A Prayer Journal | 
Flannery O‘Connor was born on this day in 1925. Diagnosed with lupus in her twenties, she was told she only had a few years, but managed to produce two more novels and 30 short stories, attempting to write for a couple of hours a day in her bed toward the end. Treatment for lupus has improved since the 1950s. She also raised peacocks. From her Prayer Journal: “Give me the courage to stand the pain to get the grace.”
so-soThis is a quick read because half of it is a facsimile and the other half is transcribed (fixing spelling errors.) This is Flannery's writings to God (most entries start "Dear God,") during her time in college in Iowa. Entries range in topic from aspirations to faith to guilt to some peeks at her firey personality (through conflicts with others or frustrations over reading or rejection) and the intention behind her writing.
pickFinished this last Saturday 4/28/18 and enjoyed it. Makes me want to write a prayer journal myself. I could relate to a lot of her sentiments..I wonder if Flannery ever read Rumi? Her words resound those of the mystics...we would have def been friends and gone to dinner parties together had we crossed paths in this life. It‘s nice that we are crossing paths through literature. Picked this up because Flannery is mentioned in Saints & Misfits.
pickI decided to start off Lent with some spiritual reading. This is a very slim volume that can easily be read in one sitting. The prayers in here are from O'Connor's time in Iowa City. They are honest and relatable, showing both her fears and her hopes. I think that even if you're not Catholic or at all religious you can still appreciate the insight this book offers into the thoughts of a young writer trying to navigate life away from home.
pickThis was the personal journal of the author, discovered only a few years ago. Her faith in God is very important to her. It includes a section in the book showing her actual handwriting.
Since my friends know I am a reader, it seems as though, I am always being given one more book to read! This so impressed a friend that she asked me to read immediately! Flannery O‘ Connor has been on my radar, but this is the first of her work that I have read.
"[Lord], Help me with this life that seems so treacherous, so disappointing." Flannery O'Connor's prayer journal from her time at U of Iowa is a brief, but compelling look into the quiet hours of a brilliant woman with an earnest & complex spiritual life. She speaks without pretension, but her natural gift still shines through every prayer. Her yearning to be a good artist, her desire to be a good person, her struggle with faith, it's all here.
I'm absolutely loving this so far!
Some of my favorite quotes about spiritual things are from Flannery. I've wanted to read this for awhile.
pickI loved this short volume of O'Connor's prayer while I student. Encouraging but deeply honest. I found myself nodding along and also chuckling as she wrote sentences I might never dare record.
Also liked the inclusion of the handwritten pages of her journal at the end.
"Se non c'è peccato in questo mondo non c'è Dio in cielo. Niente cielo. A alcuni andrebbe anche bene così." (Diario di preghiera, Flannery O'Connor, p. 41)
"Give me the courage to stand the pain to get the grace, Oh Lord."
What a powerful and humbling prayer.
Picked this up today at Landmark Booksellers in Franklin, TN. Looking forward to reading the book and highly recommend this indie bookstore.
pickThe truth is you cannot really understand Flannery's work until you understand how important her faith was to her life and work. At just 112 pages, this is a short book, but it reveals what she was thinking and feeling in the early stages of her writing career.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
