandonment to Divine Providence is a classic perhaps more necessary now than ever before. It's a little book that rightly rejects the spirituality of fear and trembling (and the modern preoccupation with dreary self-absorption) in favor of an abiding trust in God's active benevolence. This is a work one reads again and again, always with gratitude and astonishment." --Donald Spoto, Author of Blue Angel and The Dark Side of Genius

Abandonment to Divine Providence (Image Classics)

Jean-Pierre De Caussade

These days more and more people are scheduling getaways to retreat centers for their spiritual well-being--over 1.2 million Catholics alone during 1997. Located throughout the United States and Canada, these centers cater to the needs of people seeking quiet time, regardless of religious affiliation. Retreat possibilities range from one day of solitude surrounded by nature, to a few days of quiet time under the guidance of a resident spiritual director, to a week experiencing the rigorous rhythms of community monastery life. In A PLACE FOR GOD, Timothy Jones shares the wisdom of his pilgrimages to retreat centers as diverse as a mountaintop hermitage overlooking the Pacific and a monastic oasis on Chicago's South Side. First he explains everything about retreats: what they are, why people go, how to prepare, what to pack, and what to do while there. Then he provides an extensive directory of over 250 retreat centers in all fifty states and Canada, complete with all the information readers need to contact the retreat center that is right for them. A PLACE FOR GOD is the perfect resource for anyone who wants to find spiritual fulfillment or simply a place to get away.

A Place for God: A Guide to Spiritual Retreats and Retreat Centers

Jones, Timothy

The twelfth-century German abbess Hildegard of Bingen would have been remarkable in any age. Today, her growing reputation as a composer of religious music has overshadowed the astonishing variety of her accomplishments and her part in the scientific, cultural, and theological revolution of the pre-Renaissance, from religion and mysticism to medicine and sex. Scivias, her book of apocalyptic visions, with its extraordinary and compelling illustrations, would alone have been enough to endure her lasting fame. The story of Hildegard's life, from her entry into a monastery at Disibodenberg on the Rhine as a child, through the exploration of her pent-up genius in middle years, to her eventual admission to the German canon of saints, is here told against a rich background of the years of the Crusades, the flowering of monasticism, papal schism and heresy. The forceful character that emerges challenges any image of demurely subjugated womanhood associated with the period. Hildegard's story is as fascinating as that of any figure in the Middle Ages, and she and her musical legacy continue to be the subject of debate a thousand years later.

Hildegard of Bingen: The Woman of Her Age

Biographies & Memoirs

Maddocks, Fiona

Community & Culture

A delightfully different approach to religion and spirituality, this collection of engaging personal tales transcends specific doctrines to reveal the presence of God in everyday life. Father Edward L. Beck spins tales like a master, presenting with candor and a touch of irreverence incidents and events that will resonate with readers. Exploring such universal themes and concerns as friendship, sexuality, illness, alcoholism, loss, and death, the vignettes and stories in this collection are animated by intriguing characters, pitch-perfect dialogue–and a surprising twist. Probing beneath the surface of ordinary life, each selection contains a hidden message, a subtle but powerful reminder of the signposts that mark a spiritual journey. Quotations from the Scriptures introduce the tales, providing a context that will help readers uncover the meaning the story holds for their own personal lives and beliefs. To encourage further reflection and rumination, Beck offers insights into the specific religious and theological themes that inspired the writing of each tale. A lively, unabashed look at the challenges of living a spiritual life in contemporary times, God Underneath will appeal not only to Catholics, but to all spiritual seekers, regardless of religious affiliation.

God Underneath: Spiritual Memoirs of a Catholic Priest

Edward L. Beck

Leaders & Notable People

"A cracking good thriller." -- Publishers Weekly "A feast of suspense. Highly recommended." -- Library Journal When attorney Marcus Glenwood resigns from a prestigious corporate law firm to retreat to a small town in North Carolina and rebuild his life after a devastating personal tragedy, he suddenly finds himself in the biggest and most emotionally difficult case of his career. Fragile and spiritually wounded, Glenwood is introduced to Alma and Austin Hall, whose daughter Gloria has disappeared in China while investigating the slave-like practices of New Horizons, the world's largest manufacturer of sports shoes and athletic gear. Persuaded by Alma's pleading, and their obvious distress, Marcus accepts the case. No one, including Marcus himself, can believe how quickly his investigation untangles a web of deceit that stretches from Washington , D.C., to Europe and Asia and back to his own North Carolina backyard. With the power to obstruct, manipulate, intimidate, injure, and eliminate, the giant multinational sports company New Horizons has never lost a case. But they underestimate Marcus Glenwood. Step by cautious step Glenwood moves forward to uncover the horrifying truth about New Horizons, Gloria Hall, and ultimately himself.

The Great Divide (Marcus Glenwood Series #1)

Bunn, T. Davis

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