Book Chatter

The Art of Meaningful Living
By Christopher F. Brown
Art by John Palmer
Synergy Books
September 2009
128pp

The blurb from the publisher:

Too often our meaningful lives and the things we are passionate about are buried under disappointments and lost dreams.

Christopher F. Brown, LCSW, MBA, offers a powerful book combining psychological concepts with beautiful, provocative artwork done by John Palmer to help us move beyond the pain in our present lives to something more valuable and joyful. Divided into four stages, Brown has put together this thought-provoking guide to transform a life filled with dissatisfaction to a life filled with true meaning. Open to any page and begin your own journey toward a meaningful life.

The Short of It:

The Art of Meaningful Living walks us through the various stages of what it takes to live a meaningful life. Filled with artwork to emphasize each stage, this book is both refreshing and different.

The Rest of It:

This is a really interesting book. I’m at a point in my life where the everyday routine gets to me. Normally having a routine is very soothing but of late, my routine has been running me into the ground a bit. I think that is one of the reasons that I have been turning to non-fiction lately and when this book came along, once again it seemed like it was put into my hands for a reason.

The Art of Meaningful Living is an art book of sorts. Each section (Wisdom, Action, Resilience) contains artwork to emphasize its points. Each section contains topics such as:

Understand the Control Problem
Change is a Process, Not an Event
Spend Your Time on Your Passions
Make Effective Decisions

It’s not just an art book though. Each section addresses things that we experience each day of our lives and with each section being only 1-2 pages long, I find them very readable and it doesn’t matter which order you read them in. You can read the book from the beginning, or you can jump to a topic of particular interest. I jumped right to the section on Control because I have issues with control. Here is a quote from that section:

Focusing your energy on things you cannot control or influence leads to ineffectiveness, disappointment and frustration.

I think that it’s important to mention here that I am not big on self-help books but to me, this one doesn’t really fall into that category. It’s beautifully done. The artwork is stunning and it doesn’t feel like a self-help book. It’s not preachy, just very inspirational.

If you’d like to read more about the book and Christopher F. Brown, click here to visit his website.

Source: Thanks to Phenix and Phenix Literary Publicists for sending me this review copy.

I woke up this morning and stumbled to the front door to get the paper. It took all of 5 minutes for the kids to come tearing down the stairs to check out the Christmas circulars that are already appearing everywhere. I now have two wish lists in my hands. I’m not sure I’m ready for it all. This is my favorite time of the year but work furloughs have really put a stop to my spending. I’m getting a bit anxious over finances and with each addition to the wish list, my heart beats a little bit faster. It’s a tad stressful.

That said, I am just now out of the shower and trying to put my day together. Most of the morning has been spent helping with homework and tidying up. After I make myself presentable, I may just plop down and read. What to read though? I just finished Saving Sammy which I will be reviewing later this month for a book tour. I just started New Moon. I am seeing the movie Thanksgiving weekend so I’d like to get the book read before then. Then there is my book club pick for December, The Turn of the Screw. To be honest, it’s not doing it for me. I just got The Things that Keep Us Here which looks really, really good but it doesn’t officially come out until February so I want to read/review it closer to its release date. I also have Her Fearful Symmetry which I keep forgetting about. Perhaps I will start that.

Yesterday I posted another Confessions of a Reader post in which I confess to being a cover snob. I may make these a monthly feature instead of a weekly feature. I’m still kicking it around in my head and will decide within the next day or so. Yesterday I also created a button for Moby Dick Monday where I, and a few other bloggers will be reading Moby Dick together. We are reading 4 pages a day and then posting updates each Monday. I will post a kick-off post on Monday, November 16th. If you want to join in on the fun, let me know. For those that have already decided to do it with me, I’ll send you the button within the next day or so.

Right now I have a roast in the crock-pot and I’ll serve it with garlic mashed potatoes and braised carrots.It smells really good.

This week I am looking forward to participating in the Green Books Campaign. I’ll be reviewing a cookbook and including a recipe for you to try. Should be fun!

What are you doing today?

Chatting with friends about books and life…