THE GARDEN OF LIFE

Name: THE GARDEN OF LIFE
Author: Todd Michael Putnam
ISBN: 978-1478737490

by Todd Michael Putnam ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 24, 2014

A slim yet effective volume on how to live the best possible life in a wide range of circumstances.

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Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

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A concise, elegant self-help book that uses the metaphor of tending a garden to illustrate how to make the best choices in one’s personal and professional life.

With the unalloyed charm of a children’s story, the book begins with two principal characters: the Old Man and the Young Gardener. The Old Man is frustrated by the weeds in his garden, but the Young Gardener urges him to keep weeding. More importantly, he encourages him to accept the fact that he will be weeding for the rest of his life—but that he also has the ability to shape and nurture the exact garden he wishes. Debut author Putnam then embellishes this brief anecdote in a more traditional self-help section. In it, he explains that “[o]nly you can decide which are the Weeds of Meaningless Distraction that you will pull out of your life and which are the Seeds of Positive Purpose that you will choose to grow.” The book continues with this format for another eight chapters, using the Old Man’s and the Young Gardener’s obstacles to illustrate lessons in loss, love and accomplishment. The book outstrips most of its self-help contemporaries in its brevity and excellently matched illustrations. Instead of urging readers to complete a series of exercises or numbered steps, it encourages them to look inward for answers to life’s challenges. This type of thinking doesn’t offer easy answers, but it does foster solidity and growth. Putnam’s direct prose doesn’t seek to impress, but it does succeed in holding readers’ interest while clearly getting its points across. There are an unnervingly high number of capitalized concept names (“Planting the seeds of Respect, Patience, Appreciation and Forgiveness and then nurturing them is often not an easy task”), but it’s no worse than others in the genre. Ultimately, Putnam makes it clear that although true growth is never easy, it’s definitely worthwhile.

A slim yet effective volume on how to live the best possible life in a wide range of circumstances.

Pub Date: June 24, 2014

ISBN: 978-1478737490

Page Count: 76

Publisher: Outskirts Press Inc.

Review Posted Online: Nov. 25, 2014

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.