The Book Babes

MESSAGE FOR MARTHA: BOOKS MAKE THE BEST HOLIDAY GIFTS

Here's the way to start December: with some holiday book recommendations from the Book Babes! Today we joined Terri Trespico on Martha Stewart's Sirius radio show to talk about books, and below is a recap of our picks (with some extras thrown in) for your listening and giving pleasure. Meanwhile, don't forget the ideal gift for any book lover (esp. a woman) on your list: "BETWEEN THE COVERS: The Book Babes' Guide to a Woman's Reading Pleasures."

Margo's latest good read: "The English Major," by Jim Harrison -- the latest (and brightest) road-trip novel  
Ellen's: "A Mercy," by Toni Morrison -- Nobel Prize winner's fable-like novel set in early America

Margo's history pick: "Boone," by Robert Morgan (now available in paperback) -- no coonskin cap, no how
Ellen's: "The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage," by Daniel Mark Epstein --every marriage has its ups and downs

Ellen's sports pick: "The Great Swim," by Gavin Mortimer -- if you want to make history, dive into the English Channel   
Margo's: "The Given Day," by Dennis Lehane -- featuring Babe Ruth's pick-up game with black ballplayers -- fictional, but still...

Ellen's foodie rec: "Amarcord: Marcella Remembers," by Marcella Hazan -- the Julia Child of Italian cooking evokes her life and her kitchen
Margo's: "Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Ken Shopsin" -- Calvin Trillin's secret revealed, a Greenwich Village chef who offers more than 100 recipes from his legendary restaurant

Funny bone as channeled by Margo: "The Downhill Lie: A Hacker's Return to a Ruinous Sport," by Carl Hiassen -- losing at golf. What else is new.
Ellen: "Our Dumb World: The Onion's Atlas of the Planet Earth" (softbound! under $20!) -- if you were a "Seinfeld" fan, this belongs on your coffee table

Music to Margo's ears: "John Lennon: The Life," by Philip Norman -- what better way to mark the 40th anniversary of the White Album?
Ellen: "The Rest Is Noise," by Alex Ross -- a readable and fascinating guide to 20th century classical music

Ellen's pop culture pick: "Audition," by Barbara Walters -- the world's most famous interviewer turns the spotlight on herself -- and her foibles
Margo: "'Tis the Season," by Lorna Landvik -- fiction that spoofs celebrity by featuring a Paris Hilton/Britney Spears lookalike who's hounded by the press

Happy reading! 

JOE, ARIANNA AND THE BOOK BABES

The Book Babes have started a blog at www.HuffPost.com. Here's are first posting:

Hey Ellen,

With our first book ("Between the Covers: The Book Babes' Guide to a Woman's Reading Pleasures") coming out this month, I felt a tingle up my leg when I heard the news that Joe the Plumber also was coming out with his first tome - to be published with record speed by PearlGate Publishing on Dec. 1. We first-time authors have a lot in common.

First, there is the endless need for shameless promotion (like the paragraph I just wrote above). In 1990, the number of books published each year in the U.S. was about 55,000. Now the stack totters beyond 200,000. I totally relate to Joe's desire to stay in the public's eye for more than his 15 minutes of fame.

Of course, unlike most of us first-time authors, Joe the Plumber already has the advantage of name recognition - or at least moniker recognition (his real name being the far less memorable Samuel Wurzelbacher). But that doesn't always do the trick, as Simon & Schuster found out when Ronald Reagan's memoirs failed to fly off the shelves in 1990. And Reagan was a POPULAR president. This time around, publishers actually are urging the White House's Present Occupant NOT to churn out his version of "My Life" (Clinton's is the one Presidential memoir that did cash in). Apparently, the only Bush whose name is sure to sell books these days is Laura.

But back to Joe. He says he turned down more lucrative offers from bigger publishers and went with a smaller publisher because he wanted to spread the wealth around, a curious reversal on his part, but, hey, we all have room to grow. Now some in the blogosphere are saying PearlGate Publishing is a vanity publisher. But don't forget: One man's vanity is another's mission. Besides, who better than a plumber to launch a vanity?

At any rate, small publishers don't always mean small returns: Look at Health Communications, a tiny publishing house based in Florida that took a chance on something called "Chicken Soup for the Soul" which launched a series that has sold a gabillion copies. Talk about spreading wealth around.

Bloggers also are calling Joe's red, white and blue flag-draped cover "cheesy," which I think is totally unfair. As we know, authors have very little to say about their covers. That and so much else gets altered in the process of putting a book together. If Joe had gone to a big, pointy-headed publishing house, who knows what his title might have morphed into: "Samuel Wurzelbacher: Plumbing the Depths"?

And how wise he was to bypass the whole agent thing, the bane of most first author's existence. It must have been a relief to him not to have to spread that 15 percent of wealth around. Oops, maybe he hasn't grown that much.

But you gotta give him credit. He's been willing to take several pages from his famous Presidential interlocutor's playbook, particularly his clever use of the Internet to drum up support. "Joe the Plumber: Fighting for the American Dream" is available not only at the publisher's url but at Joe's own red, white and blue website (hey, maybe he actually likes his cover), where Wurzelbacher is launching a grassroots movement (does that make him a community organizer?) called SecureOurDream.com. I predict he sells a boatload of books. Yes, he can.

Margo

Margo my friend,

Speaking of shameless promotions: First Joe the Plumber (a.k.a. Sam Wurzelbacher) capitalizes on his YouTube moment with a certain President-elect. (What's amazing about that clip is not Joe's question, but Obama's deliberate and thorough answer: After only ten days on our recent promotion trail, I was getting cranky. Anyone who can maintain such poise after two years of campaigning must have a secret weapon. Nicorettes? But I digress.)

Next, Thomas Tabback piggybacks on Joe the Plumber's fame. Tabback's novel, "Things Forgotten," is the only other title on the PearlGate list, and from all appearances author and publishing house are the same. Tabback seems to have created PearlGate in order to self-publish his first work of fiction last summer and is now using Joe's celebrity to bring more attention to not only his imprint but also his own book. Clever ploy, that.

And nothing wrong with it, nor with the subject matter of Tabback's novel, which comes right out of the Old Testament, a.k.a. Hebrew Bible: A modern-day character goes back in time to when the Israelites bested the Canaanites to take control of their "Promised Land" -- a story that echoes down through the millennia and underlies the founding of the state of Israel.

Timeless theme, perhaps. But checking out the current bestseller list of the Christian Booksellers Association, I see that fiction is scarcer than meat at a church social, and this puts Tabback in a tight spot that Joe the Plumber may help him crawl out of. True believers, like their less religious counterparts, seem to be trading novels for advice books such as "Fireproof Your Marriage." But this you will love: #50 in the line-up is a book we chose for our list in "Between the Covers" of 10 to Help You Think More like a Guy: "Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, & Priorities of a Winning Life," by football coach Tony Dungy and Nathan Whitaker.

Notice how artfully the Babes have segued from Joe to Thomas to Tony (and back to shamelessly promoting our book). Pay it forward!

Ellen

• Barack Obama

Known as The Book Babes, Ellen Heltzel, a book critic who lives in Portland, and Margo Hammond, a book critic based in St. Petersburg, Fla., are the authors of "Between the Covers: The Book Babes' Gu...

Known as The Book Babes, Ellen Heltzel, a book critic who lives in Portland, and Margo Hammond, a book critic based in St. Petersburg, Fla., are the authors of "Between the Covers: The Book Babes' Gu...

ROAD VIRGINS: FINALE

This is how you feel after 10 days on the road promoting your book: Your eyes are so dry that you feel as if you had the starring role in "Clockwork Orange." You can't decide whether the clothes in your suitcase should go to the cleaners or be dispatched by flame atop your gas stove. And after sitting down to watch TV while having some dinner with your significant other, you wake up and, whadjaknow, it's 10 p.m. -- and the evening news has morphed into a rerun of "Rambo."

But exhaustion isn't the only thing the Book Babes felt after four days of visiting bookstores and filling TV screens in the Bay area. There are also wonderful memories of how superbly we were treated at Books Inc. in Burlingame and Book Passage in Corte Madera. 

On KGO-TV's "View from the Bay," we talked about what books worked best for women in T-shirts or jeans or poodle skirts (a dog book, of course!). We took on dating and mating with Henry Tenenbaum, the colorful and good-humored host of KRON-TV's "Weekend Daybreak." We autographed scores of books for fellow Book Babes (anyone can join!), and many more with hopes that they'll find a place to land by Christmas.

We marvel when recalling the support we Book Babes received from Bay area relatives who came out to see us at our bookstore appearances. We also thank the women authors who joined us at Book Passage -- Liza Dalby ("Tale of Murasaki"), Caille Millner ("The Gold Road: Notes on My Gentrification"), Ruth Gendler ("Notes on the Need for Beauty") and Maureen Adams ("Shaggy Muses"). They offered an articulate and moving testimony to the value of the writing life -- and women's solidarity. 

And did we mention the blue skies and record-breaking temperatures? They brightened our stay. That and the hospitality of Michelle Passoff and Andre Kuppermunz, who opened their arms and home to the Book Babes in the Oakland Hills; the generosity of readers, interviewers, and friends, and -- last but hardly least -- the encouragement of Renee Sedliar, the San Francisco-based editor of "Between the Covers," who defines what a good editor does: She kept her magic hidden from view in the book so that all the credit would be ours.

As many authors have told us, promoting a book is harder than writing it, probably because it seems so unnatural. In an ideal world, writing speaks for itself, and there's no need to strut your stuff like a performing seal. But in the real world, you need to meet the public in order to draw attention to your work. Even with the fatigue, this task seems more like a privilege than we might have thought. Meeting other people who love to read is like finding long lost friends. You always have something to talk about.      

      

ROAD VIRGINS: ELLIOTT & ANNIE

Forget Abelard and Heloise. Our favorite bookish couple is Elliott and Annie. Seattle's Elliott Bay and Portland's Annie Bloom's, that is.  The Book Babes' appearances at those bookstores took place on rainy nights, but that didn't stop the dedicated readers who showed up to observe our well-honed Thelma and Louise act -- literary style, of course. (We only jump off cliffs in our imaginations.)

The three-hour drive up to Seattle from Portland (fueled by a java stop halfway) was seamless, and we arrived in time to have dinner with Seattle book editor pal Mary Ann Guinn at Cafe Pamplona, just down the street from Elliott Bay. A shout-out to Ellen's relatives who came to hear us and to Grant Bailey, who had hosted Margo when she was writing "Between the Covers" at his home in the San Juan Islands.

On the way back to Portland, we stopped at a hotel in order to be well-rested for our VERY early morning call at Portland's popular TV show "A.M. Northwest." (Kids, don't try this at home: Getting up at 5 a.m. to make a 9 a.m. curtain call is not the best way to begin your day.) We dutifully wore jeweled tones as requested -- red! -- for our interview with Dave and Helen. Dave stumped us when he said, "Name some titles." (Where to begin??? We feature about 600. Could you please be more specific??) But when we got down to particulars, we think we may have convinced even Dave that it would be fun to join a book club.

That evening in Portland, we appeared to a standing-room-only crowd at Annie Bloom's. Among the crowd were more of Ellen's relatives (what a supportive family!) and members  of the Book Babes Book Club. (More about that long-established Portland book club -- hey, we love your name! -- in future posts). Portland writer Floyd Skloot gave us a touching introduction, which included admitting his discomfort at using what enlightened men consider a pejorative term to describe us. Don't worry, Floyd -- or anyone else, for that matter! -- we really LIKE it when you call us Babes.

ROAD VIRGINS: WEBFOOT COUNTRY

     The latest from the Book Babes on tour: Last weekend netted scores of book sales -- and could have sold more, had Powell's Books stocked 75 books instead of the 40 that quickly ran out at our reading Friday night. We had a full house (100-plus?), and even Ellen's older brother tossed off an email saying how proud he was. So we must have kept  'em entertained with our Thelma & Louise/Lucy & Ethel routine. When we did the "Better TV" taping Friday morning, Meredith, one of the store managers at the Burnside Powell's, said we could prowl the store hawking our wares anytime. Apparently there's an opening in the Burnside store for clown-in-residence!

Wordstock seemed well-run, well-attended and a definite plus for the Babes. It was great to catch up with old colleagues like Nena Baker, who was touting her well-researched and well-reviewed book from FSG, "The Body Toxic." But not much time for chitchat: Besides the Book Babes' presentation, Ellen kept up a lively discussion with Stewart O'Nan and Mark Sarvas on the "Book Review Crisis," moderated by friend Floyd Skloot. Panelists ended up agreeing that it was less a crisis in reviewing as it was in the love and appreciation of our favorite pastime -- small comfort, that! But it was fun to spend time with Mark, who was creator of the original "Dump the Book Babes" campaign when we wrote our weekly column for the Poynter Institute. At the time he thought we didn't write enough about literary books, which we didn't: Our constituency, journalists primarily, was more interested in politics and current affairs. But we love attention of almost any kind, so we never harbored hard feelings (it's neglect that hurts).

Portland has a slew of art galleries located around Powell's, so Friday night we staged a post-function at the Froelick. Saturday night, friend Cheryl Tonkin hosted a dinner and served an excellent cioppino. Will the party ever stop?

    Margo's panel on first novelists showed that each author arrived at the Holy Grail taking a different path. Selden Edwards took his time getting there. He started his novel "A Little Book" back in 1974 and, after numerous rejections, endless rewrites and countless bouts of self-doubt, he landed a contract with Dutton in 2007. Sheesh. That's more than three decades of blood, sweat and tears. Luckily he had a teaching job.

    New Zealander and first-time author Rachael King, author of "The Sound of Butterflies," admitted that her first novel was the first she published but it wasn't the first she'd written: She'd shelved a more autobiographical novel when she realized that even she wouldn't want to read it. What a waste of time, her friends told her about the failed attempt. Not at all, she said. That's how she learned to write. By the way, she used to play guitar in a rock band.  She sold her guitar to buy a laptop, a sure sign of commitment if there ever was one.

    Randa Jarrar, author of "A Map of Home," kicked off her novel after a single sentence popped into her head: "I don't remember how I came to know this story, and I don't know how I can possibly still remember it." Once she wrote down that line, the rest of the novel poured forth. That line still is the first line of her first novel, the story of a girl who sounds an awful lot like Jarrar: the daughter of an Egyptian-Greek mother and a Palestinian father who grew up in Kuwait, Egypt and ended up in Texas. Edwards may have taken longer in time to finish his novel, but Jarrar certainly wins the award for most distance traveled.

    Next stops: Seattle's Elliott Bay bookstore and Portland's Annie Bloom's.

 

ROAD VIRGINS: THE TOUR BEGINS

Major League baseball wasn't the only excitement in Tampa in October. As Floridians ginned up to the polls in one of the most hotly contested election states, Oregon-based Book Babe Ellen Heltzel left Rain Country to join Florida-based Book Babe Margo in the Sunshine State. (Plane travel is a drag, but Ellen compensated with an Atlanta layover that gave time to eat jambalaya with son Jon and his girlfriend, fellow Book Babe, Jozi Hall). In Tampa Bay, the Babes evangelized for a cause of their own: "BETWEEN THE COVERS: The Book Babes' Guide to a Woman's Reading Pleasures."

Yes, the Babes' much-awaited first book drew hordes and television cameras (let's hear it for FOX TV anchor Cynthia Smoot, who actually read the book before our interview. We love her!). At the St. Pete Times' Festival of Reading, held on the University of South Florida St. Pete campus, we rubbed shoulders  with such journalist/author types as former New York Times' staffer Rick Bragg, former St. Pete Times editorial writer Martin Dyckman and CBS-turned-NPR man Dick Meyer.

Dyckman's "A Most Disorderly Court" gives his informed and dim view of the Florida Supreme Court; Meyer has done one of those David Brookesian sociological surveys in "Why We Hate Us." (In short, the answer to the question his title poses: We're repelled by ourselves -- now there's a mental image -- because courtesy and a sense of community have been replaced by crass commercialism. Every time you step out the door, you feel as if you're dipping into the cultural equivalent of Love Canal.)

We hear you, Dick. In an effort to put the nation in detox, we're banging the drum not just for our book, but also for the cause of reading. (However, may we take this opportunity to say that "BETWEEN THE COVERS" arrives this month at a store near you? PERFECT for the inquiring mind! IDEAL for holiday gift giving!) When we talk reading, what we mean is eyes to the page, and a sustained engagement of the mind and imagination. With reading levels among teens and adults in decline, it's like the global warming of the brain. You know the drill (and we're not talking oil): People who read learn the logic and vocabulary that are the tools of thinking. Thinking is fundamental to good citizenship. Listening to TV or music on your iPod won't do it. And you can quote us.

Other authors spotted on the U of South Forida campus: N.M. Kelby, whose "Murder at the Bad Girl's Bar & Grill" spotlights that emblematic symbol of modern life, the gated community, and Matt Rothschild, whose memoir, "Dumbfounded," proves that money isn't everything -- it was the ONLY thing that protected Matt from the consequences of his misbehaving childhood self.

In addition to the festival (nice turnout for our hour in the spotlight!), Margo (the St. Petersburg-based Book Babe) and Ellen (of Portland, OR) appeared in Tampa at Inkwood Books and were guests of honor at a Sunday afternoon Athena Society Plus reception hosted by Sandy Frye. We also were interviewed by Mary and Arlene for the WMNF 88.5 Women's Show and then later taped our own monthly radio show for the station. We ate a lot of good food -- in particular, Ethiopian at Tampa's Queen of Sheba and vaguely Spanish at St. Petersburg's Red Mesa.

Ellen returned home Tuesday, with the lingering impression of Tampa as sunny, green and very, very flat. This is the kind of thing you notice when you're from the cloudy, mountainous but also very green Northwest.

Chapter Two: Coming Soon!     

"BETWEEN THE COVERS": THE WEST COAST TOUR

     The Book Babes have just successfully completed the first leg of their "Between the Covers" book tour in the Tampa Bay area (where Book Babe Margo Hammond resides).  Thanks to all those who came out for our events. Now it's on to the West Coast (home of Book Babe Ellen Heltzel) where, once again, readers will be able to buy a pre-publication copy of "Between the Covers: The Book Babes' Guide to a Woman's Reading Pleasures" 

     The official publication date given in a previous blog was incorrect. The book will be published by Da Capo Press (part of the Perseus Group) on November 15 , the final day of the Portland, Seattle and San Francisco leg of Book Babes' tour. Books have been and will be available at all the Babes' appearances, thanks to the hard work of Da Capo, which has been arranging for copies to be shipped to the signing sites directly from the warehouse. So, if you are in any of these three Western cities in November, come early and get a pre-pub, signed copy!

     Also, check out the nearly full-page spread the Babes' got in More magazine's November issue (page 38). Book tours are better than Botox!

BOOK BABES WEST COAST BOOK TOUR

PORTLAND
    
     November 7: Powell’s Burnside store (downtown store at 1005 W. Burnside) at 7:30 p.m. The Book Babes will present and sign their book.
    
     November 8:  Wordstock: Portland ’s Festival of the Book, 777 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., at 1 p.m. on McMenamins Stage: The Book Babes will present and sign their book.

     November 9:  Wordstock: Portland ’s Festival of the Book, 777 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.

At 12:30 p.m. Ellen is appearing on a Book Review Crisis panel

At 3 p.m. Margo is moderating the First Book panel.

     November 12:  Annie Bloom’s Bookstore, 7834 SW Capitol Hwy, at 7:30 p.m.. Writer Floyd Skloot, author of "In the Shadow of Memory" will introduce the Book Babes who will present and sign their book. Skloot is the author of "In the Shadow of Memory," one of the books featured in "Between the Covers."

Also look for interviews with the Book Babes in Portland on 

“Better TV” with reporter BROOKE CARLSON (airing to be announced)

KBOO Radio in Portland, LIVE IN-STUDIO 9:30-10 a.m. on November 11

“AM Northwest” (KATU-TV, ABC) on November 12

SEATTLE

    November 11:  Elliott Bay, 301 S Main St., at 7:30 p.m. The Book Babes will present and sign their book.

SAN FRANCISCO

    

November 13: Books Inc, Burlingame store, 1375 Burlingame Ave. at 7 p.m. The Book Babes will present and sign their book.

     November 15: Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., in Corte Madera, at 1 p.m. The Book Babes will celebrate women reading with several authors who appear in "Between the Covers," including  Maureen Adams ("Shaggy Muses"), Liza Dalby ("The Tale of Murasaki"), Jane Ganahl ("Naked on the Page"), Jane Juska ("A Round-Heeled Woman"), and Caille Millner ("The Golden Road: Notes on My Gentrification"). The Book Babes will be introduced by San Francisco writer/editor Divina Infusino.

Also watch for an interview with the Book Babes in San Francisco on

KRON-TV in San Francisco, “Weekend Daybreak”


COMING UP IN DECEMBER:

An interview of Margo by Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio will be aired on   “Book Talk” Tampa Cable TV show throughout December

December 2: Ellen and Margo will be featured on Martha Stewart Living Radio/Sirius XM Radio at 10 a.m. ET.

December 16: Margo will appear from 7-8 p.m. at Schwartz Bookshop, 4093 N. Oakland Ave., in Shorewood, Wisconsin

December 20: Margo will appear at Andrea's, 2401 60th St., in her hometown of Kenosha, Wisconsin

 

THE BOOK BABES' BOOK TOUR: Tampa Bay

     The Rays are not the only game in town. Here is the schedule for the Book Babes who will be together this weekend in St. Petersburg and Tampa to debut their new book, "Between the Covers: The Book Babes' Guide to a Woman's Reading Pleasures," which will be published November 10 by Da Capo Press.

Thursday, October 23
     8:30-9 p.m. Watch Book Babe Margo Hammond, interviewed on WEDU-TV's Up Close with Cathy Unruh.

Friday, October 24
    12:30 p.m.: Watch Book Babes Ellen Heltzel and Margo Hammond on Your Turn on WTVT-Ch. 13 with anchor Kathy Fountain.
      6 p.m.: Come listen to the Book Babes at Inkwood Books, 216 South Armenia Avenue in Tampa. Books will be available for purchase and signing.

Saturday, October 25
     10 a.m.: Listen to the Book Babes on the Women's Show on WMNF-88.5 FM
     11:15 a.m. in Davis 130 on the campus of the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg: Come to meet the Book Babes at the Times Festival of Reading. Books will be available for purchase and signing.

WOMAN POWER

October is the month for... publishing a book! Almost on store shelves (official release date: Oct. 21, official on-sale date: Nov. 10) is The Book Babes' "BETWEEN THE COVERS: The Book Babes' Guide to a Woman's Reading Pleasures." To introduce it, the Babes will appear together in the flesh at the St. Petersburg Times Festival of Reading Oct. 25 and on the West Coast -- Portland, Seattle, San Francisco -- in early November. We'll post the complete schedule as those events draw near, so if you're in the area, please join us to celebrate.

"Between the Covers" recommends books by both men and women authors, but the choices were made on the basis of the books' relevance to women's lives. It's a book written by, for and about the joys and challenges facing the contemporary woman, from the teenage years through the so-called golden ones... which raises the question: Don't we want to make them ALL golden? 

Meanwhile, two ways to join the up-with-women zeitgeist: Ursula Le Guin's "Lavinia" and Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's "The Palace of Illusions." Le Guin dips into Roman mythology to retell Virgil's story, the Aenid, from a wife's point of view; likewise, Divakaruni draws from the ancient Hindu text, the Mahabharat, to bring women in that tale from out of the shadows. Publishers are hopelessly addicted to comparing new books to bestsellers in the hope that they can build a big audience for what they're schlepping. So forgive me if I indulge in the same awkward comparison. But if you think of "The Red Tent" dressed up in non-biblical clothing, you've got the idea of what both of these novels can provide. And with our world in such chaos, what better time to turn to the ancients for inspiration and guidance?   

Both of these books received four stars from Bookmarks magazine, the best publication for readers -- and I say this without knowing what if anything the magazine plans to say about "Between the Covers." We authors can only hope for the attention we so richly deserve.
-- Ellen    

FROM GOD TO VAMPIRES -- AND BACK

Journalists never quite get their arms around religious belief. Steeped in secular thought and purpose, they lack the tools to appreciate the power of faith. Books, especially highly personal ones, provide the best testimony to why God still matters in this godless age, and none better than Anne Rice's new memoir, "Called Out of Darkness." Rice, the great teller of tales about vampires, witches and the metaphysical evil lurking in the human soul, sums up her life journey like this: from total immersion in the Roman Catholic church and culture to 38 years of atheism, and finally back into the fold of the church. These abrupt swivels only make sense when she describes how her writing continually reflected and channeled the spiritual struggle going on inside her.   

Rice's story is complicated by the way she consciously chooses to put on blinders regarding church policies that she regards as wrong-headed, particularly the second-pew status of women and gays. But problems in the institutional church are not her concern, she says. More important for her is how the emotional power of the Mass and the religious traditions of her childhood shine a light on God who through his son Jesus Christ implores us to love one another as He loves us.

I read "Called Out of Darkness" in tandem with two books that take an entirely different point of view about challenging the status quo of institutional religion: Sue Monk Kidd's "The Dance of the Dissident Daughter" (first published in 1996) and a new release, "A Church of Her Own: What Happens When a Woman Takes the Pulpit," by Sarah Sentilles. Kidd, bestselling author of "The Secret Life of Bees," was a lifelong Southern Baptist and conventional pastor's wife when she became fully conscious and unable to cope with the sexism of institutionalized religion. Sentilles fell off the wagon on her way to becoming an Episcopal priest. Her book traces the sexism in the Christian church through the historical record and the experience of other women who have endured but is constricted by her own pain. Unlike Rice or Kidd, she has yet to rise above the flawed human institution to the spiritual promise beyond.
-- Ellen