A well-crafted reconceptualization of the Christian daily devotional.
A Christian author offers a new approach to prayer.
Raised in a devout Catholic home, Hendey spent much of her life preoccupied with “doing” prayer the “right” way. While her intentions were good, this approach often left her feeling like she was just going through the motions. “So I suspended my normal rituals,” she writes; she began instead to “focus on the beautiful gift of encountering Jesus every day, everywhere.” This more informal approach impacted the author’s daily prayer practice and transformed her approach to reading the Bible and to her spiritual life in general. Drawing on her own personal experiences, as well as the Catholic tradition of Lectio Divina (reading the Bible slowly in contemplative meditation), Hendey offers readers a yearlong path to reimagining Christian prayer. The text is divided into 52 chapters that correspond with weekly activities, and each chapter is written following the same basic template. After opening with a passage from the Bible, the author applies the reading to her own life with a short anecdote recounting her experiences as a wife, mother, and Catholic podcaster. Hendey then cites inspirational quotes related to that week’s message (these include everything from the virtues of persistence and hope to guidance on dealing with grief and doubt). Reflecting the book’s ecumenical approach to Christianity, the quotes include observations from both Catholic saints and Protestant preachers in addition to lines taken from movies, novels, and pop culture. Each chapter concludes with daily reflection questions accompanied by lined paper for journaling and a relevant prayer. Those looking for an in-depth, scholarly exegesis of Christian scripture will be left wanting, as Hendey eschews delving into the complexities of Christian theology or doctrinal differences between denominations. Instead, the author offers a thoughtful spiritual resource for those seeking to incorporate their faith into their busy schedules.
A well-crafted reconceptualization of the Christian daily devotional.Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9780829460094
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Loyola Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 22, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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