A gentle, affirming companion to inevitable change.
Moving on.
Writer, illustrator, and end-of-life doula Olanow follows her previous books on self-care, self-empathy, and recovery from grief with an intimate response to a vexing question: “Is this all there is?” Sharing meditations, aphorisms, poems, quotations (by Sylvia Plath and Alan Watts), drawings, and watercolor paintings of moody landscapes and flowers, she writes encouragingly about the possibility of transformation. Like the seed of a plant, seeds of transformation require patience and darkness. They also require optimism: “The flower you see today,” she writes, “started as a tiny seed who believed in tomorrow.” Drawing on her own experience of divorce, single-parenthood, and loss, she advises that “what feels like failure often contains the possibility of something else entirely.” A butterfly flapping in frustration at a window that blocked its route into her garden found that once it stopped struggling, it could sense a current of air on which it sailed to freedom. People, too, need to stop struggling in order to find new possibilities. She admits to being mired, at times, “between yesterday’s regrets and tomorrow’s anxieties,” but advises not to burden oneself with aspirations to perfection: “a heavy word/and an even heavier burden.” Like Mary Oliver, whose sentiments she often echoes, Olanow knows that paying close attention to nature’s beauty takes practice, and is amply rewarded. As to the question, “is this all there is?” Olanow responds, “Perhaps the question is not what more, but what deeper awaits you.” Resilience and openness serve us well: “We are unfinished symphonies. Maybe our most beautiful notes are yet to be played.” Counseling self-confidence and hope, Olanow is a compassionate guide along the trajectory of self-renewal.
A gentle, affirming companion to inevitable change.Pub Date: March 17, 2026
ISBN: 9781523531714
Page Count: 168
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.
The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.
Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781627783316
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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