Fans of Roberts and newcomers alike can benefit from the continuation of her message as they begin forging their own paths.
The Emmy-winning Good Morning America anchor offers advice for finding joy in life.
The author’s latest book is a result of the positive feedback she has received from her followers. Craving connection during the pandemic shutdown, Roberts began posting inspirational messages on social media from her basement studio. “Not everyone naturally sees silver linings,” she writes, “but we can challenge ourselves to spot them.” Her hope is that this book will help readers do just that. As numerous experts have argued, the author contends that many of us are going through a mental health crisis right now, but we all have the tools available to create more fulfilling lives. Throughout her book, she offers tips and advice, including reevaluating our relationships and engaging in “daily pleasures,” such as listening to music, resuming old hobbies, or engaging in transcendental meditation, as she has for a decade. She also includes an inspirational quote at the beginning of each chapter (from Vincent van Gogh and Helen Keller to Tina Fey and Dolly Parton). Regarding optimism, Roberts believes that one has to be ready and to “recommit to our new intention every day.” Drawing on her faith and advice she has received from family and friends, the author recounts personal experiences that have helped her achieve joy, and she describes how the pandemic has made her reevaluate what matters most—e.g., being diagnosed with breast cancer and attending therapy. Ultimately, Roberts encourages readers to follow their hearts. “We usually have our own answers,” she writes. “We just have to settle down long enough to hear them.” Much of the author’s advice is familiar, some trite, but for the most part, it’s sound, and her words are heartfelt and encouraging.
Fans of Roberts and newcomers alike can benefit from the continuation of her message as they begin forging their own paths.Pub Date: April 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5387-5461-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.
All right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.
“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it. This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” Some of those philosophies come in the form of apothegms: “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze”; “Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate.” Others come in the form of sometimes rambling stories that never take the shortest route from point A to point B, as when he recounts a dream-spurred, challenging visit to the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, who offered a significant lesson in how disagreement can be expressed politely and without rancor. Fans of McConaughey will enjoy his memories—which line up squarely with other accounts in Melissa Maerz’s recent oral history, Alright, Alright, Alright—of his debut in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, to which he contributed not just that signature phrase, but also a kind of too-cool-for-school hipness that dissolves a bit upon realizing that he’s an older guy on the prowl for teenage girls. McConaughey’s prep to settle into the role of Wooderson involved inhabiting the mind of a dude who digs cars, rock ’n’ roll, and “chicks,” and he ran with it, reminding readers that the film originally had only three scripted scenes for his character. The lesson: “Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more.” It’s clear that the author is a thoughtful man, even an intellectual of sorts, though without the earnestness of Ethan Hawke or James Franco. Though some of the sentiments are greeting card–ish, this book is entertaining and full of good lessons.
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13913-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.
The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.
Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781627783316
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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