Three Weeks With My Brother, Nicholas Sparks
'88 and Micah Sparks (Warner Books). Best-selling author
Nicholas, known for romantic love stories, and his brother, Micah,
took a three-week trip around the world last year. As Nicholas
writes, the book is a story of two journeys: "one that took my
brother and me to exotic places around the world, and another,
a lifetime in the making, that has led us to become the best of
friends." That lifetime, as readers learn, has been too often
marred by tragedies that tested their faith. Black-and-white family
photos are sprinkled throughout the text.
Keep the Faith, Change the Church: The Battle by Catholics
for the Soul of Their Church, James E. Muller '65
and Charles Kenney (Rodale). The story of the organization
Voice of the Faithful, a grassroots group formed to empower Catholic
laity after the clergy sex abuse scandal. Founding president Muller,
a Nobel Laureate, chronicles the group's call for reform while
also offering examples of how laity can help strengthen the church.
Muller was the subject of a winter 2002-03 issue profile in this
magazine.
Tender Hooks: Poems, Beth Ann Fennelly '93
(Norton). Award-winning poet Fennelly plumbs the "sharp/sweet
ambiguity of parenting" in fierce poems of birth and death, love
and anger, faith and despair, loss and laughter. Her poetry, notes
reviewer Ray Olson, relays "the experience of motherhood, including
the emotional pain of miscarriage, more convincingly and intimately
than any other poet who comes to mind." There's no sentiment here,
only a clear eye for the reality of being a mother that proved,
she writes, "wilder and deeper and funnier" than she ever imagined.
Integrity Matters, James F. Bracher and
Daniel E. Halloran '61 (Torchlight Publishing). As the list
of public scandals grows, Americans seem to have lost faith in
society's integrity. With real-life examples, the authors examine
how integrity can be restored to organizations, focusing on eight
attributes that should be at the core of business today. Their
recommendations for "constructive cultural change" encompass such
difficult issues as balancing truth with compassion and distinguishing
between form and substance.
I Love Being a Mom: Treasured Stores, Memories, and Milestones,
Therese J. Borchard '94 (Doubleday). A celebration of
the magic of being a mom, from the stretch marks that never go
away to the boundless joy a child brings. Essays, vignettes and
short quotes -- both poignant and funny -- combine to shine a
light on the life lessons being a mother offers. Contributors,
mothers famous and not-so-famous, include Anna Quindlen, Celine
Dion, Laura Bush, Sarah Jessica Parker, Alice Walker, Mary Lou
Retton and Marie Poyer, mother of 14. Photos and drawings complement
the text.
Learning Sickness: A Year with Crohn's Disease,
James M. Lang '91 (Capital Books). Through fatherhood,
earning a Ph.D., moving and starting a new job, the author struggles
to come to terms with the chronic illness that manifested itself
when he was 26. "I believe that illness and suffering can offer
us insights into the most important questions we can ask ourselves
about what it means to be a human being," he writes. With openness
and frank language, Lang discusses how his journey with illness
has affected his family, his religious views and his work life.
(July 2004)
