Cold Tangerines

A book, like "Cold Tangerines", that was first published in 1997 doesn't need a boost; nor, does the author: Shauna Niequist; especially, after appearing on an Oprah Winfrey podcast of Super Soul Conversations. However, I'm not trying to give a book review nor more notoriety to an author; although, both (or neither) may come of this.

I tend to think out loud, and write out loud too; and, though I finished reading "Cold Tangerines" just as colder weather was settling into Juneau, Alaska during the Fall of 2018 it's only now, on January 3rd of the New Year, that I find I'm able to write about it. Why? Well, as the Bible says, it contained "nothing new under the sun"; except, for one part, the ending (pages 231-235).

"I know that Death knocks at our doors and comes far too early for far too many of us, but when he comes for me, I want to be full-tilt, wide-open, caught in the very act of life. I think that's what we're here for, not for a passive, peaceful life, but to stand up in the face of all that lacks peace and demand more."

"The sacred mixes in with the daily when you have a conversation with someone you love, or when you read a great book, or when you do something courageous. It's still just a normal day, but there's something bigger, more compelling going on."

"There are glimpses and whispers of the divine all through the day, if we let ourselves look again, if we let ourselves believe that the world all around us is threaded through with divinity."

"For me, what God said when he made the world is a prayer: 'It is good'. This world, it is good. The beauty of a perfect green apple is good. The first steps of a child are good."

"Life is painful, and we carry with us so much disappointment and heartbreak. But I'm fighting to create some space inside me where I can create hope. I can't live there in the disappointment anymore. I've missed whole seasons of my life."

"Today is a gift. And if we have tomorrow, tomorrow will be a gift."

"it's rebellious in a way, to choose joy, to choose to dance, to choose to love your life."


"Right now, around our house, all the leaves are falling, and there's no reason that they have to turn electric bright red before they fall, but they do, and I want to live like that. I want to say, 'What can I do today that brings more beauty, more energy, more hope?'"

"I want to make my everyday make God belly laugh, glad that He gave life to someone who loves the gift, who will use it up and wring it out and drag it around like a favorite sweater." 

In a world where it's incredibly hard not to covet, not to see the lives of others and find our own life to be lacking, this book challenges us to look at the moments we live within as "beautiful, special, and enough" (page 236).  

The ending of this book makes parting with it hard; however, the last chapter, all on its own, is too good to keep to myself. I'll be passing it on via The Little Free Library in my neighborhood. 

May the parting words of "Cold Tangerines" I chose to share above stir you. May we be called to action by living lives where we focus on the good, the divine that's interwoven, and call it out for others to see too.

If you'd like another aspect of the above, through the lens of a true book review, please join me at goodreads.com where you'll be able to learn more about me within the books I've read, the ones I'm currently reading, and the ones I can't wait to lay my hands on next.

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