Season of the Body: Essays

Brenda Miller is amazing. This is the first compilation of her's I've read, and I couldn't help but be impressed. Sometimes the subject matter is semi-mature (birthing, intermarital relations), so some careful selection of age group appropriateness is suggested. Miller's prose is touching and well written. I would recommend this book to anyone who needs motivation to write, someone to connect with, or just a good read.

There is a compelling sensitivity within each sentence of this collection of essays, as Brenda Miller claims her territory on the planet, while at the same time, offers to share her sensory awakenings with the reader. "Before I lived at Orr Hot Springs, I spent a summer baking bread for fifty children on a farm outside Willits. I didn't know I was in practice for becoming a massage therapist, but I knew I mended wounds buried deep inside me as I handled the huge mounds of dough" (89). The author has a great knack for physical descriptions that resonate with strands of a deeper, spiritual quest. Highly recommended for anyone in the midst of life-transition, healing from loss, or seeking a closer intimacy with the realm of touch, the ways that earth touches us, the way we touch earth and each other. Healing, inspiring.