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THE MYSTIC CHAPLAIN

An engaging account of a cancer survivor’s metamorphosis into greater spiritual awareness.

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A cancer memoir that broadens into the realms of metaphysics and personal growth.

The autobiographical narrative at the heart of Collins’ nonfiction debut begins in 1994 when she noticed a lump in one of her breasts. Tests revealed growths, and doctors suggested a mastectomy followed by aggressive sessions of chemotherapy. There followed a prolonged period of recovery in what she refers to as “The Cell”—a room in her home where, initially, she was nearly immobilized. In the long lonely intervals of stillness in the Cell, she began to access a deeper “Awareness,” which taught her that her illness, while painful, could be used to help others learn compassion. Faced with an inhospitable welcome back to her old job, she got a new job; here, her narrative expands into accounts of the supernatural. Some of this is more than a little dubious; for instance, she sees a glowing disc beside the sun and wonders whether it might be an alien spaceship (she references Erich Von Däniken’s Chariots of the Gods). She comes to seek hawks as shamanistic shape-shifters, and she begins to see the divine in everything around her. There follows the kinds of dreams and visions that are typical features in New Age/spiritualist writing, and Collins writes about it all with an open-hearted clarity. Her accounts of her various spiritual adventures are related with infectious enthusiasm, and the author reliably links those adventures to a broader motivational outlook: “Compassion is the most significant gift we can give to each other, to the world, and to ourselves through self-compassion,” she writes in one such passage. “True compassion comes directly from the heart with unconditional love.” This outlook will work on readers even if they don’t know a chakra from a parka. Those readers will be caught up in this involving, unpretentious memoir.

An engaging account of a cancer survivor’s metamorphosis into greater spiritual awareness.

Pub Date: June 29, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-59598-617-7

Page Count: 240

Publisher: HenschelHAUS Publishing, Inc.

Review Posted Online: Aug. 9, 2019

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WHAT I KNOW FOR SURE

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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OPEN BOOK

An eye-opening glimpse into the attempted self-unmaking of one of Hollywood’s most recognizable talents.

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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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