Cold Tangerines

I, like many, have always had dreams of being a writer.

The book cold tangerines celebrating the extraordinary nature of everyday life by Shauna Niequist reminds me that this is a passionate aspiration. To want to be a writer is to look for the beauty in everyday life, to look at life from a descriptive and romantic viewpoint and to want to share this beauty with others.

Shauna Niequist does a wonderful job of putting the beauty back into writing, for me. Her writing is real, and her stories are vulnerable. She bares her heart, and isn't afraid to share her thoughts with us, even if those thoughts might not be pretty little packages with perfect bows on top.

In her collection of stories about everyday life, Niequist challenges. She exposes life for what it is, and poses a challenge to her readers to see it as such. A collection of experiences waiting to be enjoyed...to be seized...to be celebrated.

While many of her stories touched me and challenged me, there is one that stands out in my memory. the red tree spoke right to my heart, and I remember thinking "Wow...this girl gets it!" She wrote about how busy life gets, how tied up in details and events we can get, and how, when we're busy looking at the details, and our to-do lists, we often fail to see the life behind the to-do lists. The stories behind the details. She writes about not noticing a beautiful red tree that sits across from her home. She didn't notice it because she was too busy spinning, while something possessing such beauty was right in front of her. I can relate to this analogy on a painful level.

Short Stop said that this book is her. And I would have to agree that it is me as well. I too am flawed, vulnerable, broken, but longing to look for the beauty, the celebration in everyday life. I want to be sensitized to the beauty around me. To the precious price of every moment of this life.

Shauna Niequist has earned a place on my 'must read' list, and I look forward to reading more of her honest writing. I will recommend this book, and I will re-read this book.

Thank you, Short Stop for hosting this challenge. Thank you Zondervan, for being so generous with this wonderful book. And thank you, Shauna Niequist, for baring your heart for us.