The Shaping of a Life: A Spiritual Landscape

Rating:
Summary: Interesting but long-winded
Review: I love "search for faith" stories and am drawn to the Episcopal Church which is why I am reading this book. However, Tickle takes too many jaunts down memory lane and I find myself skimming to get to parts about her faith. Many of her tangents do not seem to move the story forward. I am half-way through and do plan to finish it, hoping I will be rewarded in the end.

Rating:
Summary: A Well Wrought Sprituality
Review: Phyllis Tickle is an enthralling, unique, transmuted specimen of the homo sapien species that I wouldn't have known existed or believed in if I hadn't read her book, The Shaping of A Life. The book made a believer out of me, she is truly a kindred spirit. Reading Shaping of A Life was both a struggle and a delight. I have spent almost as much time with the dictionary as with the book. It is one of the most well-written, intelligent, entertaining, inspiring, sensitive books I have ever read. I absolutely know she has worked very hard all her life and what an extraordinary life it is. Amazing! I am so grateful that she was willing to share parts of it with us. I feel privileged in having had the opportunity to meet her in this incredible book. The Shaping of A Life is a unique experience that must not be missed. Now I want more.

Rating:
Summary: A Well Wrought Sprituality
Review: This is a lovely book! It isn't at all what one expected from someone religiously famous. Here is fine spiritual insight, wedded to incisive but highly courteous prose. Here is someone who leaps into God through the pages of T.S. Eliot, for Pete's sake. Someone who reads and has read widely, looking everywhere for God and finding Him. Finding Him in the mundane, unchurchy, and unpious events of her very life.

Rating:
Summary: An Invitation...
Review: Through one woman's story, we are invited to draw closer to the One who loves us the most. The beauty of Tickle's writing is that her tone is one of invitation to a life of prayer, rather than being preachy or self-congratulatory. By turns poignant and humorous, Tickle kept my attention through the very last page. My only disappointment was that her story ended much too soon. More, please!