Customer Reviews

Writing Home: Collected Essays and Newspaper Columns

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"The sacred is in the ordinary. It is found in one's daily life - in friends, family, and neighbors; in one's own backyard."

The above quote comes from a thank-you note Cindy La Ferle keeps in an "altar" above her kitchen sink. Its simple observation pretty much sums up the philosophy expounded in her book, Writing Home. A columnist for a Detroit area paper and freelance article writer, La Ferle writes about what she knows best - home - and how our home life shapes and colors who we are.

My personal favorite essay is "Quit Picking on Barbie." The big-breasted fashion doll has been getting a bum rap for years... Most little girls just enjoy dressing her up and designing homes and careers for her. She doesn't scar our sense of femininity at all. Another column, "Recovering Perfectionist," stirs up many familiar emotions as well. Women do seem especially susceptible to perfectionistic behavior, La Ferle observes. Our "people-pleasing" impulses prevent us from attempting many worthwhile endeavors because we're afraid we won't be able to do them perfectly. We need to let go of this need to "be right or look good" all the time. In the humorous "Seeing Red" we learn about the pros and cons of being a redhead - or at least the Miss Clairol version of it.

From "Baghdad and Banana Bread"- finding security from the horrors of the world in simple baking - to "The Lost Art of Loafing"- an art I really need to take advantage of this summer- Writing Home wisely reminds us that truly there is no place like home. -- Cindy Appel for the FEARLESS REVIEWS

Rebeccasreads highly recommends WRITING HOME as a lovely bouquet of womanly thoughts about things little & big, sad & funny, & topical to today's modern life.

Cindy La Ferle's essays are grouped together by subject rather than eras: first she welcomes us into her House and Garden, & then introduces us to the muggy swamp of Child Care; to her Social Life (such as it is being a work-at-home-parent & spouse); to the philosophies of Kitchen Duty, & to her Creature Comforts.

Then she gets as serious as she can about Work Ethics before opening the Family Album. She also shows us how she's Keeping Up Appearance & Keeping the Seasons, & as with all things, she gets Older and Wiser & into Soul Caring.

Oh, & she's into organic produce, herbs, overnight retreats at a Jesuit monastery, walking with her women friends, & a life of prayer & peace. & she likes to laugh!

WRITING HOME is for everywoman who thinks about her world, & would make a perfect reading group selection, & gift, no matter the season!

La Ferle's essays are not only engaging, but heartwarming and spirit lifting. Writing Home is complied of short essays, averaging two to four pages in length, which make it the perfect book to read when time is sparse, and you need to feel refreshed, relaxed, and stress-free.

We share our stories because we have faith - faith that the universe has meaning, and that our little lives are not irrelevant. --Madeleine L'Engle
A collection of more than 90 essays, Writing Home represents more than 10 years of Royal Oak resident Cindy La Ferle's career - and much of what she's learned about life.
An unexpected columnist, La Ferle seems right at home in a world defined by a few hundred words, one that depends almost entirely on voice and insight to draw and keep a reader's attention. Her writing flows with a gentle and conversational tone, one that shares her life lessons with great respect for her readers.
Subject headings from Child Care and Kitchen Duty, to Work Ethics and Keeping Up Appearances reflect what is most ordinary about life outside the big city; La Ferle writes with clarity about making friends with a neighborhood squirrel and opening her house and yard to son Nate's brood of friends over his 13-year school career.
Writing Home coaxes the extraordinary from these elements of an ordinary life with subtle humor and quiet insights. The book's form lends itself to an early morning at the breakfast table, a cup of coffee and a few minutes to remember that the best lessons in life are the simplest and the best stories are those closest to home.
This is a book you can feel good about buying not only for yourself; proceeds benefit organizations in Oakland County that help the homeless.

Cindy La Ferle's essays inspire us to appreciate life's everyday victories and handle its defeats with grace and humor. She beautifully articulates the challenges of juggling career and family in today's society.

Sensitive and intelligent, LaFerle's collection of essays is a "delicious" journey through life. In candidly revealing her thoughts, she invites us to deepen our own. A literary treat.

A collection of short stories and articles that were published as columns in papers and magazines, but when taken together are like reading her diary. Cindy finds beauty and significance in the ordinary family events that we all have in common and her take is always positive. A few pages of Writing Home is a great way to end the day.

I am thoroughly enjoying Writing Home as I review it for my website. I have come to regard reading Writing Home as a daily chat with a friend (I read a chapter or so each evening before I go to sleep). Cindy is a mom, who like all of us, is struggling to put it all together, but has a warm, insightful slant on mothering that the reader will love. Take this one with you on your summer vacation and I think this is a fine gift for mom on Mother's Day.

Home is where the heart is and Writing Home speaks to the heart. Cindy LaFerle gives the reader a glimpse into her life and shares special memories, feelings and family events.
This book is a joy to read. Readers can easily identify with LaFerle's experiences and emotions. Writing Home is a celebration of life. LaFerle finds humor, joy and appreciation in all sorts of situations and shares this eloquently. This is a can't miss, must read. Treat yourself to getting to know Cindy LaFerle through Writing Home. Makes an excellent gift book, too.

Cracking open Cindy LaFerle's debut collection of columns and essays is the equivalent of chatting with your best friend at a coffeehouse. She talks about everything under the sun -- from the love of her deceased tabby cat to the ubiquitous mean mommy syndrome we all face at the PTA. Her steady, flowing writing lulls you into the comforts of her world. It's not all rosy, however. Her discussion of the Iraqi War or Martha Stewart's decline are timely issues to be taken seriously. Nonetheless, you feel you are in trusted hands with Ms. LaFerle. She won't let you down. In every one of her 294 pages, she never does.



The book is a compilation of over a decade of newspaper columns in The Daily Tribune (Royal Oak, Michigan) and essays which have appeared in notable magazines such as Readers' Digest and Better Homes and Gardens. Since her background mirriors that of many work from home mothers, she is a highly relatable writer both in intention and in content. Her tone is never preachy. It is truthful and without pretense.



This nurturing scribe has stopped her column. Her local readers in Michigan must mourn the loss of their regular commentator. As she recently sent her only child off to college, she may have been concerned that her home life would not yield a full column's worth. She quotes Aldous Huxley at one point (page 64):



"Everyone who knows how to read has it in their power to magnify themselves, to multiply the ways in which they exist, to make their life full, significant, and interesting."



Cindy LaFerle does that with her writing. She magnifies her own world to make it our own. We can only hope she will be inspired to continue the quest with her pen. Her obvious talent to weave honest, yet striking tales is definitely something to write home about.