The Gift Of An Ordinary Day - Softcover

Kenison, Katrina

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0446409499 ISBN 13: 9780446409490

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing, 2010

Synopsis

The Gift of an Ordinary Day is an intimate memoir of a family in transition-boys becoming teenagers, careers ending and new ones opening up, an attempt to find a deeper sense of place, and a slower pace, in a small New England town. It is a story of mid-life longings and discoveries, of lessons learned in the search for home and a new sense of purpose, and the bittersweet intensity of life with teenagers--holding on, letting go.

Poised on the threshold between family life as she's always known it and her older son's departure for college, Kenison is surprised to find that the times she treasures most are the ordinary, unremarkable moments of everyday life, the very moments that she once took for granted, or rushed right through without noticing at all.

The relationships, hopes, and dreams that Kenison illuminates will touch women's hearts, and her words will inspire mothers everywhere as they try to make peace with the inevitable changes in store.

*Includes reading group guide*

About this title

About the Author

Katrina Kenison is the author of Mitten Strings for God: Reflections for Mothers in a Hurry (Warner Books, 2000). She has appeared on Oprah and other shows. Her writing has appeared in O, Real Simple, Family Circle, Redbook and other publications. From 1990 until 2006, Kenison was the series editor of The Best American Short Stories, published annually by Houghton Mifflin. She co-edited, with John Updike, The Best American Short Stories of the Century (Houghton Mifflin, 2000). She wrote, with Rolf Gates, Meditations from the Mat: Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga (Random House, 2002).

From AudioFile

Many of us have had a stressful year, but few of us could write about it so lyrically. Even fewer could read this "mother's memoir" with such eloquence. In a voice so clear that you don't miss a word, Kenison describes her family's move and subsequent metamorphosis from a suburban Boston lifestyle to a rural New Hampshire existence, complete with hectic schedules, bunking in with grandparents, and the inevitable cost overruns of renovation. In the midst of this, she loses her longtime editing job. You may find her reading to be lacking in tonal variation, but you can't miss her love of family, empathy with her two very different teenage sons, sensitivity to nature, and optimism as they're revealed in this very personal journal. J.B.G. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0446409499
• ISBN 13: 9780446409490
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336