Hi book friends! HAPPY 2017! WHAAAAT? (Yes, stereotypical reaction to new year but still WHAT!) We're kicking off the year with a great book for a new year! Big Magic is all about finding your best, creative life. Like the last time I read / listend to an audiobook, I feel the memoir / self-help genre was a good fit for me in audiobook form because I could basically listen-skim. Big Magic is about Elizabeth Gilbert's journey to help others find their creativity and embrace their creative lives. One of the things I loved most about this book was listening to Gilbert read it. I am pretty obsessed with her podcast on the same topic (seriously go listen to it right now, I'll wait.)--Big Magic--and really enjoyed listening to her so the audiobook felt like a bit of an extension of that. I also really enjoyed listening to stories from Liz's (she calls herself Liz in her podcast so that's what I call her) professional life. I found it interesting to hear about her choices, struggles, and various moments as an author. I felt that parts of the book, I think like a lot of memoir and self-help books, were much better than others. At the beginning Liz says that a creative life is just a life in which you do your own thing and you make something for no reason other than that it brings you JOY. So, if you make art or great food or decorations or do interior design or knitting or whatever (not just being an artist or a writer) then you live a creative life. I love this idea but then I found that most of her book was about her own experiences--being an author--so it was hard to generalize that to a creative life beyond a career as an artist. Also, I adore her podcast; I really can't even recommend it enough. She is witty and insightful and is such a brilliant listener--she will often tell people she's helping how their voice changed or the words they used and use it to help them see the traps they're in and how they can learn to live a more creative, freer life. I find all of her podcasts very inspiring and yet I didn't find a lot of her book as motivating or inspiring, which was disappointing. At the same time, this is a great book if you're trying to find your creative zone. You would like this book if. . . *you are or you want to be an author *you are a creative type (I'm not!) *you like Gilbert's work Are you an audiobook fan? Any recommendations for me?
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"'Have you really read all those books in your room?' Alaska laughing- 'Oh God no. I’ve maybe read a third of ‘em. But I’m going to read them all. I call it my Life’s Library. Every summer since I was little, I’ve gone to garage sales and bought all the books that looked interesting. So I always have something to read.'" -John Green
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