The
thoughtful and passionate reviews of Embracing
the Gray: A Wing, A Prayer, and A Doubter’s Resolve, are still pouring in. I continue to be humbled by these
responses, and am encouraged to keep the book available as a free PDF download
at my website (http://markahollingsworth.com)
as well a 99 cent Kindle download at Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Embracing-Gray-Doubters-Resolve-ebook/dp/B004L62CN2/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top).
Here
are some more of the reviews that have come in the past few weeks:
Great writer, great person, hysterically funny,
intellectual, & has such a heart for missions. I would recommend this book
to anyone, especially cynics. Mark has a wonderful way with words - kind of
like CS Lewis meets Monty Python. A must-read.
-C.S.
-C.S.
Personal. Passionate. Provocative. It's rare to find a book that evokes such a
variety of emotions and experiences - pain, relief, despair, hope, grit,
courage, compassion, humor, discovery, mystery. Because of the diversity of the
stories written in this book, there is diversity in what you experience and
gain from reading it.
If you're looking for a book that delivers nicely
wrapped answers to all of the complex questions of life, faith, God's love and
character OR you're trying to find the right way to walk through a life of
faith in a world that often produces more questions than answers, you won't
find it in this book. What you will find is a read that leads you down roads of
questions and eventually to a place where you become comfortable with mystery
and God's great love for us.
Brilliantly and courageously written, creative
(C'mon! How many writers come up with nine different ways to say screaming
baby?!?), humorous and profound, you won't be able to put this book down!
Mark Hollingsworth's writing is personal allowing
the reader to walk with him through his questions and feeling a part of the
journey. There was a sense of a kindred spirit as I read Embracing the Gray that allowed me to learn and gain from Mark's life and experiences.
Reading the book was a gift.
-S.F.
Love this book! Mark
has written a touching and at times hysterical memoir. In particular though,
the account of his brother's troubled relationship with his family was quite
moving. These are stories of love, faith, loss, and joy that only a writer as
adept and honest as Mark could make so three dimensional as to jump off the
page. Well worth your time!
-R.E.
Finding God in all things. Mark Hollingsworth
writes eloquently about his international experiences--with the "little
survivors (ti chape)" in Haiti, for instance, and a small probable rape
victim named Mercy in Nairobi's teeming Methere Valley slum. But his writing is
even more effective when he describes personal encounters closer to home--with
Andy, a despondent house mate who alternates between swigs of Jim Beam and a
large caliber handgun he places in his mouth, for instance, and Gwen, a
homeless schizophrenic suffering from AIDS whom Mark suddenly encounters at his
house in Nashville. His extended meditation on the passing of his father is
remarkably compelling.
Early on Mark's small town, family-bred faith
weathered crises brought on by the deaths of three boyhood friends and then his
brother Jim along with the frequent spiritual dilemmas that afflict college-age
young people. Mark's approach to the questions he faced was mindful of St.
Augustine: "Let us, on both sides, lay aside all arrogance. Let us not, on
either side, claim that we have already discovered the truth."
To his vast credit, Mark refused to settle for
pat answers to questions of Time, the World and God. Instead, he undertook a
lifelong quest for the path--the "gray" that lies somewhere, somehow
between the extremes of blinding light and pure darkness. As one trained in a
Jesuit environment, I recognized in Mark's story the classic steps of
"finding God in all things," which begins with paying attention to
our own inner lives and of the people and the world around us. Like St.
Ignatius Mark found a mixture of light and dark, ideas and feelings, things
that gave him joy and things that saddened him. Mark has detailed a rich
tapestry that has grown more complex the more he has allowed it to register on
his awareness.
Finally--in his work with Compassion, and
particularly with this book--Mark has followed the ultimate precept, to
communicate what he has learned and to participate wholeheartedly in the
transformation of the world.
-S.O.
The best book I’ve
read in the past ten years! Mark Hollingsworth’s stories and experiences with
life and bands hits very close to home, in fact I know for some of the stories,
I was in the same room. His insights though, are much deeper than my own, and
really impacted me. He writes so effortlessly, and I read Embracing the Gray in just two days. I have re-read it twice now.
Simply a great writer, a great book, and the message is timeless.
-G. M. J.
Once you have read the book, be sure to post a
review at Amazon, and let me know your thoughts. I appreciate interactions with my readers. : )
Thanks!
Mark
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