"Thoughtful, surprising ... aims to inspire us to think differently about how we keep our domestic space. The importance of loving family, self and something transcendent ties these writings together. It's hard to resist."—Washington Post
“A timeless theme ... a cultural landmark exploring our changing attitudes about home."—Detroit Free Press
“Lovely.... Articulates what many women know but hesitate to admit: housekeeping has a unique spiritual quality, if only we will tap into it. Simply read and enjoy whenever you need to find the sacred in housekeeping once again."—Marcia Ford, author of Finding Hope: Cultivating God's Gift of a Hopeful Spirit
“Finds meaning in the ever-present reality of housekeeping.... It is at once lovely, inspiring and thoughtful.”—Karyn D. Kedar, author of The Bridge to Forgiveness: Stories and Prayers for Finding God and Restoring Wholeness
“Slowly shakes loose our need to constantly distinguish small from large, mundane from sacred, interior from exterior…. Uncommonly joyful in the way it affirms the simplicity we sense directly in spiritual life, while at the same time including the mysteries and intensities of the immeasurable dwelling place.”—Bonnie Myotai Treace, Hermitage Heart Zen
“An eclectic and ecumenical treasury of writings—ancient and modern, poetry and prose, secular and sacred…. Dissolves the boundaries between drudgery and dharma, celebrating the opportunities for transcendence that can be found in the everyday. Feng Shui for the heart, mind and soul.”—Arthur Goldwag, author of The Beliefnet Guide to Kabbalah
“Rich ... will amuse and edify, prompting readers to reflect on the ways that the most mundane requirements of life are inseparably bound up with the transcendent.”—Books & Culture: A Christian Review
“Bring[s] light into an often mundane subject.”—Catholic News Service
“Delightful.... Will transform the way you look at that load of laundry or broom in the corner. It may even inspire you to find sanctuary in that sink full of dirty dishes.”—Presbyterians Today
“Inspires us to see [household chores] as prayer and a doorway through which Love can enter and dwell in our homes.... Helps us see ways to begin cleaning the interior stains and grime out of our hearts and minds.”—Quaker Life
“Brings beautiful order and a sense of peace to the tasks of keeping house.... A treasure.... If [we are] to pray always, as St. Paul urges, [this book] makes it seem more possible.”—St. Anthony Messenger
From one of the most innovative religious publishers comes a book that many readers may skip over in stores. Inspiration in housekeeping? But Peck's breadth of vision in choosing dozens of selections on this timeless theme turn the book into a cultural landmark exploring our changing attitudes about home.
—David Crumm
As the Book of Ecclesiastes says, there is "a time to keep, and a time to throw away." And a new collection of writings about the serenity -- indeed, the spirituality -- to be found in creating order at home suggests that the time for the latter is now.
"Next to Godliness" (Skylight Paths Publishing, $19.99), compiled and edited by Alice Peck, is not a guide to how to clean but a thoughtful, surprising anthology that aims to inspire us to think differently about how we keep our domestic space.
—Ron Charles
In recent years Americans have had a renewed love affair with their homes, so it's no surprise to discover new attentiveness to cleaning them. This collection of tidbits from essays, fiction and poetry that reference housecleaning, compiled by an editor and producer in the television industry, explores everything from Booker T. Washington scolding Negroes who kept house poorly to the "big mess" made by the attacks on the Twin Towers. The book, from a multifaith and multicultural perspective, includes everything from the obvious and well-known (Thich Nhat Hanh and Brother Lawrence on washing dishes) to the less expected (Jarvis Jay Masters writing about cleaning his cell on death row). Some pieces have only the most tenuous connection to housekeeping, much less what's sacred about it, such as the excerpt from Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain, where cleaning serves primarily as backdrop. While many excerpts are intriguing, the collection is largely unprocessed, with only brief introductions to the sections on washing dishes, laundry, sweeping and so forth, and no introductions to the individual excerpts. While each piece includes some aspect of housekeeping, the reader is left not quite knowing what to make of the whole. (Feb.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
