"Sliced Bread" - by Rosemary Phillips |
 About "Sliced Bread"
Book Review of "Sliced Bread"
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Sliced Bread
by Rosemary Phillips |
About "Sliced Bread"
"Sliced Bread” is a metaphor for life. It is not a
cookbook – for the kitchen that is – I have been known
to burn boiled eggs and potatoes - frequently. It is a series of
biographical and autobiographical stories based on people and events
in my life, in slices and bites (see A Bite of Sliced Bread for a taste).
“My teachers in life are
many and have appeared, can appear, and will appear, in the most
unexpected situations."
“Sliced Bread” touches on the normal, the paranormal
and metaphysical, and on those questions of life that stretch us
in our thinking, with a voice that is both serious and tongue in
cheek.
I can not give advice on how another must live their life, for
I have not walked in their shoes. What I can give are slices from
my own life – sharing what I have experienced, the lessons
I have learned, and the influences I have received from so many
who have touched me in one way or another.
| “I was reading your book Sliced Bread while sitting in bed. I laughed so hard I had to change my pyjamas.” - Anonymous Review |
You will read about my grandfather Ernest, the inventor and alcoholic,
who once had the great idea in the 1920’s to design a machine
that would slice bread, and later the idea that foam rubber could
be used in furniture instead of horse hair.
You will also read about Paul
Horn, the grandfather of New Age music and how his spiritual
journey led him to India and the first Inside recording –
Inside the Taj Mahal. Ann
Mortifee, Canadian singer/songwriter shares her story
on how her life went through an amazing shift as she “quit”
for three years. Then there’s the blue-eyed drunk at the Loonie
Koop (otherwise known as the Kootenay Loop bus exchange in Vancouver)
and how he had such insight to zero in on one of the most important
questions in life, “D’ja know the ansher?”
All the stories are woven together with a thread. Enjoy humour
with “Infinity at the outhouse” or the “Condom
complaints department,” and at the expense of Alex Trebek
in “Doors”. There’s introspection with “The
end of the road to Skye,” and “The cycle continues.”
There’s deep sharing with “Two friends died one day.”
And the exciting story, “Whales and dolphins” about
dreams and communications with the other side of life.
There is joy to share and laughter to spread like butter and honey
on a slice of bread.
When we describe something new, unique, profound and ingenious
we often say, “It’s the greatest thing since sliced
bread.” Well here it is – “Sliced Bread”.
Book Review of "Sliced Bread"
For the Nanaimo Daily News, Dec. 3, 1999
By
Melissa Walker
This autobiographical (and biographical) selection of stories,
at a spare and concise one-hundred-and-seventy-five pages offers
a diverting read as much for those of an intensely private nature
as for people who are extroverted explorers of humanity. The author,
Rosemary Phillips, a seasoned writer and traveller, who has chosen
Nanaimo as her present home, presents the eclectic “Sliced
Bread” as her first solo book.
The author’s exploration of places located in the physical,
spiritual and emotional realm is described with great candour inviting
us to share in events that have moulded her life. Her voice is clear
and direct, even while describing situations more complex than the
words on the page indicate at first glance. As bread is profoundly
her metaphor for life, each chapter is a successive slice from the
loaf and soon it becomes evident that Rosemary Phillips’ life
is far from fibre-less, processed white bread.
She relates her physical travels beginning as a youth, with her
family’s emigration from England to Canada and continues the
journey throughout adulthood, always seeking and questioning the
status quo, in a way that many of us have forgotten or never known.
The manner in which the author restlessly ferrets out deeper meaning,
instead of settling for what easily lies on the surface, is refreshing.
She illuminates the familiar and transcends the ordinary experiences
of daily life. Sharing with her readers battles both intensely spiritual,
as well as spirited and intense, she compels contemplation of the
slices from her bread of life. In fact, a considerable chewing over
of every morsel is required in order to be fully savoured.
Whether searching out teapots as a researcher for CBC, taking in
a concert in the company of Welsh bell-ringers, or getting to know
her grandfather after his death, nothing is taken for granted. Compromise
or complacency seem to be unknown elements in the author’s
varied life as a skilled writer, guerrilla interior designer, studio
veteran, spiritual healer and book seller, to name a few of her
parts. The incredible circumstances and chains of coincidences that
appear to further leaven her experiences, as well as her philosophical,
beyond-the-box approach to life, make “Sliced Bread”
definite food for thought.
- Melissa Walker was a member of the Federation of B.C. Writers
ISBN 0-9683512-1-2
Original hardcover copy available through Loonbook.
$27.95 Can.
(Revised and presently awaiting republication in paperback
format.)
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