{"product_id":"plain-and-simple-a-womans-journey-to-the-amish","title":"Plain and Simple: A Woman's Journey to the Amish","description":"\"I had an obsession with the Amish. Plan and simple. Objectively it made no sense. I, who worked hard at being special, fell in love with a people who valued being ordinary.\"\nSo begins Sue Bender's story, the captivating and inspiring true story of a harried urban Californian moved by the beauty of a display of quilts to seek out and live with the Amish. Discovering lives shaped by unfamiliar yet comforting ideas about time, work, and community, Bender is gently coaxed to consider, \"Is there another way to lead a good life?\"\nHer journey begins in a New York men's clothing store. There she is spellbound by the vibrant colors and stunning geometric simplicity of the Amish quilts \"spoke directly to me,\" writes Bender. Somehow, \"they went straight to my heart.\"\nHeeding a persistent inner voice, Bender searches for Amish families willing to allow her to visit and share in there daily lives. Plain and Simple vividly recounts sojourns with two Amish families, visits during which Bender enters a world without television, telephone, electric light, or refrigerators; a world where clutter and hurry are replaced with inner quiet and calm ritual; a world where a sunny kitchen \"glows\" and \"no distinction was made between the sacred and the everyday.\"\nIn nine interrelated chapters--as simple and elegant as a classic nine-patch Amish quilt--Bender shares the quiet power she found reflected in lives of joyful simplicity, humanity, and clarity. The fast-paced, opinionated, often frazzled Bender returns home and reworks her \"crazy-quilt\" life, integrating the soul-soothing qualities she has observed in the Amish, and celebrating the patterns in the Amish, and celebrating the patterns formed by the distinctive \"patches\" of her own life.\nCharmingly illustrated and refreshingly spare, Plain and Simple speaks to the seeker in each of us.\u003cbr\u003eASIN: 0062501860\u003cbr\u003eVSKU: DBV.0062501860.A\u003cbr\u003eCondition: Acceptable\u003cbr\u003eAuthor\/Artist:Sue Bender|Richard Bender\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNote:\u003c\/b\u003e Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition Notes\u003c\/b\u003e: This copy has clearly been enjoyed—expect noticeable shelf wear and some minor creases to the cover. Binding is strong, and all pages are legible. May contain previous library markings or stamps.  \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Dream Books Co.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41382223085626,"sku":"DBV.0062501860.A","price":4.39,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/6011\/0138\/files\/0062501860-0.jpg?v=1777314134","url":"https:\/\/shop.dreambooksco.com\/products\/plain-and-simple-a-womans-journey-to-the-amish","provider":"Dream Books Co.","version":"1.0","type":"link"}