I’ve been reading, or listening to, The Reed of God for book club. Number Five has joined a chapter of the Well Read Mom Book Club as well, so we are both enjoying the same book. Caryll Houselander writes in a personal way, like words she would write down daily without excessive attention to density or professional editing. After reading, or listening to, three Bill Bryson non-fiction books, this feels more like a conversation than a book. Her reflections are very personal, intimate, they reflect the development of her thoughts and imagination on the presence of the Blessed Virgin life on earth. She wrote it in London while the world was at war, and she brilliantly juxtaposes the Life brought by the Blessed Virgin into a world so full of death. Advent is the underlying theme, but she expands the idea of advent, or patiently waiting and letting something grow—to many different aspects of human life.
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