Status
Available
Publication
Reagan Arthur Books / Little, Brown & Company (2010), Edition: 1st, 217 pages
Description
As a minister, Kate Braestrup regularly performs weddings. She has also, at 44, been married twice and widowed once, and accordingly has much to say about life after "the ceremony." From helping a newlywed couple make amends after their first fight to preparing herself for her second marriage, Braestrup offers her insights and experiences on what it truly means to share your life with someone, from the first kiss to the last straw, for better or for worse.
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User reviews
LibraryThing member mckait
I read Here If You Need Me by Kate Braestrup. I didn't love it.
In fact, I felt rather misled. It was nothing like what I expected it to be.
I didn't expect religion to be so much a part of it. I expected more about life in general,
her work and family. I did get that, with large doses of unexpected
It was however a good book. Paradoxical isn't it?
Despite myself, I liked the not so religious part.
She is an interesting person with an interesting view.
This one.. Marriage and Other Acts of Charity: A Memoir, did not sneak up on me.
I knew what I was in for. What was I thinking? Why did I promptly click on this title
when the vine program offered it to me to read and review? What was I thinking?
I was thinking that forewarned is forearmed. I expected a lot of religion. I was hoping
for more of the other thing. The unique and sort of off center views I experienced in the first book.
I got more than that. Or less, if you are talking of the religion, which is of course part of it all.
It has to be, as it is part of her.I am here to tell you what I think. I think that if you read and liked So, here it is . What I think. If you read Here If You Need Me and liked it, you will like this book. If you read Here If You Need Me and didn't like it so much, you will like this one more.
I think you should read it. There are stories about her friends, her family and even porcupine mating. Sort of.
In any case this one was so much more than I expected, I may have to read Here If You Need Me, to make sure I wasn't being prickly as a porcupine myself and maybe a little huffy. I hate huffy.
The stories are about love, like, laughing, falling our of airplanes or hoping not to, to be exact.
There are melted teapots and weddings and sex. ( yes, SEX ). All are told with humor and some whimsy
peppered over it all. It is short, entertaining and light. It is a book to pick up when you are sad.
It is also a book to pick up when you are happy. Go figure. Recommended.
In fact, I felt rather misled. It was nothing like what I expected it to be.
I didn't expect religion to be so much a part of it. I expected more about life in general,
her work and family. I did get that, with large doses of unexpected
Show More
religion.It was however a good book. Paradoxical isn't it?
Despite myself, I liked the not so religious part.
She is an interesting person with an interesting view.
This one.. Marriage and Other Acts of Charity: A Memoir, did not sneak up on me.
I knew what I was in for. What was I thinking? Why did I promptly click on this title
when the vine program offered it to me to read and review? What was I thinking?
I was thinking that forewarned is forearmed. I expected a lot of religion. I was hoping
for more of the other thing. The unique and sort of off center views I experienced in the first book.
I got more than that. Or less, if you are talking of the religion, which is of course part of it all.
It has to be, as it is part of her.I am here to tell you what I think. I think that if you read and liked So, here it is . What I think. If you read Here If You Need Me and liked it, you will like this book. If you read Here If You Need Me and didn't like it so much, you will like this one more.
I think you should read it. There are stories about her friends, her family and even porcupine mating. Sort of.
In any case this one was so much more than I expected, I may have to read Here If You Need Me, to make sure I wasn't being prickly as a porcupine myself and maybe a little huffy. I hate huffy.
The stories are about love, like, laughing, falling our of airplanes or hoping not to, to be exact.
There are melted teapots and weddings and sex. ( yes, SEX ). All are told with humor and some whimsy
peppered over it all. It is short, entertaining and light. It is a book to pick up when you are sad.
It is also a book to pick up when you are happy. Go figure. Recommended.
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LibraryThing member Whisper1
Many thanks to Nancy White for sending this my way. I thoroughly enjoyed Braestrup's first book Here If You Need Me and hoped she would continue with the insightful and beautiful writing. I was not disappointed.
Braestrup is a Unitarian Universalist minister/chaplain who works with the Maine warden
This latest book is a testimony of the difficulty of committed, loving relationships. Unflinchingly told with candor, clarity, honesty and poignancy, Braestrup does not gloss over the fact that her marriage was rocky and difficult...AND, she also celebrates that it was also loving and wonderful.
This book is packed with pearls of wisdom, including the fact that sometimes loving those we love is the hardest thing we are called to do.
The ups and downs, give and take of committed relationship requires a self giving and other directedness that seems impossible to achieve, stumbling along, we learn of love as we follow the dark path, with the hope light is at the end.
Highly recommended!!
Braestrup is a Unitarian Universalist minister/chaplain who works with the Maine warden
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service. Tragicially, suddenly widowed in 1996 when her policeman husband was killed in an accident, she was left to raise four children from ages 3-9.This latest book is a testimony of the difficulty of committed, loving relationships. Unflinchingly told with candor, clarity, honesty and poignancy, Braestrup does not gloss over the fact that her marriage was rocky and difficult...AND, she also celebrates that it was also loving and wonderful.
This book is packed with pearls of wisdom, including the fact that sometimes loving those we love is the hardest thing we are called to do.
The ups and downs, give and take of committed relationship requires a self giving and other directedness that seems impossible to achieve, stumbling along, we learn of love as we follow the dark path, with the hope light is at the end.
Highly recommended!!
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LibraryThing member bermudaonion
Kate Braestrup is an ordained minister and serves as the chaplain for the Maine Warden Service , which means she ministers to game wardens and others at the site of any outdoor accident that the wardens are called to respond to. Kate wasn’t always religious and in fact was quite vocally against
Marriages (hers and those that she has performed for others) made Kate think about love a lot and in Marriage and Other Acts of Charity, Kate Braestrup tells her story and reflects on love. She says there are three kinds of love – eros, which is romantic and sexual love; philos, which is affection and friendship; and agape, which is love that “earnestly desires the wholeness and happiness of the one who is loved.” In this touching memoir, Kate intersperses the story of her adulthood with reflections on marriage and other types of love.
When I started Marriage and Other Acts of Charity and discovered that Kate Braestrup is a minister, I wondered if it was going to be a book for me, since I don’t enjoy “preachy” books. I’m happy to tell you that I didn’t find this book to be at all preachy. Instead, it is a quiet, reflective story of someone who is trying to live the best life she can by showing love to others. This book is thoughtful, introspective, funny, and inspiring and it made me cry a bucket of tears. It felt like I was reading a book by an old friend. It made me reflect on what I value in life and think about how I want to treat the people I love. In case you can’t tell, I liked this book a lot!
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organized religion at one time. Her first marriage was pretty rocky and seemed to be headed for divorce, so she and her husband went for counseling and she came to realize that she really loved her husband but wasn’t doing a good job of showing it. In fact, she was acting on her fear of losing him (he was a police officer) rather than letting her love show.Marriages (hers and those that she has performed for others) made Kate think about love a lot and in Marriage and Other Acts of Charity, Kate Braestrup tells her story and reflects on love. She says there are three kinds of love – eros, which is romantic and sexual love; philos, which is affection and friendship; and agape, which is love that “earnestly desires the wholeness and happiness of the one who is loved.” In this touching memoir, Kate intersperses the story of her adulthood with reflections on marriage and other types of love.
When I started Marriage and Other Acts of Charity and discovered that Kate Braestrup is a minister, I wondered if it was going to be a book for me, since I don’t enjoy “preachy” books. I’m happy to tell you that I didn’t find this book to be at all preachy. Instead, it is a quiet, reflective story of someone who is trying to live the best life she can by showing love to others. This book is thoughtful, introspective, funny, and inspiring and it made me cry a bucket of tears. It felt like I was reading a book by an old friend. It made me reflect on what I value in life and think about how I want to treat the people I love. In case you can’t tell, I liked this book a lot!
Show Less
LibraryThing member sandywhitmer
A terrific follow-up to "Here When You Need Me." Braestrup is one of those authors who does a fine job of reading her own work - I don't think I'll every "read" one of her books as I can't imagine not checking out the audiobook.
LibraryThing member St.CroixSue
Clear, honest, hard-won pearls of wisdom are scattered throughout this lovely memoir on love and marriage.
LibraryThing member jules72653
Love, loss, religion and faith are woven beautifully into this book. I really enjoy Braestrup's writing and would love to meet her someday. I think this book I'll lend to a few select friends and keep on the shelf to be read again. It was that good.
LibraryThing member kaitanya64
I hoped this book would discuss the principal of "charity" in marriage, but to me it read like a disconnected memoir with a few comments on meaning of the word "love" thrown in. The author's theology seems uninformed and shallow.
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
8.5 inches
ISBN
9780316031912