Some things are NEW again

Some things are new again… 

Two and a half years before our oldest son was born I was working for a large advertising agency in Salt Lake City, Utah. As a television commercial producer I worked long hours and traveled quite a bit, I was rarely in my office - I was either traveling to filming locations or sitting in a post production studio in UT, CA or NY, recording audio, editing video and audio or coordinating live recording sessions with actors, foley artists or musicians.  

With this kind of schedule you can imagine how surprised I was that day when Marianne invited me into a very intimate group of women who diligently made reading good books part of their very active lives. Marianne, Sarah, Laura, Carrie and I met the last Thursday of each month to discuss and review the group’s selection. I anxiously awaited the handwritten monthly invitation to come in the mail.  When the fine Crane stationery arrived in my mailbox with the book title, the date, time and address of the discussion I found myself excited to dive into the book! I’d get in my car and get to the nearest neighborhood book shop and pick up the carefully curated selection of the month.  We read books like: The Red Tent and Cold Mountain (when they were published!) and authors like: Cormac McCarthy, John Irving and many other authors whose works are now the stuff of what High School curriculums are calling “classics.”   

This small group of lovely women in Salt Lake City, UT taught me … long before the likes of the wonderful book clubs that exist now, how important it is to stop, read, and then discuss. The fruit of our discussions taught me so much about my femininity, about friendship rooted in Faith and Charity. 

With this in mind the Integrated Catholic Woman community will begin our Book Club with a Book Study this January! We will begin with: The Willpower Advantage by Tom Peterson and Ryan Hanning, published by Ignatius Press. I hope you can join us live! Members can watch later! The link and dates are posted below. Please invite your friends - you’re ALWAYS welcome to bring a friend. (Book studies involve books which contain journal questions and/or workbook components.)

Here’s a post on the books I read in 2022 … and the start to my 2023 list. I hope to see you in our Book Club Discussions this year and get to know you through the books we read and experience together!

We meet on zoom at 4pm Eastern on Thursdays to Discuss* The Willpower Advantage:

Meeting ID: 840 9635 4341

'Passcode: 339965

January 12

January 19 

January 26

February 9

February 16

*the discussions will be recorded for the Integrated Members - if you would like to have access to the entire library of book club discussions, member office hours and other resources you’re invited to become a Living Integrated Member today! 

Mostly, I encourage you to read… read GOOD books - books that will: teach, inspire, help, soothe or heal. Read books that entertain your senses, mind and your soul. Read books that enrich and edify God’s amazing creation. Be particular about your books and hopefully as you curate your list, these books will aid you in experiencing growth, beauty, rest, leisure and perhaps even wonder. Perhaps you’ll be inspired to start a book club of your own - you won’t regret it! 

 P.S. When I get the urge to mail you something… I’ll need your address. I’d LOVE to be able to do that. Please share your snail-mail address with me at [email protected] 

Photo Credit: Craig Hoyt - taken on our way to the Outer Banks of North Carolina