Bittersweet

Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning the Hard Way

By: Shauna Niequist

Narrated by: Shauna Niequist

Join New York Times best-selling author Shauna Niequist as she invites you to experience the precious gifts and wisdom that only come the hard way - through change, loss, and transition.

In this collection of poignant essays, Shauna reflects on her own journey of making peace with change, the nuanced mix of excitement and heartbreak that comes with it, and the practices that offer us strength and hope along the way.

When life comes at us in waves, our first instinct is to dig in our heels and control what we can. A keen observer of life with a lyrical voice, Shauna offers another way - the way of letting the waves carry us into a deeper awareness of God's presence in our lives, even in the midst of turmoil.

Drawing from her own experiences in a season of pain and chaos, Shauna shares her deeply personal struggles with:

• Difficult moves
• Career changes
• Marital stress
• Financial worries
• Life-altering loss

With honesty and hope, Shauna beautifully unwraps the complicated truth that in all things there is both something broken and something beautiful, that there is a moment of lightness even on the darkest of nights, and that rejoicing is no less meaningful when it contains a splinter of sadness. A tribute to life at the edges, Bittersweet is a love letter to the bittersweet and sacred work that change does in us all.

©2010 Shauna Niequist (P)2010 Zondervan

Critic reviews

"Bittersweet is so delicious I wanted to douse it in butter and syrup and eat the whole thing. I fell into a deep and genuine depression when I read the last word and there were no more. Be kind and please treat yourself to this book. It is lovely and hilarious and poignant in all the best ways that make me so deliriously happy as a reader." (Jen Hatmaker, speaker and best-selling author of Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire and For the Love)

Comforting Like a Bowl of Risotto

Appreciated learning how to lean on faith during times of struggle and pain. Worth your time.

Unique little trinkets of thoughts

Some of the book was generic and some was eh whatever, however the few insights that she gave were 5 star worthy for sure.

Moving and fun

Loved this book by Shauna. I so enjoyed her writing style filled with quirkiness and subtle sarcasm. Her stories were sweet and moving. Definitely a must read!!

Shared with me and I shared with others

A friend recommended when I was going through a tough season. It was so life giving I have shared with many of my friends.

Just beautifully written.

This book made me laugh, cry, think. It's beautifully written and from the way she reads it I knew by the middle of the book that the author was also the reader. You could hear her joy, sadness, overwhelming moments. I felt as if a friend were sitting with a glass of wine and telling me her story. Love this book.

What I needed.

I'm currently in a rough patch in ,y life and I stumbled upon this book when I was searching for something new and I'm SO glad I did. Shauna gave me the messages I needed and didn't expect to find. This book is beautifully written and I couldn't put it down! I love audible but after listening to the first few chapters I needed to buy a hard copy so I could make my personal notes on the pages. It's a must read!

Thank you Shauna! I'll be forever grateful!

excellent

Your writing touches my heart deeply. Highly recommended. Beautifully written. Wonderfully read. Definitely rated 5 stars.

Excellent read for every Mom

An outstanding book about faith, marriage and motherhood. Touches on infertility in an honest a real way. Family and friend relationships are explored in a faithful, loving way.

really good

Shauna is a wonderful writer. She expresses herself in amazing word pictures and really communicates well. Well done and great read to get a perspective on just what she says- Change, Grace and Learning the Hard way- story of my life!!! Enjoy- I sure did.

I want to listen to it again!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I'd highly recommend this audiobook/book to friends & family. In fact, I already have two people in mind that I'm going to gift this book to.

What does Shauna Niequist bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

As I've gotten into the world of audiobooks, for non-fiction/personal books in particular, I've found it makes ALL the difference in the world to have the author read her/his own book. I love hearing Shauna's voice tell her own stories. Other books have been ruined for me when it's someone else's voice telling the author's story-- it is clearly ungenuine-sounding in most of those cases. Not so with Shauna telling her own stories... so good!! So real!!

Any additional comments?

I loved this book from start to finish, and was captivated by her stories. Her stories are meaningful, deep, very relatable (even her stories about her marriage, although I'm not married-- I could understand because of the way she tells it). Not only that, but the book is inspiring in a way that makes you (me) want to jump back on some trains in life and faith that I've fallen off of. I plan to listen a second time through sometime, because there are so many nuggets of wisdom scattered throughout.