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Simple Hospitality Book Review |
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Book Reviews -
Home and Finances
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Written by Jennifer Thompson
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Hospitality, according to Webster: "To be hospitable is to be disposed to behave in a warm way and manner, and to entertain with generous sensitivity, availability and kindness."
Jane Jarrell's Simple Hospitality is a compilation of her ideas about what it means to live in a warm, generous, sensitive, available and kind way - that is, to be hospitable. She is encouraging in her writing and views hospitality as her personal ministry. The first three chapters of the book are written from a strong Christian perspective, and while at first I was turned off by this, delving further into the book I was able to find plenty that I could relate to and put into play in my own life.
The book is divided into three sections: Keep It Simple, Home Sweet
Home, and The Art of Sharing. Aside from the fourth chapter (Beyond
Harried Holidays), Keep It Simple is the only section of the book that
is written from a heavily Christian perspective. If you are Christian,
there is probably great material there for you. It wasn't up my alley,
so I skipped ahead to chapter four, where Jarrell begins to get into
hospitality from a less religious point of view.
In part two,
Home Sweet Home, I recognized something right away that anyone who has
ever been a part of the FlyLady.net phenomenon will take note of
immediately as well: the shiny sink recommendation. To be fair, Jarrell does give credit to Marla Cilley (a.k.a. FlyLady). Home Sweet
Home is full of ideas to help with homemaking, working in the kitchen,
growing a garden and other things central to being hospitable in our
homes. Part three, The Art of Sharing, is about being hospitable in
ways such as working with children, giving gifts, being available to
those going through difficult times and so forth.
Every chapter
ends with a list of "simple solutions". For example, the end of
chapter 5 (Faking Homemaking) Jarrell offers 9 of her simple solutions,
including keeping all of your cleaning supplies in a bucket, and
keeping your own slice-and-bake cookies handy in the refrigerator so
that you'll always be ready to make a fresh dessert. Chapter 11,
Entertaining in Style, offers up such suggestions as keeping serving
plates warm by putting them in the dishwasher on the dry cycle and
freezing mint leaves to serve with your favorite teas.
If you
find yourself like Jarrell, called to being hospitable in every sense
of the word, then you will find both great ideas and warm support in
Simple Hospitality. If you are Christian, you will probably appreciate
what she has to say about hospitality in terms of religion, but even if
you are not, there is plenty available to follow the maxim of take what
you like and leave the rest. Anyone looking to bring more love and comfort into their lves and the lives of those they care about can find help in this book. |
