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pattydsf's review against another edition
4.0
”To get older is to watch the door close inch by inch
against my will so that the inflow of silky air
stops, and the creek’s subtleties of sound
in the small house of my ear I listen closely to
the message of blood, knowing others are deaf to it.”
I have read a few of Shaw’s poems. I know that Shaw was a close friend of Madeline L’Engle, who has been one of my heroes for some time. However, I really didn’t know much about Luci Shaw herself. Which meant I was intrigued by this title when I saw it in the library catalog.
Shaw is a brave woman. Beside the fact that she still tent camps at 84 and travels quite a bit, she is brave because she is honest. I am not a writer for many reasons, but one of them is that writers should be scrupulously true to themselves and their readers. I don’t think I could do that. However, Shaw does. She tells about her faith and her doubts, her questions and the possible answers that come to her. Shaw talks about her health and the changes in her life. She says at the beginning of this volume that she will share her life as she reaches the summit. For this reader, she does this in a very admirable and authentic way.
I am glad I took a flyer and checked this book out. I may go and find more books by Shaw. She is a fascinating woman.
Exit
When you go,
will you go with a sizzle –
a spiteful spitting on a
hot plate,
a jig of steam?
With a crystal sigh on a beach
to leave a bubble?
Or will your trickle
run, thin, silver,
to the open ocean?
against my will so that the inflow of silky air
stops, and the creek’s subtleties of sound
in the small house of my ear I listen closely to
the message of blood, knowing others are deaf to it.”
I have read a few of Shaw’s poems. I know that Shaw was a close friend of Madeline L’Engle, who has been one of my heroes for some time. However, I really didn’t know much about Luci Shaw herself. Which meant I was intrigued by this title when I saw it in the library catalog.
Shaw is a brave woman. Beside the fact that she still tent camps at 84 and travels quite a bit, she is brave because she is honest. I am not a writer for many reasons, but one of them is that writers should be scrupulously true to themselves and their readers. I don’t think I could do that. However, Shaw does. She tells about her faith and her doubts, her questions and the possible answers that come to her. Shaw talks about her health and the changes in her life. She says at the beginning of this volume that she will share her life as she reaches the summit. For this reader, she does this in a very admirable and authentic way.
I am glad I took a flyer and checked this book out. I may go and find more books by Shaw. She is a fascinating woman.
Exit
When you go,
will you go with a sizzle –
a spiteful spitting on a
hot plate,
a jig of steam?
With a crystal sigh on a beach
to leave a bubble?
Or will your trickle
run, thin, silver,
to the open ocean?
timhoiland's review against another edition
4.0
In her endorsement blurb on the back cover of Adventure of Ascent: Field Notes from a Lifelong Journey, the novelist and spiritual writer Paula Huston writes that Luci Shaw, an octogenarian poet who on this occasion has tried her hand at autobiographical prose, “embodies what it means to be a fully flourishing human being.” That puts it exactly right.
In her new memoir, Shaw writes poetically, to be sure, but she’s also legitimately funny and, it seems to me, a bit mischievous. Because this is a book about aging—and at least peripherally about the inevitability of death—you could say Shaw’s winsomeness is the sugar that makes the medicine go down.
“In this book,” she writes in the early pages, “I hope to act as a scout moving into new territory and reporting back to the coming generation so that you may know what it’s like, and what to be ready for.”
Despite the book’s subtitle, I found this assortment of brief anecdotes and reflections to be not so much a summary of what she’s learned over the years (though there’s a fair amount of memory here too), but primarily what she’s learning now, today, in this stage of life—at funerals, doctor’s appointments, and conversations with grandchildren. She’s a lifelong learner, after all—an unceasing observer of the world and its quotidian mysteries, to borrow that useful term.
But here’s the thing: I don’t know how to review a book like this. There’s no clear thesis that I can perceive. There aren’t really any contestable arguments or cheap shots at the expense of others. The book is likewise devoid of Five Simple Steps for Aging with Excellence.
So rather than review it, I decided I’d simply share a selection of my seven favorite quotes. Some are lighthearted, some are more serious. But they’re all, in my estimation, quite good.
“The trouble with aging is that there’s really no remedy. In the end, no one survives it.”
“So much is wrong with the world, but so much of it is right, particularly the parts that seem to have spilled directly from the Creator’s hand!”
“If I sometimes sound cynical, bear with me. I’m fighting an existential battle against annihilation.”
“I guess we could live in a barren barn or a sparsely furnished apartment, but beauty and art feed our spirits and reflect something of Grace in our lives.”
“I’m finding that remembering God’s patience with me and my foibles assists my focus on patience with others. I expect things to be done logically and efficiently, and when they aren’t, my self-denial has to come to the fore and remember that the fact that things aren’t done my way doesn’t necessarily mean they’re done badly or wrongly or with flawed intention.”
“The forward movement of living is unstoppable, untraceable. Better make sure your decisions and actions are for the best.”
“I have glimpsed [God] in unexpected ways, and I have responded to this life I have been given with some misgivings but also real satisfaction, true hope.”
- See more at: http://timhoiland.com/2014/05/luci-shaw-adventure-ascent
In her new memoir, Shaw writes poetically, to be sure, but she’s also legitimately funny and, it seems to me, a bit mischievous. Because this is a book about aging—and at least peripherally about the inevitability of death—you could say Shaw’s winsomeness is the sugar that makes the medicine go down.
“In this book,” she writes in the early pages, “I hope to act as a scout moving into new territory and reporting back to the coming generation so that you may know what it’s like, and what to be ready for.”
Despite the book’s subtitle, I found this assortment of brief anecdotes and reflections to be not so much a summary of what she’s learned over the years (though there’s a fair amount of memory here too), but primarily what she’s learning now, today, in this stage of life—at funerals, doctor’s appointments, and conversations with grandchildren. She’s a lifelong learner, after all—an unceasing observer of the world and its quotidian mysteries, to borrow that useful term.
But here’s the thing: I don’t know how to review a book like this. There’s no clear thesis that I can perceive. There aren’t really any contestable arguments or cheap shots at the expense of others. The book is likewise devoid of Five Simple Steps for Aging with Excellence.
So rather than review it, I decided I’d simply share a selection of my seven favorite quotes. Some are lighthearted, some are more serious. But they’re all, in my estimation, quite good.
“The trouble with aging is that there’s really no remedy. In the end, no one survives it.”
“So much is wrong with the world, but so much of it is right, particularly the parts that seem to have spilled directly from the Creator’s hand!”
“If I sometimes sound cynical, bear with me. I’m fighting an existential battle against annihilation.”
“I guess we could live in a barren barn or a sparsely furnished apartment, but beauty and art feed our spirits and reflect something of Grace in our lives.”
“I’m finding that remembering God’s patience with me and my foibles assists my focus on patience with others. I expect things to be done logically and efficiently, and when they aren’t, my self-denial has to come to the fore and remember that the fact that things aren’t done my way doesn’t necessarily mean they’re done badly or wrongly or with flawed intention.”
“The forward movement of living is unstoppable, untraceable. Better make sure your decisions and actions are for the best.”
“I have glimpsed [God] in unexpected ways, and I have responded to this life I have been given with some misgivings but also real satisfaction, true hope.”
- See more at: http://timhoiland.com/2014/05/luci-shaw-adventure-ascent
andreatisher's review against another edition
4.0
Delightful book. Which, since its subject matter is about aging and death, is remarkable. A breath of fresh air to this 40 yr old and I hope helpful to others as they contemplate their older years and the transitions required.
livingpalm1's review against another edition
4.0
A warming Saturday morning read that, at times, felt more like a front-porch conversation with a woman in my grandmother's generation. Luci Shaw is one of the writers I hope to emulate -- not in word only, but also in deed. I'm glad she wrote this honest, yet hope-full, reflection on the act of aging toward inevitable death -- her adventure of ascent.
Read a couple of my favorite excerpts here: http://blog.thissacramentallife.com/2014/04/five-favorites-books-i-read-in-april.html
Read a couple of my favorite excerpts here: http://blog.thissacramentallife.com/2014/04/five-favorites-books-i-read-in-april.html
pattydsf's review
4.0
”To get older is to watch the door close inch by inch
against my will so that the inflow of silky air
stops, and the creek’s subtleties of sound
in the small house of my ear I listen closely to
the message of blood, knowing others are deaf to it.”
I have read a few of Shaw’s poems. I know that Shaw was a close friend of Madeline L’Engle, who has been one of my heroes for some time. However, I really didn’t know much about Luci Shaw herself. Which meant I was intrigued by this title when I saw it in the library catalog.
Shaw is a brave woman. Beside the fact that she still tent camps at 84 and travels quite a bit, she is brave because she is honest. I am not a writer for many reasons, but one of them is that writers should be scrupulously true to themselves and their readers. I don’t think I could do that. However, Shaw does. She tells about her faith and her doubts, her questions and the possible answers that come to her. Shaw talks about her health and the changes in her life. She says at the beginning of this volume that she will share her life as she reaches the summit. For this reader, she does this in a very admirable and authentic way.
I am glad I took a flyer and checked this book out. I may go and find more books by Shaw. She is a fascinating woman.
Exit
When you go,
will you go with a sizzle –
a spiteful spitting on a
hot plate,
a jig of steam?
With a crystal sigh on a beach
to leave a bubble?
Or will your trickle
run, thin, silver,
to the open ocean?
against my will so that the inflow of silky air
stops, and the creek’s subtleties of sound
in the small house of my ear I listen closely to
the message of blood, knowing others are deaf to it.”
I have read a few of Shaw’s poems. I know that Shaw was a close friend of Madeline L’Engle, who has been one of my heroes for some time. However, I really didn’t know much about Luci Shaw herself. Which meant I was intrigued by this title when I saw it in the library catalog.
Shaw is a brave woman. Beside the fact that she still tent camps at 84 and travels quite a bit, she is brave because she is honest. I am not a writer for many reasons, but one of them is that writers should be scrupulously true to themselves and their readers. I don’t think I could do that. However, Shaw does. She tells about her faith and her doubts, her questions and the possible answers that come to her. Shaw talks about her health and the changes in her life. She says at the beginning of this volume that she will share her life as she reaches the summit. For this reader, she does this in a very admirable and authentic way.
I am glad I took a flyer and checked this book out. I may go and find more books by Shaw. She is a fascinating woman.
Exit
When you go,
will you go with a sizzle –
a spiteful spitting on a
hot plate,
a jig of steam?
With a crystal sigh on a beach
to leave a bubble?
Or will your trickle
run, thin, silver,
to the open ocean?
More...