Bestselling author Anne Rice writes about her spiritual journey. She hasn't formally broken the work up, but I'd argue that the book is basically divided into three parts: her childhood, which was heavily religious; her atheistic adulthood; and her return to Catholicism at the age of fifty-seven. Within these three segments, she discusses the ways in which religion influenced each stage in her life.

I had a rather strange reaction to this book. I love Rice's work. I love her visual imagery; her ornate and detailed prose; the religious and artistic preoccupations that drive each of her novels. I love the way she brings her settings to life. I love the Catholic elements in her work. Even before she regained her faith, she taught me so much about the Christian church. I feel confident in saying that my interest in comparative religion dates to my first exposure to her work.

So the first segment, (her childhood), had all the right elements. New Orleans and its Catholic community are depicted very well indeed. The prose is heady. The Catholicism is described in great detail. And yet, I just wasn't feeling it.

I hate to say this, but I came perilously close to abandoning the book. It wouldn't click for me. I was pretty upset. It's one thing when you want to abandon a book by some random author you've only just met. It's another thing entirely when you find yourself tempted to put down a very personal book by one of your favourite authors.

I took a longish break from it, then gave it one more go late on a Sunday evening. And wouldn't you know it, but I didn't willingly put it down again until I'd read the last page.

I'm not sure whether Rice hit her stride as a writer or I hit mine as a reader. Either way, I found her adulthood and return to faith personal, compelling, and impossible to put down. She got me thinking about so many things: gender issues, childhood versus adulthood, what it means to be a good person, her body of work, my own faith. I'm surprised, too, at how she's discussed faith without emphasizing any particular method of worship. She is, of course, a practicing Catholic; she personally believes in and follows the doctrines of that particular church. But nowhere does she push Catholicism as the right and only way. She doesn't even speak poorly of atheists or those of other faiths. Rather, she emphasizes the goodness she's found in people of all beliefs and of none. She writes about love as the core tenet of Christianity, and about her own struggles to embrace love and lead a love-filled life.

I most certainly recommend this to anyone interested in religion. I think it's relevant to people of all faiths; I'm not a Christian myself, but I still got a lot out of it.

(A slightly different version of this review originally appeared on my blog, Stella Matutina). ( )

What does it take for an atheist who authored the famous Vampire novels to return to the faith of her childhood—and to live out that faith in her publishing commitments? Nothing but the love of Jesus.

This book will move you. There’s an honest simplicity to it that many spiritual works lack. In her words:

"If this path to God is an illusion, then the story is worthless. If the path is real, then we have something here that may matter to you as well as to me." ( )

So far, it has been a slow start. I will see what happens.

the only rice book i've read is about the castrati which was recommended by 500 best books by women. i hated it. i found the sex stupid and unnecessary. so i read this book--why? it was alright. about leaving the church and finding the church etc. the reader was quite good but didn't know how to pronounce latin. ( )

Being a former Anne Rice fan who hasn't picked up one of her new releases since Memnoch the Devil, I was initially interested in reading this memoir to find out how Rice feels about writing her decidedly un-Christian novels now that she is once again a practicing Catholic. Rice wrote of supernatural beings such as vampires and witches living in a Godless world engaging in perversion and violence. She also wrote several erotic novels under pseudonyms. How does she now feel about continuing to collect royalties from these "profane" works? Essentially, she is not apologetic for her past works but instead believes that her faith in God now is all that matters and she has committed herself to writing for God.

I wonder if Rice's turning away from God in her college years would have happened if not for two influences in her life: (1) living in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco in the 60s when everyone was questioning everything anyway; and (2) the death of her young daughter at this time. Rice feels that her novels reflect her subconscious journey from question-filled atheism back to a meaningful understanding of God. ( )