This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
Reviewed by Jennifer Reinoehl for Readers' Favorite
As I Remember It: A Memoir of Persistence, Tenacity and Humor by Theresa Wanta is not what you would expect in a memoir by a former nun. She admits that, at a very young age, she decided there wasn’t a God, but still devotes herself to the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis while she is in high school and serves for 22 years before becoming “secularized” and rejoining traditional society. She had initially hoped that she would be able to pursue her love of art as Sister Mary Joyce, but with a shortage of nuns and a high demand for teachers, she taught while learning how to teach.
The memoir continues after she leaves the sisterhood. Where her initial years were spent living in quietness under the long-reaching roof of the Catholic Church, her later years are spent trying to find that silence again so she can do the art to which she is devoted. As I Remember It is a unique read because it features a non-religious Catholic nun. For example, where a religious nun might not think twice about giving away their relatively high salary to the church due to their vow of poverty, Theresa Wanta wrestles with the decision because she has already decided to leave the convent and is justifiably worried about not having any money to start with well into her 30’s. The author has devoted most of her life, in and out of the veil, to helping those less fortunate. Unlike Mother Teresa or Maria von Trapp, however, Wanta gives readers a human view of an ex-nun who still has questions about life and is not afraid to ask them.
