Discover the Power within You by Eric Butterworth

My metaphysics group took two or three months to work through this book which is loaded with spiritual insight. It provided a lot of fodder for discussion, and my own copy is now rumpled and underlined and coffee stained. It is filled with:
1) philosophy ("Regardless of the forms it takes, what we call evil is simply the concealment of good." p. 118) and
2) psychology ("Man harbors a kind of subconscious sense of self-pity for the inequities of life." p. 139) and
3) theology ("...even as the subatomic particle has no existence outside of the electromagnetic field that holds the atom together, but IS the field expressing as a particle, so man has no existence outside of God, but IS the activity of God expressing as man." p. 75).

Even though I did not agree with everything and do have one page marked as "This page is BS," I would highly recommend Butterworth's work to anyone interested in spiritual growth.

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

Lahiri's short stories in Unaccustomed Earth are wonderful vignettes of smart Bengalis who have made the jump into American life. Her writing is excellent even though I quarreled with her word choice occasionally. For instance, I find it odd to refer to bathrooms in private homes as "the restroom." The last story at 110 pages is more like a novela. It is a romance that tracks two people through their less than perfect lives and leaves the woman with a difficult heart vs head situation. I think Jhumpa Lahiri's work is marvelous.

Nice to Come Home To by Rebecca Flowers

I probably would not have bought this book had the author not sat down for a chat at our table at the recent Baypath College book club event. Ms. Flowers was charming and is an interesting and accomplished lady. Nice to Come Home To is her first novel and a fun read about two sisters in their thirties looking for love in Washington, D.C.

The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith

I have followed the adventures of Precious Ramotswe of the Ladies #1 Detective Agency for several years. This ninth book of the series did not disappoint. I still enjoy the author's drollness in depicting the proper ladies of the agency and their adventures.

Here If You Need Me by Kate Braestrup

In this memoir the author tells of losing her husband in an auto accident and deciding to fulfill his dream of becoming a Unitarian-Universalist minister. She managed to get through seminary while raising four children and ultimately became the chaplain for the Maine game wardens. Her role involved her in desperate searches for people lost in the woods and sometimes the retrieval of bodies. She comforts families of the victims and shores up the wardens when the work is gruesome and painful. In a straightforward way Braestrup amuses the reader with a wonderful mix of the personal and the professional.