The Best American Spiritual Writing
Edited by Philip Zaleski; Houghton Mifflin, 2004; 288 pp., $27.50 (cloth), $14 (paper)
Reviewed by Andrea McQuillin
Philip Zaleski’s annual Best Spiritual Writing has migrated to a new publisher, and with the move, it seems, comes renewed vigor. The characteristics that define “spiritual” writing are elusive, but we recognize it when we read it. And these essays, stories and poems are bound, at the least, by thoughtfulness, quality writing and, sometimes, surprise. From Sallie Tisdale’s The Birth (an elephant-side description of the blessed event) to Patricia Monaghan’s Physics and Grief (a puzzled elegy for a departed husband) these selections will amuse, sober or inspire you. By culling from mainstream (The New Yorker, for example) and specialized (the Shambhala Sun, for instance) periodicals, Zaleski has, perhaps single-handedly, created a genre.
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http://www.shambhalasun.com/Archives/Reviews/Books%20in%20Brief/BestUSSpiritual.htm
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2010 "How to Meditate" issue of the Shambhala Sun is at newsstands now. Our annual all-teachings
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mind, body, and heart.