Gift from the Sea gets 3 Stars

I recently read Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh for my book club.  This book club consists of all women, and to think of it I have never been in a book club with a man in it.  Not that men don't read or wouldn't enjoy discussing a book, but it seems that book clubs are kind of a women thing.  Do you agree? 

Gift from the Sea is a great book for women, and a great book for a book club to discuss.  The book consists of several different essays full of advice and thoughts Anne Lindbergh had.  Lindbergh would often go and visit a rural beach cottage with no modern (1950s) luxuries; she wrote these essays and felt these lessons learned while there really were gifts from the sea.  Each essay is usually related to a specific seashell and some of its unique attributes.  

I give Gift from the Sea 3 out of 5 stars.  I thought it was a good and enjoyable read.  I felt the lessons learned/essays really were timeless, and that a reader can learn and appreciate being able to connect with the writing.  It is a bonus that this is an incredibly fast read that you could easily enjoy in one afternoon. 

Gift from the Sea reminded me a lot of As a Man Thinketh; it almost felt like a woman's version of that book.  These books are both filled with lots of imagery and lessons/essays/thoughts that can be applied to ones life to really make one be the best person he/she can be.  

I gave this book 3 stars not b/c the writing or content was poor.  It really was b/c I didn't feel moved or changed from reading Gift from the Sea when I feel that is the whole purpose of the writing.  I felt like I was basically reading a book of reflection/contemplation from Lindbergh rather than an inspiring/motivational read.  

Amazon had the following book description which ends up giving some great information about the author.  

"In this inimitable, beloved classic—graceful, lucid and lyrical—Anne Morrow Lindbergh shares her meditations on youth and age; love and marriage; peace, solitude and contentment as she set them down during a brief vacation by the sea. Drawing inspiration from the shells on the shore, Lindbergh’s musings on the shape of a woman’s life bring new understanding to both men and women at any stage of life. A mother of five, an acclaimed writer and a pioneering aviator, Lindbergh casts an unsentimental eye on the trappings of modernity that threaten to overwhelm us: the time-saving gadgets that complicate rather than simplify, the multiple commitments that take us from our families. And by recording her thoughts during a brief escape from everyday demands, she helps readers find a space for contemplation and creativity within their own lives.

With great wisdom and insight Lindbergh describes the shifting shapes of relationships and marriage, presenting a vision of life as it is lived in an enduring and evolving partnership. A groundbreaking, best-selling work when it was originally published in 1955, Gift from the Sea continues to be discovered by new generations of readers. With a new introduction by Lindbergh’s daughter Reeve, this fiftieth-anniversary edition will give those who are revisiting the book and those who are coming upon it for the first time fresh insight into the life of this remarkable woman.

The sea and the beach are elements that have been woven throughout Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s life. She spent her childhood summers with her family on a Maine island. After her marriage to Charles Lindbergh in 1929, she accompanied him on his survey flights around the North Atlantic to launch the first transoceanic airlines. The Lindberghs eventually established a permanent home on the Connecticut coast, where they lived quietly, wrote books and raised their family.

After the children left home for lives of their own, the Lindberghs traveled extensively to Africa and the Pacific for environmental research. For several years they lived on the island of Maui in Hawaii, where Charles Lindbergh died in 1974. 

Anne Morrow Lindbergh spent her final years in her Connecticut home, continuing her writing projects and enjoying visits from her children and grand-children. She died on February 7, 2001, at the age of ninety-four."

Have you read Gift from the Sea?  What did you think?