Reading Catholic

Reading Catholic and catholic

Nancy Piccione

The Catholic Family Traveler: Washington, D.C.

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In the last few weeks, three different mom friends have asked for some ideas about what to see and do in the DC area, as their families are trekking there this summer. So I’m putting on my thinking cap to offer some quick ideas.

DC is a great travel destination. My husband and I met and married in Washington, DC; I worked there for quite a few years; and I still have a sister who lives there.  So I do know my way around the town a bit.

What’s so great about DC and the surrounding area?

First, most of the attractions and museums are free, so you can easily pop into things without much commitment.

Second, it is such a great walking (and bicycling) city. There’s so much to do and see outside, and one of the best ways to see the city is to walk from one destination to another.

Third, DC has a lot of fun food choices, from ethnic to American. I’m not a gourmet, and these people are traveling with families, so I’m suggesting fun and family-friendly ideas.  Since we live in a small town, eating out for us is a fun part of traveling.

First, let’s get to some of the attractions that are worthwhile seeing: Monuments. A day, or part of a day, is worthwhile to visit the monuments at one end of the National Mall.

When I took the kids to DC for a family graduation several years ago, we took an afternoon to do a “speed walking tour” (we had somewhere to be)  from the Lincoln Memorial and onto the monuments surrounding the Reflecting Pool. Here is the map of those monuments:

DC Monuments Final
This route covers a little more than two miles.

Museums. Another day (or more) could be taken with visiting some or all of the museums/attractions on this side of the Mall. Here’s a Google map of some of those sites that I think are worth seeing:

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This covers close to 2.5 miles.

I added the Old Post Office onto this map as it offers a food court. I think the one at Union Station is better, and also offers real sit-down restaurants as well, but I’ve added that onto the map for Capitol Hill sites.

The following map is somewhat more nostalgic one for me, as it goes near my old neighborhood, the Church in which my husband and I were married, and a favorite casual restaurant we enjoyed, Le Bon Cafe.

Capitol Hill walk

One other site that is important to see and well worth the short drive from the Capitol, is the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception  It’s worth trying to catch a daily Mass there, and then visiting the chapels to Our Lady throughout the Shrine. The one to Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of my favorites.

The bookshops/gift shops in the Shrine are really well-stocked, too. just right behind it is the John Paul II Cultural Center. I haven’t been there in years, so I’m not sure what is offered there, but it’s just a short walk from the Shrine, so if time permits it’s worth popping in. In the CUA/Shrine area, the student center at CUA called “The Pryz” has good and inexpensive eats.

Outside of DC, friends who are still local mentioned that the Air & Space Museum at Dulles is excellent:

Family members really enjoy running or hiking along the C&O Canal.

I love seeing Mount Vernon all times of the year. It’s not free but beautiful. I spent many Saturdays riding my bike from my Capitol Hill apartment to Mount Vernon, along the bike trail that runs along the Potomac.

Here’s what I do with a little extra time in the DC area: I am completely enamored of the idea of big city bike shares.  This is a program where bikes are available nearly free at many sites throughout a city.  There’s usually a small fee, like $6, to join the program for a day (or a year, if you live there), and then you can take a bike out whenever you want.

I first saw a bike share program in London when we were there in 2010, and when we saw them in Minneapolis on our Betsy-Tacy pilgrimage last year, I vowed the next time we went there, we would bring helmets and get these bikes for an afternoon or a whole day.

It turns out DC has a bike share program. If I were going this summer, I might try to bring along helmets and figure a way to do a ride, maybe along the Alexandria to Mount Vernon trail.

As far as eats outside DC, I have several fun suggestions, but they are more based on my time in DC many moons ago than anything current.

Arlington, VA, is known for ethnic eateries, and I have three ideas. I’m willing to be corrected or amended here, so comment away.

First, Vietnamese. My husband and I had our first date at a Vietnamese restaurant in Arlington, VA, called Cafe Dalat. But that no longer exists. Sad! I found one called Minh Restaurant. The reason Vietnamese was good in Arlington is there is a significant immigrant community; I hope that’s still the case.

The other kind of food is Peruvian chicken, a special kind of rotisserie chicken that is popular with Peruvian immigrants. El Pollo Rico is the classic version, and it’s excellent and served really simply.    I’m not a fan of Anthony Bourdain, but the video on their website shows how yummy the food is.

This is not exactly ethnic, but rather true blue DC in my mind: Red, Hot & Blue. We like to stop at the one in Annapolis sometimes on our way back from the beach. There are various locations.

Where to stay in DC? That’s for another post, but our family has stayed successfully here since we have family living very nearby.  One set of friends will be staying here . I think this property that is a great location, and Springhill Suites has been renovating its hotels beautifully lately.  If we didn’t have family up in the Northwest DC/Maryland area, I’d definitely try that one next time.

I have some ideas in my mind of books about DC and environs, but that will have to wait for another time.

Do you have any ideas for DC must-see attractions, must-do activities, or must-eat food?

First, What Are You Reading? Volume 33, June 2013

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Here are the questions I ask and answer on the first of each month. Or on the second of each month, when I forget to write this on the first of the month because life gets too busy. Thanks for being understanding, all my many and sundry readers.

The questions, as always, are:

first, what are you reading?


what do you like best about it?


what do you like least?


what’s next on your list to read?

As always, I hope you’ll consider your current reads on your blog and/or sharing here in the comments or on Facebook or Twitter. Happy reading!

First, what are you reading?

Awakened by the Moon, Leonard Marcus’ biography of picture book author Margaret Wise Brown.

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For fun, I’ve got Parenting: Illustrated with Crappy Pictures because  I entered a drawing to receive a copy of it from GoodReads, and I won. (More on that later, especially the title).

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What do you like best about them?

Awakened by the Moon has so many good lines about the writing of Margaret Wise Brown that I must quote:

“We speak naturally, but spend our whole lives trying to write naturally,” said Margaret Wise Brown.

Brown’s writing is “accessible but not predictable, emotional but purged of sentiment, vivid but so spare that every word felt necessary.” Yes.

Ursula Nordstrom, for a time an editor of Brown, had a habit of writing on less-than-great manuscripts: “N.G.E.F.Y.” The meaning? “Not good enough for you.”

I love that! I’m also hoping that people will refrain from doing that with my draft columns, blog posts and other writings. 🙂

Parenting with Crappy Pictures: Um, it’s really sweet (I’m going to talk about the title in what I don’t like). You just have to get over the title. Amber Dusick’s blog  is just so funny and clever for moms, especially moms of young kids, and actually very charming.

Her humor is fairly gentle, her parenting style tends towards the relaxed, and she just makes you laugh out loud. I dearly wish that I had had this book when I had smaller children, when you need to laugh out loud on a a regular basis or you are in trouble. Do you know me IRL? I’d love to pass it around to young moms.

What do you like least about them?

The sadness of much of Margaret Wise Brown’s life just breaks my heart, as well as the fact that she died so young, just as her personal life was moving towards happier and healthier.

The title of Parenting with Crappy Pictures is my least favorite, and basically the only thing I don’t like about it. It’s extremely funny and strange that I, of all people, would be the one to get this book in a giveaway. I’m really sensitive to language.

I realize “crappy” is not exactly “strong language.” I think this shows my sensitivity to language–it affects me to a pretty big degree, much like loud noises negatively affect some people. We are, for the most part, careful about it at our house partially because it bothers me, and partially to be sure kids don’t pick up bad habits.

For instance, when we are watching television and someone on, let’s say, Love It or List It says “crap” or takes the Lord’s name in vain, we all say, “impolite” because it is, and I don’t want my kids slowly picking up bad/impolite language from television. My kids (especially my younger kids) are actually better at this than I am, showing how I’m not as sensitive as I think, perhaps?

So I may wish the book had a different title, but it’s really funny and good, and encouraging for moms.

What’s next on your list?

I’m almost finished with Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation by Michael Pollan. It’s really good, and making me want to try out a lot of new recipes, like real sourdough starter, homemade sauerkraut, or homemade yogurt.

I’m reading Regina Doman’s latest novel, Rapunzel Let Down: A Fairy Tale Novel, and hoping it’s as great as her other novels for teens.

What are you reading this month?

Q&A with Robin Davis, author of “Recipe for Joy”

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Here is my Q&A with Robin Davis, author of Recipe for Joy.    As you can tell from my review from the last edition of The Catholic Post (click here to read that), I really enjoyed the book, and I enjoyed e-chatting with Robin about her book, faith and food, even after I learned (see final question) she is one of the rare people who doesn’t like the chocolate chip flavors at Graeter’s Ice Cream.  I’m not holding it against her (and if you’re a Graeter’s fan, you know what I mean).  Thanks, Robin!

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Q. Robin, tell readers more about yourself, your family and your work.

I’m the food editor at the Columbus Dispatch (that’s right in the middle of Ohio). I grew up in Dayton, but moved to California as soon as I graduated from college – I was one of those people who couldn’t wait to “escape.”

I went to cooking school, then worked for Bon Appetit magazine and the San Francisco Chronicle. It was a great life, but I felt something was missing. After my father died, I moved back to Ohio to be closer to my family, my sister in particular. That’s when I met my husband who was a widower with three young children.

Q. Recipe for Joy is such a great read about your life going from single living in the city to a wife, step-mom and Catholic convert. You talk about one of the challenges of going from living alone to in a family was the bigger messes that a family of five creates. (With a sick child right now, I’m pondering that having sick kids must have been a shock to your system.) What has been the best and worst parts of being a mom from someone who never intended to be one?

A.  Having a sick child is definitely one of the hardest parts. But here’s another thing I didn’t plan on: getting sick myself. Before I was married, I got a cold about once a year. That was it. But living with three young children meant I caught everything they did – sometimes twice.

The hardest part of parenthood for me was doubting myself. I felt like I had to have all the answers, and I just didn’t. It took a long time for me to realize that no one does, and longer still for me to recognize it was OK to tell the kids I didn’t know the answer or that I was wrong about an answer I’d given them.

The best part? Never being lonely. There is an energy to living in a family that I just didn’t get living alone.

Q. One of the things I liked best about Recipe for Joy is when you shared about your sense of not fitting in–of being a step-mom versus what you at first call a “real” mom; of being a working mom among stay-at-home moms, etc. I think all moms–really, all women–can relate to that. What’s the remedy for that, or how have you learned to manage it?

The solution for me was to not look at how I was different, but to look at similarities. I may not have given birth to these three, but all the parents I knew juggled getting their kids to various activities.

Maybe I was one of the few working moms among the kids’ friends parents, but I can’t think of a single mom who didn’t struggle with getting dinner on the table every night or worry about their kids eating a healthful diet.

Q. You’ve written about how supportive your husband was about the book. What do your children think of the book?

The kids have been wonderful. I let them read the proposal before I sent it out to publishers to make sure they understood what I was going to write about. I asked them questions about some of the things in the book to see how their memories compared to mine. And I asked them to read the finished manuscript before I sent it to Loyola Press.

It gave us excellent starting points for conversations that I’m not sure we might have had otherwise.

Q. As I wrote in my review, when I finished the appetizer chapter, I made the prosciutto-wrapped asparagus. I actually went out that day to buy the ingredients for friends who were coming over the next evening. It was easy to make and a huge hit (among the asparagus-eaters). What other recipes “must” I try from the book?

You have to try the Baked Goat Cheese Salad. We make an easier version several times a week with just crumbled goat cheese and whatever fruit we have on hand whether it’s the dried cranberries or fresh apples or even berries. And if you’re lucky enough to come across sour cherries this summer, be sure to try the pie. Even if you don’t want to bother with a lattice crust, a two-crust summer fruit pie (try it with blackberries or raspberries) is hard to beat.

Q. I’ve just started Michael Pollan’s Cooked, and I’m so struck by his writing in the first chapter about the importance of preparing food for yourself and those you loved. I felt like he was channeling GK Chesterton (or Robin Davis 😉 ) about the spiritual import of food and eating, more so than in his earlier books. Do you think the wider culture is more tuned into the spiritual aspects of food these days?

I do. The pendulum of food continues to swing away from fast and convenient to mindful. Before we even cook, we go to great lengths to know where our food comes from and who is producing it. We care about the larger picture of the planet because we’re all part of a community. Even for those who don’t call it spiritual or religious recognize the wholeness of feeding oneself and others.

Q. Because I’m active online, everywhere I look I seem to see so many nutritional “you-must-eat -this-way” plans out there, like paleo, vegan, real food, etc. Your thoughts on this trend, and how as Catholics we might approach this?

I believe each body is individual and responds differently to different foods and food groups. And I respect people who choose not to eat animal products because of moral convictions or push themselves to eat locally-grown produce and meats to support the local economy.

However, I grow concerned when I see people continuing to look for a magic pill of dieting or nutrition. We cut out entire food groups in the hopes of . . . what? Thinness? Health? Youth? As Catholics (as humans, really), we’re stewards of this planet. I think we do best when we choose foods grown in sustainable, humane ways that support the people who grow them.

And I think eating together – whatever you decide to eat – goes a long way in peace and understanding.

Q. You’ve been a Catholic convert now for some years. How do you find your faith changing over the years, and do you have a favorite prayer or way to pray?

My faith is less compartmentalized these days. It’s not just Sunday Mass or even grace before meals but kind of this more constant awareness of God’s presence. My prayers used to be what I called a wish list: things I wanted or needed from God. Now I try to give thanks for all the things for which I’m grateful.

And more recently, I try to silently just listen for God, to stop praying words at all, but I admit that’s really hard.

Q. Finally, I noticed among your other books is Graeter’s Ice Cream: An Irresistible History. Since I have family in Columbus (one of the few places that have Graeter’s ice cream stores) I have to ask: what is your favorite flavor?

Black cherry! Personally, I prefer the kind without chocolate chips, but I appreciate the company’s unique way of using chocolate in its chips flavors. Graeter’s is still one of my favorite places to go for ice cream.

How to travel with kids (and live to tell the story)

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I’m diverging a little from Picture Book Monday right now because, while I have several posts-in-progress on Picture Books, this topic came up on Facebook, and I thought it (and an accompanying post on good traveling books and audiobooks) would be useful.

Over the years, our family has put hundreds of thousands of miles on one minivan, and now a second, in traveling with kids. And while our children are now in the teen/tween years, I still recall the challenges of pre-reader traveling.

Some of the strategies we’ve developed work well not just with younger kids, but with older ones as well. And most of these involve books.

Without further ado, here are four strategies for traveling with children (and living to tell the story):

1.  Name it and claim it: your kids are good travelers.

Repeat this to yourself and to your children all the time. Use the phrase so much, whether it’s a trip to Target or church, that either it becomes true, or it becomes your family’s perception of truth. And the latter is more important, because how you approach and view a trip goes a long way towards your enjoyment of a trip, before, during and after.

I’m not saying this because our trips are always flawless. Our family has experienced, sometimes within the space of one hour: carsickness, the throwing of books, the throwing of food, the throwing of shoes, crying, hitting, fighting, biting or attempted biting, complaining and other bad behavior.

Traveling with kids is not going to be pretty, sometimes.

But sometimes, traveling with kids is great, and you need to focus on those times. And when you’re talking about your trips, don’t dwell on the carsick/hitting/fighting hour (or hours), but instead on the fun times you had.

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perspective really is everything

We have several trips as a family that, frankly, if I could count up the carsickness or other negatives (see above), it would sound like a trip through a deep dark place. But our kids now talk about some of these trip as “the most fun ever” because we remember the Utz chips we got, or hiking a tiny portion of the Appalachian Trail (we saw a sign for this once and left the highway–it was well worth the detour) or listening to Narnia CDs.

Your kids are good travelers. Really.

2.  Employ the principle of “halfway.”

This is probably my favorite traveling strategy with kids, and one we use in various ways. When our kids were younger, we primarily used “halfway” with DVDs on a trip.

[I know some families on principle will not use DVDs or other devices on car trips. Some of these are my dearest friends, and so I say this with affection only, that their motivation is perhaps time off purgatory? Because strategically used, DVDs (and these days, devices like iPads) can be golden on trips.]

“Halfway” means that we wait until more than half of a trip, or a day’s journey, before we pop in a DVD or break out the devices. This basically eliminates the constant questions about “when can I play on the iPad?” or “when can we watch a movie?” because the answer is always: “halfway.”

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This photo “kind of” (or halfway) illustrates halfway, and it’s really beautiful, too.

So, for instance, on our regular trip to Columbus, Ohio, which is almost exactly 400 miles, we would stop on the east side of Indianapolis. That is usually about 220 miles into the trip. (That doesn’t mean we wouldn’t stop before then for bathroom breaks or other things, just that this one was our planned “halfway” stop).

At “halfway,” the kids would pick out a DVD to watch. If it were a full-length movie, we’d be almost to Columbus by the time it was over, and the last bit of driving was usually easy.

On a longer, multi-day trip, we would know how far we were going in a day. So, for instance, on a 600-mile day, we would wait until 300 miles or thereabouts to break out the DVD or devices. It helps kids (and parents…) practice delayed gratification, and it helps the DVDs be most effective, in giving kids and their parents a rest.

Have we always used “halfway”? No. I recall one day’s journey that was slated to be close to 700 miles. In the first hour, a child got carsick over several car seats and a good portion of the back of the van. By the time we had cleaned everything and everyone up and continued on our way, it was time for a DVD (and some deep breathing for mom & dad).

But overall, our kids know the “halfway” strategy, and it works well for us.

If you don’t use DVDs or devices (to which I again ask, why, oh my people?), you could use the “halfway” strategy for stopping for a special treat, or breaking out small toys to play with. I’ve used “halfway” successfully just for me, to put off eating Utz chips or dark chocolate M&Ms during a trip, my trip treats.

3.  Books are your friends (especially audiobooks)

As mentioned, I plan to do a post in the very near future of great books for trips, but more importantly, audiobooks for trips, especially for different age groups.

Younger kids can be especially be drawn into audiobooks, and even long stretches of listening don’t seem to cause the crankiness that too much DVD time seems to spawn.

In general, I wouldn’t use the “halfway” strategy for audiobooks, but I also wouldn’t start a trip with an audio CD. I would definitely use the first half-hour or hour of travel to enjoy the novelty of the ride. We say our traveling prayer (more on that next), we all get settled into our seats and maybe play with something or begin reading (or looking at) a favorite book. This can easily be stretched out for 20 minutes-half an hour.

But after the bloom wears off, it may be time for starting an audiobook. I have fairly good-sized collection of audiobooks that we own, and I’ve imported into iTunes. I also borrow audio CDs from the library to use for trips.

Two important provisos in using audiobooks on trips:

–proviso one: remember C.S. Lewis: “No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.” This goes double for an audiobook that everyone will be listening to. Please choose something that everyone will enjoy, not just children.

(As an example: one of my children went through a “Magic Tree House” book reading phase; they are great for emergent readers. But as a read-aloud or audiobook, especially on a trip, those books would be death, at least to me).

So choose a good quality audiobook with a good narrator. If the driver, like my husband, isn’t sometimes as eager about a particular audiobook or narrator, you can divert the sound to the back of the vehicle.

–proviso two: sometimes you have to use audiobooks in small doses, say, half-hour increments. Sometimes an audiobook may be a challenge for kids, and while 30 minutes can work well, longer might tax their attention.

If we find an audiobook choice (or the prospect of said audiobook) not as appealing, sometimes I’ll say, “let’s give it 20 minutes” and often it captures our attention. If not, we pick out another one.

4.  Start with prayer.

Perhaps I should have started this discussion sharing about the power of prayer, but I think this is also a good way to wrap up. Our family starts each day of a trip with a prayer from a Franciscan prayer book my husband got for me when we were first married. It’s dog-eared, and I found it buried in a door well of the minivan at the moment.

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But we all know this prayer of “traveling by vehicle” by heart now, and it’s a beautiful beginning to any trip:

Lord God, be well-disposed to our prayers, and bless this vehicle with your holy hand. Appoint your angels as an escort over it, who will always shield its passengers and keep them safe from accidents.

And as once by your deacon Philip, you bestowed faith and grace upon the Ethiopian seated in his carriage and reading Holy Writ, show also now the way of salvation to your servants, in order that, strengthened by your grace, and ever intent upon good works, they may obtain, after all the successes and failures of this life, the certain happiness of life everlasting, through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Do you have a favorite strategy for traveling with kids?  Other moms have offered some great ideas for traveling with small ones.  Here’s just one link to Bonnie’s ideas for making it a fun trip and here is one by Dianna Kennedy with 10 top tips.  Do you know of any other good ones?

Meet a Reader: Liesa Canino Dugan

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I’m delighted to share the book loves of Liesa Dugan’s, this month’s “Reader” in The Catholic Post. She’s a fellow mom of teens and a fellow coffee lover.  I think the two must be connected, no?  I first met Liesa at the Catholic Press Association Midwest Meeting (I wrote about my experience there–you can click here to read that story).   At CPA Midwest, I really enjoyed Liesa’s comments during a breakout session, and I’ve been glad to get get to know her a little better these past few months.  Thanks, Liesa!

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How you know me:

I am a long-time transplant to Peoria from the Chicago suburbs.  My husband Jim and I started our lives here in Peoria over 20 years ago: two of our three daughters were born here.

We’ve left Peoria twice, moving to South Bend, IN for five years and Beijing, China for a year; only to return to our adopted home of central Illinois.

I’ve spent a good part of my motherhood involved with the Elizabeth Ministry in three different parishes, most recently at our current parish, St. Jude in Peoria. The group continues to thrive and serve young moms in our parish today, thanks to the dedication and love of many of its members and newest leader, Anne Conway-Whitmore.

Most recently, I assisted renewed Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Peoria with their communications plan.

Why I love reading:

Growth, depth, knowledge, understanding, humor and comfort – I absorb all those gifts from the books I choose to read.  I have to admit, I am a very picky reader. I cannot count the number of books I’ve picked up, read a few pages and then abandoned. I really have to be grabbed by the content and the writer’s voice to stay motivated to keep turning the pages.

What I am reading now:

Becoming Catholic, Again: Connecting the Faith We Were Taught with the Faith We Live By Catherine Wiecher Brunell. Wow, it’s like the author and I went through a part of childhood together.

Sometimes I find books written by a person with their own faith story a little simplistic, but I was thrilled that Brunell managed to grab me with this story of an ‘everyday mom’.  The depths of her writing about faith and spiritual awareness through her everyday living is similar to looking into the drop of the Grand Canyon!

She has clearly spent many hours of reflection and prayer before deciding to write this book about it.  Her writing also appeals to me because you can choose to hop around the book, not be bound to reading cover to cover.  This gives the reader the opportunity to discover and digest what might be thought-provoking to them at that moment.

My favorite book:

‘Tis by Frank McCourt. Most know him as the author of 
Angela’s Ashes, but I fell in love with McCourt tucked in the pages of ‘Tis. The book started out with Frank entering this country as a young adult and the life he built upon his childhood struggles.

Even though most people know McCourt’s more famous work Angela’s Ashes, I have never read it. I tried to, but once I read this autobiography and learned how he moved past the childhood struggles of Ireland, I couldn’t ‘go back there’.   Just as I suppose, neither could he.

This book was responsible for giving me a passion and appreciation for well-written, challenging books at an adult level. It also challenged my Catholic faith which inspired me to explore it!

Looking for Good Mother’s Day or Father’s Day Gifts?

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Here’s my column that appears in this weekend’s print edition of The Catholic Post.

With Mother’s Day right around the corner, and Father’s Day not too far behind, here are two “outside the box” books to consider as gift ideas for the special women and men in your life.

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First is A Season of Mystery: 10 Spiritual Practices for Embracing a Happier Second Half of Life by Paula Huston.

This might not be ideal for a young parent of small children, but at the same time it’s not only for your grandparents or great-grandparents. I’m solidly in middle age, and I found this book both challenging and uplifting, a spiritual resting place in my busy life. I also found it provides encouragement to keep an eye on the real future of life after death, and what that means for my life now.

I struggle with how to characterize A Season of Mystery.

Is it a memoir? Not strictly—Huston does reflect on her journey so far, but brings in so much more.

Is it a how-to of getting older? Well, sort of–and yet there’s so much wisdom in unpacking the stages of later life.

Huston offers 10 time-honored spiritual ways (from listening to accepting to blessing, and mroe) that people through history have embraced, instead of fighting against, getting older and what that means.

Mostly, A Season of Mystery offers space for reflection on life’s later stages. Let me share three elements that make this book golden:

*the lovingly stories of Huston’s family and dear ones, and those she knows, and how they exhibit grace (or not) in later life. Her mother moves from the family home to a senior community and befriends others. A beloved monastic friend faces illness and helplessness, and learns to accept help gracefully. A neighbor faces death with honesty and beauty.

*stories and wisdom from little-known (to me) saints and spiritual writers such as Evagrius and St. Seraphim of Sarov about growth in the spiritual life. There are so many nuggets for pondering, I found myself actually annoyed by how often I wanted to write down a quote or concept.

*Huston’s own reflective and open way of writing about her history, her failings and how she seeks to grow in her second half of life.

Very different, and very enjoyable (especially for moms), is Recipe for Joy: A Stepmom’s Story of Finding Faith, Following Love, and Feeding a Family by Robin Davis.

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This book is Davis’ honest and uplifting memoir of faith & family. She vows to never move back to her home state of Ohio, never get married, and never join an organized religion. She does all three, and adds in three children, when she marries a widower after moving back to, yes, Ohio.

Each chapter of Recipe for Joy is a meal course, from The Toast to The Dessert, and the writing of a particular chapter reflects the theme. In “The Soup,” for instance, she writes of the struggles of blending into her new family. In “The Bread,” she writes honestly about her struggles with depression and not-fitting-in among the other “real moms” since she is a stepmom and a working mom among stay-at-home moms.

At the end of each chapter, there’s a tasty recipe. Because the recipes are elegant but fairly simple, I felt confident to try (so far) the the prosciutto-wrapped asparagus. It was delicious, and I’ve bookmarked most of the others.

But consider the recipes a bonus treat.

What’s really best about Recipe For Joy is the nourishment of a well-told story, how Davis weaves together family and candor in sharing her struggles as a wife, stepmom, and fledgling Catholic. You’ll come away from “Recipe for Joy” perhaps ready to try a few new recipes. But better, you’ll find yourself spiritually fed and encouraged in your Catholic faith.