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22nd out of 95 books
—
15 voters
The Gift of an Ordinary Day: A Mother's Memoir
by
Katrina Kenison (Goodreads Author)
The Gift of an Ordinary Day is an intimate memoir of a family in transition-boys becoming teenagers, careers ending and new ones opening up, an attempt to find a deeper sense of place, and a slower pace, in a small New England town. It is a story of mid-life longings and discoveries, of lessons learned in the search for home and a new sense of purpose, and the bittersweet...more
Hardcover, 320 pages
Published
September 7th 2009
by Grand Central Publishing
(first published August 20th 2009)
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A must read for any mother who loves mothering her children, and who struggles daily on loving them enough to prepare them to one day leave home. This book provides great encouragement to mothers who want simply to raise their children up to who they are intended to be, not what our prevailing society thinks all children are meant to be.
So often it is hard to escape societal "noise" about what "should" be important as parents, and hear clearly what truly matters as it relates to our own familie...more
So often it is hard to escape societal "noise" about what "should" be important as parents, and hear clearly what truly matters as it relates to our own familie...more
I didn't love this book... I felt like there were some great insights and thoughts, but I also felt that it was way too long and that she rambled a bit. She would make the same point over and over using different words or thoughts... honestly, it was like reading an insanely long blog post. There was a story line hidden in the meandering thoughts, but it was hard to keep track of as she jumped from past to present so often.
But, there were some good things. But not enough for me to like the book...more
But, there were some good things. But not enough for me to like the book...more
3 likes · like · see review
The overall message is good. Enjoy the simple things. Time goes fast. Take the time to enjoy your kids before they grow up and leave to college. The best moments are those that are not over-scheduled activities, but the things you do on those "ordinary days".
Katrina Kenison talks about how the "mid-life crisis" and the teenage years of children often coincide. This in itself could have been an interesting topic. How do you deal with that? How do you prepare yourself or your kids for that time p...more
Katrina Kenison talks about how the "mid-life crisis" and the teenage years of children often coincide. This in itself could have been an interesting topic. How do you deal with that? How do you prepare yourself or your kids for that time p...more
Loved this book. It is a great reminder that there is a "simpler" life out there for everyone. It is also a great read for anyone who is going through the transition of sending a child who they've raised for 18+ years out in the the world and learning to let go. A beautiful memoir of motherhood and self. Although this book is more centered on the life of a mother who is on the verge of sending her 2 kids out into the world and trying to figure out her place once they're gone, I still felt like m...more
On the precipice of having one son in high school and the other in middle school, Katrina Kenison decides that maybe it’s time for the family to make a change. On the cusp of mid-life, she feels a tug for a simpler life. A smaller house, more open space, and the ability to focus on the next phase of life, one that entails mothering young men instead of little boys.
However, when she and her husband decide to sell their home, move to a small town in New England and renovate an old farmhouse, life...more
However, when she and her husband decide to sell their home, move to a small town in New England and renovate an old farmhouse, life...more
It was interesting enough to keep me reading to the end but I don't think I'll recommend it highly. Her earlier book had much food for thought about a mother's efforts to simplify and slow down a hectic life with younger children. This book read more like a mother goes off the deep end in anxiousness about time and location angst as her children become teens and it takes her three years to come to grips with her anxiety and to remedy the upheaval it has created. She's aware and articulates, by t...more
As a mother, I felt this was the best book out there that has been written, regarding the truth of being a parent. Katrina Kenison does a wonderful job of laying it all out there in the wide range of emotions; some are painful, beautiful, endearing and some are just plain as raw as they can be described. While reading this book there were times that I became jealous, because this woman did what I have always felt needed to be done; she took the control over her life and her family's that needed...more
I would have given the first half of this book four stars. I felt inspired by Kenison's forging through large changes in her life with confidence and some degree of optimism. I feel the older I get the more frightened of change I become. She helped me to think outside of that fear for a moment.
Later in the book Kenison's writing became too monotonous - writing ad nauseam in a self assessment, minutiae laden, universal truth sort of way. Too many pages that said the same thing again and again. A...more
Later in the book Kenison's writing became too monotonous - writing ad nauseam in a self assessment, minutiae laden, universal truth sort of way. Too many pages that said the same thing again and again. A...more
This book took a looooong time to get through. As I thought of why, I can only guess it's because of the writing style. Kenison is very 'thoughtful' in the way she puts things, so I could only read a few pages before being saturated.
There were a few 'long-stretch-reads' I was able to accomplish and that got me through the book. I asked myself a few times why I was still reading it, why I didn't just take it back to the library unfinished? Well, the 2 or 3 real 'glimpses' I was awarded made the r...more
There were a few 'long-stretch-reads' I was able to accomplish and that got me through the book. I asked myself a few times why I was still reading it, why I didn't just take it back to the library unfinished? Well, the 2 or 3 real 'glimpses' I was awarded made the r...more
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I actually wanted to give this 3.5 stars. I didn't think it quite merited a whole 4, but 3 seems low. I'm never sure if I ought to be giving out stars anyway.
While I liked the book, in the end it still seemed to fit solidly in that "middle aged woman who does yoga and decides to see only the beauty in life" genre. There were some passages I dog-eared and really liked, but there were also many places where I had a hard time sympathizing (for instance, in all the places where she talks about their...more
While I liked the book, in the end it still seemed to fit solidly in that "middle aged woman who does yoga and decides to see only the beauty in life" genre. There were some passages I dog-eared and really liked, but there were also many places where I had a hard time sympathizing (for instance, in all the places where she talks about their...more
My daughter came home from school last spring and told me that the salutatorian at a nearby high school had missed being valedictorian because she had taken orchestra, which is not officially an honors class and therefore not worth 5 points on a 4 point GPA scale. True or not, my daughter internalized this story and wondered aloud if taking band and art this year would hurt her life prospects. As someone with no –torians to her credit, I told her that I hoped she would take band and art every se...more
3 likes · like · see review
I immersed myself into this book over the weekend. I knew I would be offering a giveaway today and wanted to include my review. Author, Katrina Kenison (40ish) is facing a time in her life when her sons are quickly running towards adulthood and there is a yearning in her to move from their technology driven, suburban home in search for a wider spaces and a reconnection of her family. She did not expect to sell her current house before buying a new house, moving back home with her parents, losing...more
"Kenison's The Gift of an Ordinary Day is, at its heart, a love letter to the transcendence that exists in the everyday realities of mothering. The story traces the arc of a summer spent in a cabin on a rural New Hampshire hill, the decision to raze the cabin, and the process of building a new home in the same location. Kenison is a gifted chronicler of the everyday; under her steady gaze the most mundane moments become luminous pearls. She describes a late-in-the-day snowshoe trek with her son,...more
I bought this at my 4th grade son's Scholastic Book Fair in December 2010, for myself. I read it over Christmas vacation and savored all the lovely, true parts she mentions that come with being a wife and a mother. I read slowly so that I could drink in every moment and feeling the author shares with her reader. It was wonderful to connect with her on many levels. I too left the city for the country with my husband, children and pets, and have never regretted the decision and choiced we've made....more
Katrina Kenison's in depth (perhaps too lengthy?) look at what it is to parent nearly grown sons, how to fashion a life worthy of living in midlife, and to live in harmony with those around her spoke to me from page one. Though admittedly a bit long and repetitive, I found myself sticky noting too many pages for the sheer beauty of the words.
Slow down. Enjoy. Don't over parent. Be in the moment. Seek who you are.
I needed to read this book.
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons a...more
Slow down. Enjoy. Don't over parent. Be in the moment. Seek who you are.
I needed to read this book.
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons a...more
Kenison does go on a bit - saying the same thing in 5 different ways, but as mum who is the same age as the author with three teenagers I did find myself brimming up on several occasions and identifying with her thoughts and feelings. It made me feel guilty for not being the 'Supermum' she seemed to be (although part of me was thinking 'you need to get out more love and stop living your life through your children!') nostalgic for the days of cutting and sticking and sad that I didn't make the mo...more
This book is so beautifully written, and I can't believe Kenison pulled off what feels like little more than a meditation while keeping her reflections intimate, spiritual, and fresh.
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Wow. This book was an excellent but wrenching read for me right now. I loved Kenison's earlier book, Mitten Strings for God, and loved how it reminded mothers to focus on the moments while parenting young children. How much more we need the lessons in the teen years and while we are struggling to learn how to parent almost-adults who are about to leave. I identified so strongly with the emotions and the feeling of impending loss that I cried all to often during this book.
A few quotes that were...more
A few quotes that were...more
3 likes · like · see review
I am a fan of memoirs on motherhood. As Katrina Kenison writes in her epilogue of this book, "every time we have the courage to say, "Hey, this is hard for me, too," we find out that we aren't alone." I survived my first year of new motherhood by devouring Vicki Iovine's "Girlfriend's Guides," Andrea Buchanan's "Mother Shock," and, my very favorite of all (so much so that I send this to pretty much every friend who's expecting), Anne Lamott's "Operating Instructions."
The message of Kenison's "T...more
The message of Kenison's "T...more
I read Kenison's book Mitten Strings for God, her memoir about mothering her young children, when my own children were preschoolers, and it struck just the right chord with me then. Now, in The Gift of an Ordinary Day, she continues sharing her parenting journey when her sons are in high school and the oldest is applying to college. I am just a few years behind her in the parenting/life schedule, so this book struck just the right chord with me now.
Kenison's memoir is weakened by her verbosity....more
Kenison's memoir is weakened by her verbosity....more
This is written by a mother, reflecting on her years of raising two boys and preparing them for adulthood, while preparing herself for the time they will leave the house. She has so many amazing thoughts and memories that ring true with my own thoughts and feelings. I had about 28 sticky tabs on the pages when I was done reading, marking passages I wanted to remember, passages that were poignant to me, some several paragraphs long.
It really is a bittersweet process, raising children, only to se...more
It really is a bittersweet process, raising children, only to se...more
I have entered the mode of reading books about children growing up and leaving, in keeping with my tendency to reach for a book to prepare for life's changes. Katrina Kenison's memoir got off to a slow start for me, as she wrote a lot about moving homes when she had the yearning to leave suburbia for the New Hampshire countryside. But there was much more about her feelings about her son's leaving for college in the middle and end of the book, and it all actually tied nicely together. One of the...more
If you like sentences like "Contenment and grace may be two sides of the same coin." or "One reason I am happy here is because I've decided to be." or Mend the part of the world that is within your reach.", you will probably like reading The gift of an ordinary day.
Katrina Kenison decides to leave the hectic world of suburban Boston for the simple life in rural New Hampshire, dragging her 3 "men", sometimes kicking and screaming, with her. When her long time book editing job ends, and she finds...more
Katrina Kenison decides to leave the hectic world of suburban Boston for the simple life in rural New Hampshire, dragging her 3 "men", sometimes kicking and screaming, with her. When her long time book editing job ends, and she finds...more
This book grabbed me as the premise was a mother watching her children become teenagers and eventually college bound. That is many years off for me, but this passage caught my attention and held it throughout the book:
"It seemed to me during those early years of child raising that my sons' childhoods would go on forever. I couldn't imagine any life other than the one that consumed me right then, a life shaped by the joys and demands of raising young children."
What the author conveys is that it...more
"It seemed to me during those early years of child raising that my sons' childhoods would go on forever. I couldn't imagine any life other than the one that consumed me right then, a life shaped by the joys and demands of raising young children."
What the author conveys is that it...more
The ‘Gift of an Ordinary Day’ by Katrina Kenison examines in excruciating detail the longings of a mother whose children have grow-up. The potent concept of family is ‘idealized’ in this meditative memoir. The book the combines the writing style of Willa Cather and a non-descript Zen Buddhist monk. A brief synopsis will suffice. Katrina lives in an affluent New England suburb. She uproots her family and decides they need a more holistic life. They land in her parents’ home. After her extensive ‘...more
I believe this book had good intentions, but it just didn't leave a great impression. While I enjoyed the insights the author had to offer on motherhood and all the grief and triumphs that go along with the title, it was rather monotonous. Several of the authors insights, while initially good, lost their passion when reiterated again and again.
The fact that I am facing family transitions much like the author is the only thing that kept me interested in finishing the book.
On the positive side,...more
The fact that I am facing family transitions much like the author is the only thing that kept me interested in finishing the book.
On the positive side,...more
I truly loved the first half of this book. Kenison is a lifelong editor, and it shows: her writing is beautiful and evocative. The premise is a little bit Eat-Pray-Love-ish (Kenison and her husband decide abruptly to uproot their family from their yuppie Boston suburb and begin again in the middle of nowhere, New Hampshire, renovating an old cottage and living with her parents in the process. Though it was too lengthy and the second half of the book dragged a bit, I found myself marking so many...more
A great gift selection for mothers with high school juniors and seniors.
I finally got around to purchasing Katrina Kenison’s new book “the gift of an ordinary day” (published in 2009) and can’t get her words out of my mind. I’ve followed her blog for several months and enjoyed her first book (“Mitten Strings for God”) so knew I’d love this book too. This “mother’s memoir” is made up of 15 thoughtful essays that speak to transitions involved in moving, changing careers, and in raising teenagers a...more
I finally got around to purchasing Katrina Kenison’s new book “the gift of an ordinary day” (published in 2009) and can’t get her words out of my mind. I’ve followed her blog for several months and enjoyed her first book (“Mitten Strings for God”) so knew I’d love this book too. This “mother’s memoir” is made up of 15 thoughtful essays that speak to transitions involved in moving, changing careers, and in raising teenagers a...more
I finally read this book after buying it when it was first published in 2009. I loved Mitten Strings for God, so I rushed to Kenison's follow-up. Yet, I found it hard to get a footing to read it until now. It was solid with many aspects to appreciate, but it felt a bit long at times. She has a beautiful way of wording ideas, and I agree with her statement on page 255, "A good conversation can't be hurried, it needs time in which to meander its way to revelation and insight." True. So I'll give h...more
Jul 11, 2011
Laura
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone with a child in the college application process
This book is a perfect antidote to a culture that encourages 8th graders to start building their resumes for college. Kenison writes about the move from their affluent Boston suburb to rural New Hampshire as she tries to find a high school that is a good fit for her child. Of course all does not go as planned: she loses her job that allowed her to work from home, the "house" she falls in love with has to be demolished and rebuilt, her family lives with her parents for several years, her younger...more
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KATRINA KENISON has been the annual editor of The Best American Short Stories since 1990. Along with John Updike, she edited The Best American Short Stories of the Century, a New York Times bestseller. Also the coeditor of Mothers: Twenty Stories of Contemporary Motherhood, she has written essays that have appeared in such publications as Redbook and Ladies' Home Journal. Katrina Kenison lives out...more
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“Not a day goes by that I don't still need to remind myself that my life is not just what's handed to me, nor is it my list of obligations, my accomplishments or failures, or what my family is up to, but rather it is what I choose, day in and day out, to make of it all. When I am able simply to be with things as they are, able to accept the day's challenges without judging, reaching, or wishing for something else, I feel as if I am receiving the privilege, coming a step closer to being myself. It's when I get lost in the day's details, or so caught up in worries about what might be, that I miss the beauty of what is.”
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17 people liked it
“When we focus on what is good and beautiful in someone, whether or not we think that they "deserve" it, the good and beautiful are strengthened merely by the light of our attention.”
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12 people liked it
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Jan 09, 2012 07:10pm