As comforting and engaging as talking to a thoughtful friend.
Urbanski offers personal essays about self-improvement and self-acceptance.
In a series of essays that can be read independently, the author writes about learning to temper perfectionism, examine priorities, and practice self-acceptance. Her grandmother, an early role model, would remind her in her childhood to “Slow down, dear one. Stop. Lock eyes. Listen more. Talk less. Be still. Be present. Relish each moment.” Urbanski approached adulthood at full speed, marrying a man named Bret and raising two children, Mackenzie and Mason, as she completed her doctorate degree and taught at high school and university levels. An injury and hip surgery at age 30 led her to a fulfilling yoga practice and taught her that “There is a gift in every problem.” The tenets that the author learned while becoming certified as a yoga teacher resonated in other areas of her life. She applied them to her family relationships, writing, and professional life, working toward the balance, gratitude, fulfillment, and stillness that her grandmother prioritized. Urbanski stresses that pursuing these goals is an ongoing process that is as important as achieving the objectives. (“What happens when we do the work to cultivate our roots and evolve is we develop a pretty hefty toolbox.”) Urbanski writes honestly about the unsustainability of taking life at a sprint—several essays that highlight examples from her life illustrate how “it will crush a girl to take the marathon of life at that pace” and how difficult it is to pause and practice stillness. One recurring theme—a tendency to feel she can handle everything, which often results in chaotic situations—will certainly be familiar to many women. It is a testament to her commitment to her work that she digs deeply to explore the roots of her actions. The text is often funny, even when the author describes difficult situations like having a panic attack: “I mean, who has a panic attack in yoga of all places?” Readers interested in taking a pause to examine their lives will find this book especially compelling, whether they practice yoga or not.
As comforting and engaging as talking to a thoughtful friend.Pub Date: April 24, 2024
ISBN: 9781960892201
Page Count: 116
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.
A charming bird journey with the bestselling author.
In his introduction to Tan’s “nature journal,” David Allen Sibley, the acclaimed ornithologist, nails the spirit of this book: a “collection of delightfully quirky, thoughtful, and personal observations of birds in sketches and words.” For years, Tan has looked out on her California backyard “paradise”—oaks, periwinkle vines, birch, Japanese maple, fuchsia shrubs—observing more than 60 species of birds, and she fashions her findings into delightful and approachable journal excerpts, accompanied by her gorgeous color sketches. As the entries—“a record of my life”—move along, the author becomes more adept at identifying and capturing them with words and pencils. Her first entry is September 16, 2017: Shortly after putting up hummingbird feeders, one of the tiny, delicate creatures landed on her hand and fed. “We have a relationship,” she writes. “I am in love.” By August 2018, her backyard “has become a menagerie of fledglings…all learning to fly.” Day by day, she has continued to learn more about the birds, their activities, and how she should relate to them; she also admits mistakes when they occur. In December 2018, she was excited to observe a Townsend’s Warbler—“Omigod! It’s looking at me. Displeased expression.” Battling pesky squirrels, Tan deployed Hot Pepper Suet to keep them away, and she deterred crows by hanging a fake one upside down. The author also declared war on outdoor cats when she learned they kill more than 1 billion birds per year. In May 2019, she notes that she spends $250 per month on beetle larvae. In June 2019, she confesses “spending more hours a day staring at birds than writing. How can I not?” Her last entry, on December 15, 2022, celebrates when an eating bird pauses, “looks and acknowledges I am there.”
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9780593536131
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
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