Joan Anderson

My favorite author because of her honest is Nancy Mairs. Her book Voice Lessons: On Becoming a (Woman) Writer has freed me to write with some modicum of liberation.

Florida Scott Maxwell's book, The Measure of My Days, continues to propel me forward and make this decade and the next count.

Those are a few of my favorite books that will always remain on my bedside table.

Along the way I was moved by any of Anne Morrow Lindbergh books, and Dearly Beloved, (a book about marriage) helped me through times of trouble in my own marriage. I was honored to write a Foreword about the book.

Many years ago when I was anxious about what would become of me when my children left home and I was no longer a mother I came across this book on my mother's bookshelf.. The Second Journey by Gerald O'Collins. So riveted by the title was I that I stuffed it into my beach bag, took it to my beach and read it from cover to cover. I was relieved to know that there was more..that I should be seeking more...that my feelings were OK.

That led to more discoveries. Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetypeby Clarissa Pinkola Estes was a gift from a friend. It was too difficult to read on my own. So I formed a book club and we read a chapter a month. This "bible" for women transformed each of our thinking and put us on the paths that we were craving to go.