To read the poems in this fine first collection is to stroll through the lives of many females – human and animal alike — with a most companionable guide. Baller-Shepard is a remarkable new poetic voice equally at ease with observing farm women at work, discussing Einstein’s Grand Unified Theory, or contemplating the life span of a mayfly. Through Baller-Shepard’s careful excavation of the embers of memory – a blue popsicle, a clutch of irises, a high-backed wooden bench — you will find yourself mining the memories of the narrative of your own life. This is this poet’s gift to her readers.

–Judith Valente, author of the poetry collections Discovering Moons and Inventing An Alphabet, and co-editor of “Twenty Poems to Nourish Your Soul.”



“From the title, Doe, by Sue Baller-Shepard, anticipates a thicket of feminine myth and symbol: motherhood, martyrdom, victimhood; defenselessness, passivity; naked beauty hunted, stalked, violated, enshrined perhaps but never trophied, not like their antlered fathers and sons. The trick and magic of and through these poems is the metamorphosis of the metaphor, suggested, argued, developed through a sleight of forms, often repeating forms that advance argument passively through repetition, tricksterish word play, re-castings of memory and narrative. Reading them becomes a kind of active listening, hearing a kind of speaking; and backtracking, sliding off, getting lost, staying still, retracing steps—all a kind of advance. All those female survival skills of defense—the withdraw, hide, step out of the way, disappear tactics—unfold an offense, and change the world. Hear, hear, hear! And rejoice!”
–Lucia Cordell Getsi, PhD, Former Spoon River Poetry Review Editor, Author of Intensive Care

Really looking forward to reading Courtney Ellis' new book Uncluttered!

Here are some reviews already out:
“Peace. Less. Still. Enough. Simple. Clear. Rested. Read Uncluttered.” –John Ortberg, senior pastor of Menlo Church and author of I’d Like You More if You Were More Like Me

“The key to healthy, sustainable, contagious faith is our commitment to living simpler, quieter, more uncluttered lives. This is the urgent and soul-nourishing message of Uncluttered.” –Brett McCracken, senior editor at The Gospel Coalition

“With disarming candor, sly humor and the empathy of the pastor and spiritual counselor that she is, Courtney Ellis has given us a gift.” –Tod Bolsinger, Vice President & Chief of Leadership Formation, Fuller Seminary

“In Uncluttered Courtney Ellis does what our productivity-obsessed culture tells us is impossible: unplugs from the unnecessary demands of life and plugs in to God and relationships that matter.” –Nicole Caldwell-Gross, Pastor at St.Luke’s (UMC)

“A practical and profound work, tailor-made for this era of noise and busyness.” –Dorcas Cheng-Tozun, author of Start, Love, Repeat: How to Stay in Love with Your Entrepreneur

“Uncluttered is somehow raw, relatable and hilarious, all at the same time.” –Cara Meredith, author of The Color of Life: A White Woman’s Journey Toward Love and Justice

Riveting. . . . Forthright, compassionate, and expertly crafted--everything readers should want from a memoir.
--KIRKUS REVIEWS, a starred review

Everhart is at her best when dismantling the sexism that surrounds rape. . . a touching and empowering story of healing.
-- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, a starred review


Many levels of excellent writing are skillfully woven into this memoir. It is far more than just a moving narrative by a remarkable person (although it is that). It is a story of lived theology: everything that has to do with God and the Gospel written in the language of everyday suffering, pain and blessing and love. Rape and shame, friendship and family find their place on these pages providing witness to a mature lived faith.
-- EUGENE PETERSON, author of The Message


Ruined is one of those memoirs that sticks to your heart, helps you understand the power of a story, and gives you a framework to understand God when terrible things happen. Honest and beautifully written, Ruth's story will help readers discover the love of God in unexpected ways.
--MARY DeMUTH, author of Worth Living


Mostly I wish this book never needed to be written. But it did, it was, and it's powerful. With heart-wrenching honesty and a refusal to leave the chaos, Ruth Everhart shows us the raw courage necessary to emerge both wounded and healed. Alternating between fury, hurt, fear, and rage, we journey with her to find God and her way back to life.
--NANCY ORTBERG, author of Looking for God and Seeing in the Dark

What makes this narrative worth reading is how Everhart has contextualized her response to the rape--feeling ruined--within patriarchal theology. . . . This memoir isn't about a rape; it's the story of rising from hurt to construct a new cosmology that encompasses personal and systemic evil.
-- ELIZABETH JARRETT ANDREW, author of Writing the Sacred Journey: The Art and Practice of Spiritual Memoir


Ruth has a wonderful gift with language. Ruined is, in turns, wrenching and funny and earthy, horrific and sublime.
-- DAVID WILLIAMS, author of The Believer's Guide to the Multiverse

Her writing is frank and visceral, lyrical and even humorous . . . While the descriptions of the attack . . . are distressing, Ruth brings you into the room in a way that is powerful without being gratuitous. Her theological reflections are profound. Her wrestling with the racial component of the assault is honest and unselfconscious.
-- MARTHA SPONG, editor of There's a Woman in the Pulpit

Ruth's bravery, resilience, honesty, and intelligence - emotional and otherwise - makes reading Ruined so worth the risk of becoming a witness to her pain.
-- KATHERINE WILLIS PERSHEY, author of Very Married: Field Notes on Love & Fidelity


Starred review. In her second memoir, Presbyterian pastor Everhart (Chasing the Divine in the Holy Land) reflects on being sexually assaulted when she was a college student, the assault’s emotional aftermath, and its theological implications. Raised in an insulated Dutch community and the Christian Reformed Church, Everhart’s worldview was forever changed when two men broke into her apartment and raped her. She asks where God was during the brutality, where she was being punished for her sexual experiences, and how a God who wills everything could will something so terrible to happen. In addition to her theological analysis, Everhart is at her best when dismantling the sexism that surrounds rape. She recounts how she sucked in her stomach when asked to strip because, “that’s how thoroughly [she] had internalized the fact that a woman should make herself attractive to the eyes of a man.” She recalls her anger when the doctor who performed her rape kit referred to her rapist as a “clown.” She looks at why many people treat rape differently from other injuries and reminds readers that rape cannot make women less whole. Everhart also includes examples of how churches can provide support to rape survivors. This is a touching and empowering story of healing. (Publishers Weekly)

For more of Ruth Everhart's writing, or to see her other book, which #SpiritualBookClub read, "Chasing the Divine in the Holy Land," go to www.rutheverhart.com

Fans of Gretchen Rubin's wisdom and fortitude in forging ahead in the worlds of happiness and habits, we were thrilled when this book came out in March. She will be interviewed on #SuperSoulSunday on November 8th and will be live tweeting the event @GretchenRubin.

We talk about spiritual practice, the habits that make for a strong spiritual practice, taking the time for exercising the mind, body, and spirit, and Gretchen shows us how to forge patterns that make for strong habits. She also shows what can get in the way of strong habits, what can thwart the best of intentions, and 4 types of people. The type of person you are can play into patterns that will be helpful to you in your spiritual practice. You can enjoy the podcast here: https://gretchenrubin.com/podcast/