Plain and Simple by Sue Bender

Plain and Simple by Sue Bender

"I had an obsession with the Amish. Plan and simple. Objectively it made no sense. I, who worked hard at being special, fell in love with a people who valued being ordinary."

So begins Sue Bender's story, the captivating and inspiring true story of a harried urban Californian moved by the beauty of a display of quilts to seek out and live with the Amish. Discovering lives shaped by unfamiliar yet comforting ideas about time, work, and community, Bender is gently coaxed to consider, "Is there another way to lead a good life"

Her journey begins in a New York men's clothing store. There she is spellbound by the vibrant colors and stunning geometric simplicity of the Amish quilts "spoke directly to me," writes Bender. Somehow, "they went straight to my heart."

Heeding a persistent inner voice, Bender searches for Amish families willing to allow her to visit and share in there daily lives. Plain and Simple vividly recounts sojourns with two Amish families, visits during which Bender enters a world without television, telephone, electric light, or refrigerators; a world where clutter and hurry are replaced with inner quiet and calm ritual; a world where a sunny kitchen "glows" and "no distinction was made between the sacred and the everyday."

In nine interrelated chapters--as simple and elegant as a classic nine-patch Amish quilt--Bender shares the quiet power she found reflected in lives of joyful simplicity, humanity, and clarity. The fast-paced, opinionated, often frazzled Bender returns home and reworks her "crazy-quilt" life, integrating the soul-soothing qualities she has observed in the Amish, and celebrating the patterns in the Amish, and celebrating the patterns formed by the distinctive "patches" of her own life.

Charmingly illustrated and refreshingly spare, Plain and Simple speaks to the seeker in each of us.

Pure and Simple: A Woman's Trip to the Amish (HarperSanFrancisco) is written by Sue Bender. The book was a best-seller in the New York Times. Sue's passion with Amish quilts led her to live with the Amish in their seemingly ageless world, which she describes as a landscape of enormous inner peace. This honor, which is rarely given on outsiders, taught her about simplicity, devotion, and the joy that comes from loving oneself. Bender discusses the insights she gained while living among the Amish in Everyday Sacred: A Woman's Journey Home (HarperSanFrancisco: now in its sixth printing), a book that speaks to our need to make each day actually count.

She recounts her attempt to transfer the joyous knowledge and simplicity she found among the Amish back to her frantic, too-much-to-do days back at home. Bender discovers for herself, and in the process teaches us, that small miracles may be discovered everywhere'in our homes, in our everyday activities, and, most difficult to recognize, in ourselves.Profiles and interviews with Bender, as well as book excerpts, have appeared in numerous national publications, including Reader's Digest, The Washington Post, Ladies' Home Journal, The Chicago Tribune, The Utne Reader, and The New York Times. Sue Bender was born in New York City and obtained her BA and MA from Harvard University's School of Education. She taught English at the Berlitz School in Switzerland and high school in New York.

She went on to get her master's degree in social work from the University of California, Berkeley. Bender was the founder and director of CHOICE: The Institute of the Middle Years during her active years as a family therapist. Sue Bender is a ceramic artist and a sought-after lecturer across the country, in addition to being an author and former therapist. She is the mother of two grown sons and resides in Berkeley, California, with her husband Richard.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780062501868
ISBN 10	0062501860
Title	Plain and Simple
Author	Sue Bender
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	HarperCollins Publishers Inc
Year published	1991-10-25
Number of pages	176
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.