BOOK REVIEW

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

BLESSED
Living A Grateful Life
By Ellen Michaud

OVERVIEW: In this book Ellen Michaud writes about the blessing you are to your family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, even the global community--and she'll help you see the blessings that surround you. This is a book of stories drawn from every day life. She relates stories about finding meaning, making a difference, celebration of friends and family, quiet time, and reinventing who you are.

AUTHOR: Award-winning author Ellen Michaud has written for the New York Times, Washington Post, Better Homes and Gardens, Health, Ladies' Home Journal, Parents, Reader's Digest, and Prevention, where she was editor-at-large for six years.

MY REVIEW: This is a book intended for women. So why am I, a man, reading it? Because I love to read stories from real life and this book is jammed  pack full of them. The stories are about living a grateful life and men need and want to know as much about gratefulness as women do. Well, almost as much! Diane Heavin, co-founder of Curves wrote: "Ellen's vision will help you see the blessing you are to your family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, even the global community--and she'll help you see the blessings that surround you." I like that. I like it very much. Ellen Michaud is a fantastic writer. Her words pull you into the story and make you feel that you are "there"--wherever "there" is. When reading her stories I felt like I was in a movie theater watching the stories unfold on the screen before me. When I came to the last words of a story I didn't want it to end. But when it did, I rushed on to the next one with eager anticipation. Many readers will think to themselves,"This is a book to curl up by the fire with in the winter time--and it is. But for people like me who live in Arizona, it is also a summer time book. Oh, I didn't curl up by a fire while reading because we are already running our air conditioner. But I did relax in my comfortable reading chair in the cool house and read and "dreamed" away. I recommend this splendid book to everybody--men and women who want to quiet the mind, still the spirit and hear the whispers of God in some wonderful stories. As Ellen says, "We are so blessed."

(I am thankful to FSB Media for providing this book to me for an honest review.)