Book Review/June Cotner
A house filled with blessings for all the year
A book review that appeared in Currents, the arts and leisure magazine published each Thursday by the daily News-Review, Roseburg, Oregon
House Blessings
By June Cotner
Chronicle Books
Hardcover $15.95
Everyday Blessings
By June Cotner
Boxed desk calendar of a year of inspiration, comfort and gratitude
Sourcebooks, Inc. $11.99
By BILL DUNCAN
The News-Review
One thing about June Cotner’s books, she will never run out of material. She has just published "House Blessings," her 18th book of inspirational collections and at the same time produced a desk calendar of "Everyday Blessings" for 2006.
Her numerous publications grew out of a hobby of collecting favorite quotes. "When my children were young," she said, "I collected graces that were inspiring rather than those standards ones that were recited."
She had no intentions of publishing a book of the collection, but after her first book was published, "The Home Design Handbook," her agent came dinner at her home and noticed the binder on the coffee table filled with her collection of graces.
"My agent said, ‘this is a book,’" June recalls. "She was right. ‘Graces’ was published by HarperSanFranciso in 1994 and is in its 35th printing with more than 247,000 copies in print. "I have developed a career of creating anthologies of inspirational poetry, favorite quotes and interfaith prayers," she said.
Her latest book on "House Blessings" is broken down in chapters of Our Home, Family & Friends, Our Children, Our Garden, Graces & Toasts, Holidays & Celebrations and finally Reflections. "The home has long been the center of family lives," she said. "This is where we gather to create memories and where family and friends find comfort and solace."
The desk calendar is a new experience for the Poulsbo, Wash. writer who explains she was asked to produce the calendar by Sourcebooks, Inc. after the publisher saw her numerous books of inspirational quotations. The 2006 Everyday Blessings calendar is a 365-day, page-a-day boxed desk calendar. "I had fun matching the seasons and holidays with appropriate verses," she said. "I picked pieces that would bring inspiration, comfort and gratitude. I truly believe the calendar will leave the reader feeling enriched and inspired."
June said one of her favorite selections in the calendar is, appropriately enough, the entry on New Year’s Day, Jan. 1, 2006 by Arlene Gay Levine, which says, in part:
"The road waits.
Do not ask questions but when it invites you to dance at daybreak, says yes.
Each step is a journey; a single note the song."
Personally, I like the entry on Friday, May 12 by Corrine De Winter:
"Today you will witness countless miracles, starting with the sun’s dawning."
While many of the quotations she has chosen are serious, there are those that put a bit of humor in the day, such as the July 12 entry by Susan Landon, about tomato worms, but for all those garage sale readers, the "The angel of garage sales" quotation by Barbara Crooker on July 22 might be a favorite.
Not only is June inspired by her continual searching and collecting of blessings, she also practices her beliefs. When she learned through an article in "20 Below," a youth page in the Eugene Register Guard, written by Willamette High School junior, Kiran Varani, about her own collection of quotations, June was touched and contacted her to encourage her to publish them. She even sent the student’s article to her agent for consideration of a book by Kiran.
"Certain words hold a power over everyone," Kiran wrote in her newspaper story.
June sent her a copy of her book, "Teen Sunshine Reflections: Words For the Heart and Soul."
Kiran may not know it, but she just got a blessing from June Cotner.
(Bill Duncan is editor of The Senior Times. He also writes a weekly column that appears on the Thursday Opinion Page.)