Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Anything But Simple: My Life as a Mennonite

Anything but Simple: My Life as a Mennonite 

Paperback 

July 25, 2017

by Lucinda J. Miller 

  • Series: Plainspoken
  • Paperback: 192 pages
  • Publisher: Herald Press 
  • ISBN-13: 978-1513801605

Like her grandmother, Lucinda J. Miller wears long dresses and a prayer covering. But she uses a cellphone and posts status updates on Facebook, too. Anything but Simple is the riveting memoir of a young woman’s rich church tradition, lively family life, and longings for a meaningful future within her Mennonite faith. With a roving curiosity and a sometimes saucy tongue, Miller ushers us into her busy life as a young schoolteacher.
Book 5 in the Plainspoken series. Hear straight from Amish and Mennonite people themselves as they write about their daily lives and deeply rooted faith in the Plainspoken series from Herald Press. Each book includes “A Day in the Life of the Author” and the author’s answers to FAQs about the Amish and Mennonites.

My thoughts: Memoirs are not preferred reading material for me, but this book sounded interesting.  I like Lucinda Miller's voice, she writes open, honest, and real, and this book is definitely organized in a realistic readable way, not jumping back and forth to little kid and adult. If it does it is only because the childhood incident relates to something as an adult.  It was fascinating realizing how similar Ms. Miller and I were brought up, although my Amish grandparents made a slightly larger jump of the fence from Amish to United Brethren. I grew up canning and dressed simply (in dresses) and other very plain things, though I never did wear a Kapp. 

If you are fascinated by all things plain and want a real, honest-to-goodness look at what it is like to grow up Mennonite, then Ms. Miller's ANYTHING BUT SIMPLE: MY LIFE AS A MENNONITE would be a great book to pick up.  It also includes a day in the life of the author and a list of questions she answered. 

A good read.  

2 comments:

Marilyn R. said...

Anything But Simple, My Life as a Mennonite sounds like a book I'll enjoy. I grew up wearing dresses, living on a farm where we raised most of our food and meat. The days of summer was filled with canning, freezing, and sewing. Thank you for sharing.

ajwbear said...

this sounds like a book I want to read. I grew up wearing dresses, skirts. I only wore pants to play in.

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