by Emma Sargent ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 28, 2015
A rambling discussion, redeemed by its intriguing spiritual ideas and sprinklings of practical advice.
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A client of an Australian healer shares insights from him as well as her own musings in this debut spirituality guide.
Single mother Sargent first went to Brisbane-based Telman, a self-described “psychic healer,” for life-planning sessions, and then asked him to meet with her for a series of conversations, from which she developed this book. Although the text covers some details about Telman’s childhood in Communist Poland as well as his subsequent world studies and travels, it’s largely concerned with his concepts regarding spirituality. According to Telman, the world is vibrating with the energy of souls created by an “organic spiritual machine” (“It’s alien, I think”), and all those souls have “an instinct to reincarnate” until they’re perfected. He says that he knew since childhood that he had psychic visions and healing gifts, and asserts that “after a healing session with me your energies are raised, and ipso facto so do your life experiences: at the higher level is a greater level of self-confidence and belief, personal productivity, success, happiness and so on.” He details some of the practices that he asks his clients to do, such as “Front Door Activity”—thinking positive thoughts every time they walk in and out of doors. Sargent also offers her own personal commentary on her relationship with her now-deceased father, her ambitions to be a writer, and even a banana bread recipe. She’s crafted a provocative spirituality tome, but it’s somewhat hard to navigate; for example, she offers paragraphs of dialogue without attribution, making it challenging to keep track of when she or Telman is speaking. Still, she touches down on many engaging topics, thankfully offering helpful organization by sectioning her text into chapters on “Karma,” “Free Will,” “Death,” and other concepts. Most significantly, Telman, while making some strange claims (such as that he’s gone on “night missions” in the spirit realm and that he’s “Australia’s most read poet”), ultimately offers bracing wisdom, underscoring the need for people to take ongoing action to be positive, loving, and successful in life.
A rambling discussion, redeemed by its intriguing spiritual ideas and sprinklings of practical advice.Pub Date: Dec. 28, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5144-4244-9
Page Count: 250
Publisher: Xlibris
Review Posted Online: April 28, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Oprah Winfrey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 2, 2014
Honest messages from one of America's best known women.
A compilation of advice from the Queen of All Media.
After writing a column for 14 years titled “What I Know For Sure” for O, The Oprah Winfrey Magazine, Winfrey brings together the highlights into one gift-ready collection. Grouped into themes like Joy, Resilience, Connection, Gratitude, Possibility, Awe, Clarity and Power, each short essay is the distilled thought of a woman who has taken the time to contemplate her life’s journey thus far. Whether she is discussing traveling across the country with her good friend, Gayle, the life she shares with her dogs or building a fire in the fireplace, Winfrey takes each moment and finds the good in it, takes pride in having lived it and embraces the message she’s received from that particular time. Through her actions and her words, she shows readers how she's turned potentially negative moments into life-enhancing experiences, how she's found bliss in simple pleasures like a perfectly ripe peach, and how she's overcome social anxiety to become part of a bigger community. She discusses the yo-yo dieting, exercise and calorie counting she endured for almost two decades as she tried to modify her physical body into something it was not meant to be, and how one day she decided she needed to be grateful for each and every body part: "This is the body you've been given—love what you've got." Since all of the sections are brief and many of the essays are only a couple paragraphs long—and many members of the target audience will have already read them in the magazine—they are best digested in short segments in order to absorb Winfrey's positive and joyful but repetitive message. The book also features a new introduction by the author.
Honest messages from one of America's best known women.Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2014
ISBN: 978-1250054050
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Flatiron View Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2014
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by Jessica Simpson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 4, 2020
An eye-opening glimpse into the attempted self-unmaking of one of Hollywood’s most recognizable talents.
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New York Times Bestseller
IndieBound Bestseller
Rolling Stone & Kirkus' Best Music Books of 2020
The debut memoir from the pop and fashion star.
Early on, Simpson describes the book she didn’t write: “a motivational manual telling you how to live your best life.” Though having committed to the lucrative deal years before, she “walked away,” fearing any sort of self-help advice she might give would be hypocritical. Outwardly, Simpson was at the peak of her success, with her fashion line generating “one billion dollars in annual sales.” However, anxiety was getting the better of her, and she admits she’d become a “feelings addict,” just needing “enough noise to distract me from the pain I’d been avoiding since childhood. The demons of traumatic abuse that refused to let me sleep at night—Tylenol PM at age twelve, red wine and Ambien as a grown, scared woman. Those same demons who perched on my shoulder, and when they saw a man as dark as them, leaned in to my ear to whisper, ‘Just give him your light. See if it saves him…’ ” On Halloween 2017, Simpson hit rock bottom, and, with the intervention of her devoted friends and husband, began to address her addictions and underlying fears. In this readable but overlong narrative, the author traces her childhood as a Baptist preacher’s daughter moving 18 times before she “hit fifth grade,” and follows her remarkable rise to fame as a singer. She reveals the psychological trauma resulting from years of sexual abuse by a family friend, experiences that drew her repeatedly into bad relationships with men, most publicly with ex-husband Nick Lachey. Admitting that she was attracted to the validating power of an audience, Simpson analyzes how her failings and triumphs have enabled her to take control of her life, even as she was hounded by the press and various music and movie executives about her weight. Simpson’s memoir contains plenty of personal and professional moments for fans to savor. One of Kirkus and Rolling Stone’s Best Music Books of 2020.
An eye-opening glimpse into the attempted self-unmaking of one of Hollywood’s most recognizable talents.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-289996-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2020
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