I didn’t want to read this book, but I am truly glad I did. Elizabeth Gilbert gave us “Eat, Pray, Love” a book that sold somewhere around a trillion copies.(Approximately) Sometimes when an author has a success such as EPL they have license to do all kinds of things, and rightly so. But sometimes what comes after is, well, remorseful. And you see, I didn’t read EPL. Oh no. That was too mainstream for me. Too book club for me. Stereotyping can be fun!
But I was wrong. Again.
I still haven’t read EPL but what I have done is read “Big Magic.” “Creative Living Beyond Fear” is the subtitle, but let me continue my admissions before I get to this book. I didn’t want to read this book either. For no good reason at all. You would think this book would be right up my alley. Well, it was. I love this book. I think I love Elizabeth too. Not in a romantic way(don’t know her) but as a creative person. I think I want to hang out with her. She breaks down the idea of creative living in a way that sounds exactly like me. I say some of the same things she says in this book, which was truly shocking to see in print. “I’m not alone,” I thought.
This book will be nails on a chalkboard for anyone who thinks creative things have to be done in a certain way, and lord knows I’ve run into A LOT of these folks over the years, so it’s nice to read Gilbert’s take on being creative.
This book just lays it out there. “Think about this.” Get it, read it.
Comments 7
Thanks for posting about Big Magic, Dan. Didn’t know about it and I, too, love Elizabeth Gilbert. And, hopefully one day you can get to read EPL.
Author
Hey Alex,
I loved it. She seems really cool. I’ll have to get EPL, but I’ve got a laundry list ahead of her. I’ll get there…
She’s done a couple of pretty decent TED talks too. Seems quite down-to-earth.
https://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_success_failure_and_the_drive_to_keep_creating
http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius
Author
Thanks Stuart. Didn’t know so thanks for sending.
This reminds me a lot of Art & Fear, but written in such a delightfully playful way! Thanks for the pointer, Daniel.
Author
AM,
No problem. The book follows a common formula but what she says is interesting.
I think it’s a message that is Impossible to repeat too much, and impossible to read too often.
At any rate, I need a regular inoculation of it.