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Rating: 
Summary: a lovely mystery
Review: I really loved this book. I liked the pace of it, perhaps because it reminded me of my own exploration of faith. There are those moments of introspection and insight and then, well, life goes on. Gallagher shows that those moments of insight can add up to something significant, particularly if they are interpreted through a deliberate process - her exercise in discernment. The moments she describes are all distinct -- racing on the freeway to church, folding altar cloths, walking in the hills above Santa Barbara -- but they start to add up, to build momentum, early in the book. I liked the simplicity of her writing. Her portrayals of people and emotions are restrained, but that may be why they are illuminating. I don't know what some of the characters look like, but I do know that I'd like to share a meal with them. I also appreciated her honesty - she reveals her own overly-harsh judgments, and finds ways to expose her own doubts without wallowing in them. It's a religious book, or a book about religion, I suppose. That's obvious from the title and virtually every page. But my first thoughts about it when putting it down had little to do with religion, or even spirituality. What we see in this book is an individual on a journey to find the work for which she is best suited. It's a mystery, an uncommon mystery. It's an interesting story, and very well written. It's a book I'll read again down the road.
Rating:
Summary: A profoundly moving statement about Life and Death and Love
Review: Nora Gallagher tells a wonderful story about the everyday as well as the "big" events of life. Through a year of searching for answers and asking the needed questions, she goes beyond the usual metaphors to look at how to deal with the death of her brother, how to reconnect to her husband and most significantly, how to make an decision about which road to take next in her life. Readers - don't be put off by the religious words and subtext of this powerful book! It is not a book about going to church, but rather about the value of people, prayer, introspection, respect and bravery in all our lives. Relish its beautiful language and poetic flow. It is well worth your time to live in the world created by Ms. Gallagher!
Rating:
Summary: Graceful Prose
Review: Practicing Resurrection confirms what Gallagher's first book, Things Seen and Unseen, demonstrates-the holiness of candor and the well-crafted word. By inviting readers to join her on a journey of deepening faith and vocational discernment, Gallagher provides us the opportunity to experience how each of us ministers and is ministered to. Her graceful prose, her expansive heart, and her exploration of our fragile and tenacious humanness make it easier to practice resurrection. This is a transformative book-sacramental in its ability to incarnate both the doubt and the grace requisite for faith.
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