A practical guide for women on how to find happiness and boost self-worth.
Anderson (When a Sistah’s Fed Up, 2006, etc.) offers advice from one girlfriend to another on life, love and making it.
“[S]uccess is the side effect of making better choices every day,” says the author in the introduction to her breezy yet sensible self-help book. She then sets out to show how some basic actions and attitude adjustments can help turn a humdrum life into a great one. If you can’t get ahead at work, have a man who won’t commit, are drowning in debt or struggling with a health crisis, the author offers words of wisdom. Her “Prescription for Happiness” encompasses 10 tips, including “[p]ursue your passions, not people,” and “[n]ever close your heart unless it’s temporarily under reconstruction.” Each chapter explores a different life lesson in detail (such as “[c]hange your mind often” and “love yourself first”), ending with a useful bullet-pointed summary. Throughout, Anderson, a former columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is perky but stern, and her tone is a mix of you-go-girl optimism and no-nonsense straight talk. But there’s sound advice behind such quips as, “Always act from a position of power, not fear” and “Don’t ignore the yellow lights on the dashboard of your life.” When she bluntly proclaims, “you ain’t Beyoncé,” it’s not a criticism but a counterpoint to the idea that success means excelling at everything. She drives home this concept with relatable personal stories of struggle (such as when she was diagnosed with a rare cancer) and triumph (such as her graduation from dental school). Stories of accomplished women in a variety of fields, including U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and actress Angelina Jolie, help further illustrate Anderson’s lessons as she counsels women to look inward to find their own definitions of success.
A practical guide for women on how to find happiness and boost self-worth.Pub Date: June 8, 2014
ISBN: 978-0978637835
Page Count: 190
Publisher: TyMAC books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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