March Book Of The Month

This month’s Book To Live By choice features our March theme on Your Friendships.


Women on Fire’s March 2013 choice

She Matters: A Life in Friendships (Amazon link) by Susanna Sonnenberg.

The author illuminates the friendships that have influenced, nourished, inspired, and haunted her—and sometimes torn her apart. Each has its own lessons that Sonnenberg seeks to understand.

This powerful book is testimony to the emotional significance of the intense bonds between women, whether shattered, shaky, or unbreakable.

Her fearlessly observed portraits of friendships will inspire you to consider the complexities of your own relationships.

Most memorable to me was the author describing what drew her close to a particular friend:  “She marked what mattered between friends … she showed me how simple: you witness and love, and you feel loved.”

If you are an official Women on Fire member, you will soon receive the CD package of my interview with Jan Allen, my own best friend.


With my best friend Jan Allen, left, during the recent Women on Fire Retreat in Chicago. What have your own close friendships meant to you in your life?

In it, we personally discuss our friendship ups-and-downs and the strategies that have kept us strong for three decades.

You’ll even learn what I did that really bugged Jan until the day she was honest and brave enough to tell me!

And, in the After Interview, you’ll meet two fabulous Women on Fire – Janina Sebesky and Kitt Moran – and learn how they transformed their own 30-year best friendship into a musical called “CHICK SOUP!”

Thank you to writer and actress Christina Haag, author of Come To The Edge: A Love Story, for originally introducing me to this month’s book selection.

(I learn all the great things I know from other Women on Fire!)

If you get a chance to read She Matters: A Life in Friendships, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

And, I hope you will share insights about your own life-long friendships in the comments section here.