This is one of my enduring favorites. Although this memoir was written in 1955, it is still completely relevant today. In the midst of being tied up with her family life –she has a husband and five children – Lindbergh decides to take off and spend some time alone on an island to replenish herself. As the days pass, she starts relaxing and leaving the busyness behind; she then begins to soak up nature and the abundant gifts the sea has to offer in terms of life lessons. Very wise, and beautifully written. Highly recommended. ( )

Excellent reflective book by a woman that has gone though tough times and is taking a moment to reflect on what is important - and what has been lost.

great ( )

Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s slim book of essays, Gift From The Sea, was first published in 1955. Her work within the pages of this book was inspired during a short vacation she took by herself to an island - a place where she communed with the wide expanse of the sea, the star-filled nights, the sandy beaches and the empty shells of mysterious ocean life. Lindbergh contemplates love and marriage, solitude, and inner strength, using shells as metaphor for how to live our lives.

The book gives a unique insight into a time in history for women. The 50s housewife was just beginning to see the possibilities for herself, and Lindbergh captures that eagerness. She also inserts a warning to women not to forget where their strength lies - inside.

Gifts From the Sea is a timeless classic. I highlighted many passages which are still relevant to today’s world. Lindbergh writes with a beauty and wisdom, a poetic style which draws the reader in.

Highly recommended. ( )

Read this book in my 20's; was very moved. Must re-read, now that I'm almost 50! (could probably use it even more!) ( )

This book retains a surprising amount of relevance given its age. Some of the unwritten assumptions about a woman's life are obviously dated, but the ideas of simplicity, accepting growth in relationships, and living in the present moment are all still extremely applicable to modern life. The conceit of using sea shells to explain and remind one of the concepts discussed is effective. ( )

When I first came across this book many years ago, it was one of the first books I had read that dealt with being a woman. Her approach to taking time out to go to the seaside to assess her life appealed immensely to me. The seaside has always helped me put things in perspective, but I never could have expressed it so well. A wonderful read. ( )

This is one of my favorite books. I love the thoughts put forth by the author. Not that I always agree, but I love the way she words them. Her thoughts cover all the things which women deal with in their lives. It is almost like reading poetry, yet it's prose. ( )

Thoughtful reflections on a life. I liked the idea of taking time to be alone and think. The shell analogies were interesting - especially the clam shell! ( )

Essential in every woman's library. A collection of articles on coping with life as a wife and mother and still finding time for yourself. Beautifully written and insightful. ( )

Ann Morrow Lindbergh's Gift From the Sea is a slim little volume full of simple profundities and poetic (yet practical) musings. The author writes about a vacation to the beach that she took by herself. She collects shells and sees metaphors for life in them. Each chapter is about a different shell and its relation to "living in grace," being connected to oneself in order to connect meaningfully with others. Lindbergh's writing is so poetic and graceful. I especially love the chapter on being alone and how we need to practice solitude, to replenish the soul. She writes (paraphrased from memory), "There is nothing so exhausting in life as being insincere. That is why so much of social life is draining—you are wearing a mask. When you are alone, the mask comes off." I think she is right.

This is a beautiful and thought-provoking book that I will want to revisit. Highly recommended. ( )

http://gr4c5.wordpress.com/2007/07/26... ( )

Great writing. ( )

memoir.

Written in the mid-1950s by Lindbergh (yes, the same woman whose baby was kidnapped), this is a collection of short stories that is as relevant today as it was fifty years ago. Each story centers upon a certain shell – and the lessons it holds for Lindbergh, and all women, lessons such as the importance of simplicity and solitude. Lindbergh’s prose is lyrical, yet accessible; reading her words is like listening to the sage advice of a favorite aunt. Walking alone along a beach and sitting in her cottage by the sea, she ponders upon the lives of women and what is needed for personal fulfillment. Gift from the Sea is a spiritual book that speaks outside the bounds of any particular religion although I found my copy in the Christian inspiration section of my local bookstore. Her appeal for women to reclaim themselves is a gentle feminist calling, one that stirs the soul and resonates long after the last page is turned. ( )

Bookclub selection. A short book, enjoyed. ( )

Amazon Book Description
In this inimitable, beloved classic—graceful, lucid and lyrical—Anne Morrow Lindbergh shares her meditations on youth and age; love and marriage; peace, solitude and contentment as she set them down during a brief vacation by the sea. Drawing inspiration from the shells on the shore, Lindbergh’s musings on the shape of a woman’s life bring new understanding to both men and women at any stage of life. A mother of five, an acclaimed writer and a pioneering aviator, Lindbergh casts an unsentimental eye on the trappings of modernity that threaten to overwhelm us: the time-saving gadgets that complicate rather than simplify, the multiple commitments that take us from our families. And by recording her thoughts during a brief escape from everyday demands, she helps readers find a space for contemplation and creativity within their own lives.

The sea and the beach are elements that have been woven throughout Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s life. She spent her childhood summers with her family on a Maine island. After her marriage to Charles Lindbergh in 1929, she accompanied him on his survey flights around the North Atlantic to launch the first transoceanic airlines. The Lindberghs eventually established a permanent home on the Connecticut coast, where they lived quietly, wrote books and raised their family.