Acedia & me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life | 
 enlarge | Author: Kathleen Norris
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Category: Book
List Price: $39.95
Buy New: $16.25
You Save: $23.70 (59%)
New (37) Used (12) from $16.25
Rating:  38 reviews
Sales Rank: 547870
Format: Audiobook
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Unabridged
Number Of Items: 9
Pages: 9
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 5.7 x 5.4 x 1.6
ISBN: 0143143719
Dewey Decimal Number: 248.862
EAN: 9780143143710
ASIN: 0143143719
Publication Date: September 16, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: still in original wrapping
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Product Description
Unabridged CDs 9 CDs, 11 hours
Kathleen Norriss masterpiece: a personal and moving memoir that resurrects the ancient term acedia, or soul-weariness, and brilliantly explores its relevancy to the modern individual and culture.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 33 more reviews...
CD Version December 23, 2008
I bought the CD version so I could listen to the book during rush hour on my way to work in the Washington DC area traffic. I listened to about half of the CDs then moved on to another book. Indeed this is quite the timely topic and her scholarship and study seems first rate. Yet, early on, I got the point and there was no compelling reason for me to continue. Her suffering and depression while, worth undestanding in terms of the topic, got to be a bit much. It also got to be a bit redundant. These things along with her own reading of it caused me to cease listening.
While I still recommend the book to others, I would not recommend the CD version. The author reads it herself and would have been better served by a professional. In terms of just the sound quality of the book, her voice is tedious and soon turns to grating and small errors in the reading make listening to it disruptive. I may have finished the book had she had a professional reading it instead of herself. She got to be quite annoying to listen to after awhile.
 Not very reliable, would not give any stars if program allowed November 23, 2008
1 out of 12 found this review helpful
I still have not received my item 10 days after the latest delivery quote. I sent an email to locate my book and have yet to receive a reply.
 READ IT!!! November 20, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
No lengthy treatise on this book - that's already been done. Very simply - Mighty good book, which is no surprise seeing that's it Norris - and on a much-ignored and forgotten topic. Read it - it's eye opening.
Acedia and me November 19, 2008
Once again Kathleen Norris shares her life experiences and helps me see new possibilities in my own life.
Beautifully written and touching November 16, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Acedia may not be a word used often in secular society but most Catholics will be familiar with it. Acedia is that feeling that you simply cannot, cannot do this any more. It's boring. I'd rather do something--anything--else. It's too hard to be good every day. Being good requires a hero; not me. Acedia turns up in the spiritual life of anyone on the narrow road, and it's a deadly temptation.
Norris explores acedia, it's closely related cousin, depression, and the long history of her life and marriage in this book, and it makes for absorbing reading.
Problems in her marriage began "as we approached forty. David's habitual use of alcohol as a means of inspiration caught up with him. David...(would) drink anyone else under the table...He would then stay up half the night working...When he began to suffer from drunkenness...he panicked...he felt he would then lose his creativity" (67). He was a poet.
Norris was gradually being drawn into Catholicism, a religion David had long forsaken. A crisis ensued, a threat of suicide, and, at length, the sort of sifting that all marriages experience.
Yet another crisis occurs later on, as Norris and her husband must deal with a medical problem. She speaks of the "ravages of depression" (p 267) and "a ferocious temptation to doubt" (p 257). And yet...and yet..."I can look for the seed of hope in my despair" (p 275).
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