Dancing Through It: My Journey in the Ballet, (Paperback)

I didn't anticipate how much I'd enjoy the book. Jenifer (yes, it's an odd spelling, and yes, you'll understand it after reading the book) takes you along on her life journey, from childhood through her teen years and right up to the present. I was struck by how much of a kindred spirit she seemed to be: we're both introverts, and I understood fully what she meant when she told her husband, "Being with you is even better than being alone!" (he took this as a bit of an insult and just didn't get it). I related too to all the angst of her early 20s that she described so well: it took me back to that time in my own life, when we seem to feel and experience things in a greater way than we do later. I could feel her excitement and happiness as she met and dated her future husband, James. I understood her confusion as she struggled to keep her job (ballet) and her diet all in their proper places. I related to her "good girl" status and her desire to do everything well. Most of all, I appreciated her Christian witness in the book, and can imagine that it would be really difficult to live as a Christian in the highest echelons of the arts world -- a notoriously godless place (I remember, years back, reading a memoir by an oboist in a famous orchestra. I was shocked by the lawless and godless behavior described as normal life for artists). I just loved this book.