I expected this to be a rather dry book, but I actually really enjoyed it. The life of the nuns was incredibly rich, and their stories held my attention all the way through.

The bookring order for this is:
Catwoman (Canada)
mlbish (Illinois, USA)
Ramya (New Jersey, USA)
nillabreen (Massachusetts, USA)
lauraloo29 (Alberta, Canada)
catsalive (NSW, Australia)
guinevere69 (WA, Australia)
veracity (NSW, Australia)
Back to tantan in QLD, Australia!

Released on Monday, March 22, 2004 at ... by mail :) in Sent to a fellow BookCrosser, Bookring Controlled Releases.

I mailed this to Catwoman today as part of a bookring.

This book arrived in the mail today. Too bad books can't talk and tell you about their journey! Anyway, I'm looking forward to reading this one.

Enjoyable story. It was incredible how the book was able to show the individual personalities of the nuns, and to give you a sense of what their lives were like. Thanks for sharing this book with me.

Waiting for mlbish's address. Will send it as soon as I can.

Released on Wednesday, June 23, 2004 at Mailed to a fellow Bookcrosser in n/a, n/a Controlled Releases.

Sent to mlbish today.

Received over the weekend. Thanks for sharing! I'll read and pass along as soon as I can.

Unfortunately, this one just wasn't my favorite. I couldn't get interested in the characters or the story. I gave it the 100 page test and it didn't pass. Thank you for sharing, though, I think I know some people that would like it, and will likely mention it to them.

I will pass it on ASAP.

Mailed yesterday to Ramya.

Enjoy!

Catching up with journal entries ...
I received this book a couple of weeks ago -- it's on my TBR pile for the moment.

I am behind with many things, and it's time to move this book on, even though I have not yet read it. I will read others' comments with interest and will eventually check this title out of the library to read.

I'll get this out to nillabreen as soon as I receive an address.

This book is going off in the mail this afternoon.

I received the book a few days ago. Thank you!! I've read other books by this author and always enjoyed them, so I'm really looking forward to this.

I absolutely loved this book. Thank you so much for sharing it! I think it was especially interesting for me because of my religious background. I have been a Zen Buddhist for about ten years, and for the last three years or so I have practiced with a sangha in the Boston area. I have been to sesshins (retreats) where the time is regimented like in this book -- wake up at 4:30, begin zazen at 5:15, chant the liturgy at 9:30, free time for forty minutes in the afternoon (but it's silent -- no chatting). Everyone has their jobs -- server, cook, timekeeper... at the end of sesshin, everyone is deeply grateful for life lived close to the bone -- a sentiment expressed by Dame Philippa at the end of the book. Form is extremely important, and I could understand - in the note at the end - the loss that some feel is suffered by Orders that have adopted "lay dress". There are a lot of ex-Catholics in the sangha -- maybe just because this is Boston, but maybe because the formality of Buddhism appeals to them. Anyway, many people have commented on the overlap of Buddhism and some varieties of Christianity -- a nod toward that was made in this book when McTurk brought the Tibetan Lamas to Brede.

Some people wonder about religion separated from culture, and how an Eastern religion can make the transition to the West - what will change? what should change? In this book, it was fascinating to see the process in reverse -- the founding of a Catholic monastery in Japan, and the decisions of the Abbess and Mr. Konishi about how best to go about it. The story about how Mr. Konishi was inspired to the undertaking was Robert Aitken's story in reverse -- about a prisoner of war in World War II finding solace in the religion of his captors.

This book was a joy to read. But, it doesn't really hang together as a novel. First the tension is whether Philippa Talbot can become a nun at the age of 42, and then the tension is the election of the new abbess, then the financial distress of the abby, then Penny, then the Japanese nuns... the author conjured up a vivid tableau and then several events happened within it, but it wasn't really structured in novel form, around one central source of tension, which I imagine will be frustrating to many readers.

I am sending this book off to lauraloo29 in the morning.

Arrived today. I have a couple of rings before it and I have been struck with a nasty case of the flu. Not to worry. I will keep this book moving. Thank you.

I couldn't get into this book. I wanted to. Not being Catholic, I didn't totally understand some terms. I also found the book moved too slowly. Not to worry. :)

The next 2 people asked to be skipped. I'll be sending this book to catsalive next week. Thank you for sharing!

Book received today.

I enjoyed this very much, although I did get confused occasionally as it jumped around in time. It was very interesting & shows a lot of research. Definitely worth the reading.

I do not like religion & find the concept of nunhood unnatural & a great waste of human life, but I do find it fascinating. Although I'm not, & never have been, Catholic, I went through the little-girl phase of thinking it a great & romantic thing to be a nun when I grew up. It's a good thing I didn't, but I still get the occasional yen to live out of the worldly world, to escape. Yes, I'm afraid it rings too much like 'escape' for me.

Awaiting guinevere69's address.

Posted to guinevere69 today - 08/04/05.

got in mail yesterday

Was a bit worried about this book when I started reading, it was written in the 60's about a group of nuns, how boring was this going to be? However as I read on I was actually finding myself drawn into their lives and could definately see the attraction of this lifestyle. I wanted Phillipa to be successful and to find out what happened to her son. All the nun had weakness, none were perfect and none were expected to be. Very illuminating I look at nuns with a lot more respect and understanding now

Received back in my mailbox today after a trip around the world. It's still in quite condition considering it was quite an old book to start with. Going into PC for now, but I may let it go one day down the track. Thanks everybody for reading and passing along! :-)

On its way to DrCris as part of the OzVBB.

Sorry! This arrive ages ago but I thought I had journalled it. If Tantan hadn't contacted me, it could have been years until I got to it! Thanks to all. It looks very interesting and I look forward to reading it!