Wise, witty, and worthwhile advice for readers navigating their 20s.
An advertising professional shares her life lessons for 20-somethings in this debut guide.
Douglas started her own advertising career at age 21 and spent the next 10 years documenting what she learned. Thankfully, she converted her personal journal into this engaging manual that specifically targets those in their 20s with “relatable advice in the areas of work, love, practical adult life, and personal growth.” The author pays off this promise in a jaunty guide that has plenty of personality. She writes in a conversational, down-to-earth style about her own experiences, translating them into words of encouragement and positive reinforcement for others. The volume comprises eight well-organized chapters with simple titles like “Time,” “Love,” and “Work,” bookended by a “Title Lesson” and a “Farewell Lesson.” Sprinkled throughout are “prompts”—questions accompanied by blank spaces so readers can do some journaling of their own. Particularly appealing is the chapter structure. After a brief introduction, each chapter is divided into numbered sections that identify observations or suggestions, using subheads followed by brief explanatory text. Some are metaphorically related to advancement or motivation (“The greatest mountain ranges have more than one peak”), while others are more direct (“It’s what you bring to the table, not how long you’ve been sitting at it”). By dividing the content in this way, the author highlights many key life lessons yet makes the sections easily scannable—a neat trick that turns material that might be considered heavy reading into a less intimidating collection of digestible nuggets. This format seems perfectly attuned to a generation raised on texts and shorter bursts of information. Douglas writes frankly about love, advising that “when choosing a partner, find an addition, not a completion.” Her commentary concerning work is valuable; for example, “Find the sweet spot where your talents and values meet. Work there and stay there.” The author is at her best when she is doling out counsel about entering adulthood: “On the fence isn’t a bad place to be for a little while. You can see things from there that you can’t see on either side.”
Wise, witty, and worthwhile advice for readers navigating their 20s.Pub Date: April 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-1647423209
Page Count: -
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.
A noted actor turns to verse: “Poems are a Saturday in the middle of the week.”
McConaughey, author of the gracefully written memoir Greenlights, has been writing poems since his teens, closing with one “written in an Australian bathtub” that reads just as a poem by an 18-year-old (Rimbaud excepted) should read: “Ignorant minds of the fortunate man / Blind of the fate shaping every land.” McConaughey is fearless in his commitment to the rhyme, no matter how slight the result (“Oops, took a quick peek at the sky before I got my glasses, / now I can’t see shit, sure hope this passes”). And, sad to say, the slight is what is most on display throughout, punctuated by some odd koanlike aperçus: “Eating all we can / at the all-we-can-eat buffet, / gives us a 3.8 education / and a 4.2 GPA.” “Never give up your right to do the next right thing. This is how we find our way home.” “Memory never forgets. Even though we do.” The prayer portion of the program is deeply felt, but it’s just as sentimental; only when he writes of life-changing events—a court appearance to file a restraining order against a stalker, his decision to quit smoking weed—do we catch a glimpse of the effortlessly fluent, effortlessly charming McConaughey as exemplified by the David Wooderson (“alright, alright, alright”) of Dazed and Confused. The rest is mostly a soufflé in verse. McConaughey’s heart is very clearly in the right place, but on the whole the book suggests an old saw: Don’t give up your day job.
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781984862105
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A sharp, entertaining view of the news media from one of its star players.
The veteran newscaster reflects on her triumphs and hardships, both professional and private.
In this eagerly anticipated memoir, Couric (b. 1957) transforms the events of her long, illustrious career into an immensely readable story—a legacy-preserving exercise, for sure, yet judiciously polished and insightful, several notches above the fray of typical celebrity memoirs. The narrative unfolds through a series of lean chapters as she recounts the many career ascendency steps that led to her massively successful run on the Today Show and comparably disappointing stints as CBS Evening News anchor, talk show host, and Yahoo’s Global News Anchor. On the personal front, the author is candid in her recollections about her midlife adventures in the dating scene and deeply sorrowful and affecting regarding the experience of losing her husband to colon cancer as well as the deaths of other beloved family members, including her sister and parents. Throughout, Couric maintains a sharp yet cool-headed perspective on the broadcast news industry and its many outsized personalities and even how her celebrated role has diminished in recent years. “It’s AN ADJUSTMENT when the white-hot spotlight moves on,” she writes. “The ego gratification of being the It girl is intoxicating (toxic being the root of the word). When that starts to fade, it takes some getting used to—at least it did for me.” Readers who can recall when network news coverage and morning shows were not only relevant, but powerfully influential forces will be particularly drawn to Couric’s insights as she tracks how the media has evolved over recent decades and reflects on the negative effects of the increasing shift away from reliable sources of informed news coverage. The author also discusses recent important cultural and social revolutions, casting light on issues of race and sexual orientation, sexism, and the predatory behavior that led to the #MeToo movement. In that vein, she expresses her disillusionment with former co-host and friend Matt Lauer.
A sharp, entertaining view of the news media from one of its star players.Pub Date: Oct. 26, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-316-53586-1
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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