The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life

by Suleika Jaouad

A guide to the art of journaling—and a meditation on the central questions of life—by the bestselling author of Between Two Kingdoms , with contributions from Hanif Abdurraqib, Jon Batiste, Salman Rushdie, Gloria Steinem, George Saunders, and many more

“ The Book of Alchemy proves on every page that a creative response can be found in every moment of life—regardless of what is happening in the world.”—Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love

From the time she was young, Suleika Jaouad has kept a journal. She’s used it to mark life's biggest occasions and to weather its most ferocious storms. Journaling has buoyed her through illness, heartbreak, and the deepest uncertainty. And she is not for so many people, keeping a journal is an essential tool for navigating both the personal peaks and valleys and the collective challenges of modern life. More than ever, we need a space for puzzling through.

In The Book of Alchemy, Suleika explores the art of journaling and shares everything she’s learned about how this life-altering practice can help us tap into that mystical trait that exists in every creativity. She has gathered wisdom from one hundred writers, artists, and thinkers in the form of essays and writing prompts. Their insights invite us to inhabit a more inspired life.

A companion through challenging times, The Book of Alchemy is broken into themes ranging from new beginnings to love, loss, and rebuilding. Whether you’re a lifelong journaler or new to the practice, this book gives you the tools, direction, and encouragement to engage with discomfort, ask questions, peel back the layers, dream daringly, uncover your truest self—and in doing so, to learn to hold the unbearably brutal and astonishingly beautiful facts of life in the same palm.

Also includes essays Martha Beck Nadia Bolz-Weber Alain de Botton Susan Cheever Lena Dunham Melissa Febos Liana Finck John Green Marie Howe Pico Iyer Oliver Jeffers Quintin Jones Michael Koryta Hanif Kureishi Kiese Laymon Cleyvis Natera Ann Patchett Esther Perel Adrienne Raphel Jenny Rosenstrach Sarah Ruhl Sharon Salzberg Dani Shapiro Mavis Staples Linda Sue Park Nafissa Thompson-Spires Jia Tolentino Lindy West Lidia Yuknavitch And many others

* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF listing essay contributors.

PLEASE When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

Genres: Nonfiction, Writing, Self Help, Essays, Memoir, Art, Psychology

9 pages, Audible Audio

First published April 25, 2025

About the author

Suleika Jaouad wrote the Emmy Award-winning New York Times column “Life, Interrupted.” Her essays and reported features have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Vogue and NPR. She is the creator of the Isolation Journals, a global project cultivating creativity and community during challenging times. BETWEEN TWO KINGDOMS is her first book.

Reviews

[kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those who love to journal and for those who want to journal...

Whether or not you are familiar with Jaouad's Substack newsletter "Isolation Journals", you are in for a treat with this book. Born from Jaouad's love of journaling and documenting, The Isolation Journals was created in 2020 during the height of the pandemic when she started communal journaling, inviting others to contribute. Each "journal" entry—or essay—that was shared offered a prompt for the rest of the readers to get their creative juices flowing.

The Book of Alchemy is a collection of 100 of those essays from The Isolation Journals, each offering a prompt that relates back to the essay and invites readers to open up their journals and their hearts, and write their own piece. With 100 different prompts on Beginning; Memory; Fear; Seeing; Love; Body; Rebuilding; Ego; Purpose; and Alchemy; The Book of Alchemy will take readers through a slew of outsider experiences that force them to turn inward, reflect, and recognize the universal experience of being human.

This book best works as a "100 days of journaling" practice, reading one essay and prompt per day. But if you are anything like me, you don't have the patience for that. In that case, my best advice with this book would be to settle in with it and read through the whole thing—cover to cover—and see what resonates with you, what speaks to you. When you finish, start from the beginning again. Only this time, let yourself move through the prompts one day at a time.

With essays from Dani Shapiro, Melissa Febos, Erin Khar, Jon Batiste, Laura McKowen, Elizabeth Gilbert, LaTonya Yvette, Ann Patchett, and so many more, it is sure to delight. I look forward to grabbing my own physical copy when it releases so I can underline, highlight, and deeply engage.

Thank you Penguin Random House for the early copy in exchange for an honest review. Available Apr. 22 2025

[Meike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suleika Jaouad is the kind of person I'd like to be friends with, and her personality shines through this collection of 100 writing prompts, structured around 10 topics: Beginning, memory, fear, seeing, love, the body, rebuilding, ego, purpose, and alchemy. The author was first diagnosed with leukemia in 2011, the cancer has since returned twice (if you haven't yet, you should watch "American Symphony", the award-winning documentary that shows a year in the life of her husband Jon Batiste who wrote his first symphony during Jaouad's relapse). The creative practice of writing has given Jaouad strength and clarity, and this collection assembles short texts and prompts illustrating how journaling can lead to higher self-knowledge and an improved mental health.

Each of the ten chapters offers an introduction by Jaouad, then gives voice to collaborators like Hanif Abdurraqib, Kiese Laymon, Ann Patchett, Salman Rushdie, George Saunders, Gloria Steinem, Jia Tolentino and of course Jon Batiste (love this guy). It really is a practice book, a publication to be worked with, a useful tool to get inspired and fight every writer's worst nightmare: The empty page. And as such, it's super-functional - even though the intros by Jaouad become slightly repetitive (then again, I can't hear enough dog stories by a fellow dog lover).

Truly lives up to the promise of being inspiring, and without being too twee and whimsical.

[Karen]

What is the name of this book??? According to the title it's The Book of Alchemy, but by the review it seems to be The Book of Prompts. Very confusing.

[The Bookish Elf · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a world increasingly defined by digital distraction and constant noise, The Book of Alchemy offers a radical proposition: return to the page, to the physical act of writing by hand, to the intimate dance between pen and paper. Suleika Jaouad's latest work isn't merely a book about journaling—it's a profound meditation on how we can transform our most challenging experiences into something precious through the alchemical process of creative expression.

As someone who has faced mortality twice through leukemia diagnoses, Jaouad knows intimately how life can shatter in an instant. Her first memoir, Between Two Kingdoms, chronicled her journey through cancer treatment in her early twenties and the subsequent road trip she took to reconnect with people who had written to her during her illness. With The Book of Alchemy, she extends beyond personal narrative to create something more universally applicable: a toolkit for navigating life's transitions, especially the difficult ones.

Structure and Content: A Journey Through Life's Seasons

The book is organized into ten thematic chapters, each exploring a different facet of human experience:

1. On Beginning - Embracing the blank page and starting anew
2. On Memory - Excavating the past and finding meaning
3. On Fear - Confronting what terrifies us and moving through it
4. On Seeing - Cultivating attention and presence
5. On Love - Exploring connection in its many forms
6. On the Body - Embracing our physical selves through all changes
7. On Rebuilding - Finding ways forward after devastation
8. On Ego - Examining our relationship with the self
9. On Purpose - Discovering what gives life meaning
10. On Alchemy - Transforming raw experience into wisdom

Each chapter opens with Jaouad's personal reflections on the theme, followed by ten essays from contributing writers, each paired with a journaling prompt. The contributors represent diverse backgrounds and experiences—from internationally renowned authors like Salman Rushdie and George Saunders to musicians like Jon Batiste and Mavis Staples, from spiritual thinkers like Sharon Salzberg to Quintin Jones, who wrote from death row before his execution.

The Alchemy of Creative Practice

What distinguishes The Book of Alchemy from other journaling guides is Jaouad's lived understanding of how creative practice can serve as a lifeline. She writes: "I reach for the page like I reach for prayer: to plead, to confess, to commune, to remember that all is not chaos, all is not lost." Throughout the book, she demonstrates how journaling functions as:

- A record-keeper - Capturing moments that might otherwise be lost
- A sense-maker - Helping us process complex emotions and experiences
- A companion - Providing a space for unfiltered expression
- A laboratory - Allowing experimentation with ideas and perspectives
- A mirror - Reflecting our evolving selves back to us

The concept of alchemy—transforming base materials into gold—serves as the perfect metaphor for what happens when we engage with journaling as a serious practice. Our raw experiences, even (perhaps especially) the painful ones, become the materials from which wisdom, art, and healing can emerge.

Highlights: Standout Essays and Prompts

Among the hundred essays and prompts, several stand out as particularly powerful:

- Marie Howe's "Radical Receptivity" advocates writing with your non-dominant hand to bypass your inner critic and access deeper truth.

- John Green's "Dutch Tulips & a Dodo Bird" explores how we can develop detailed mental representations of things we've never physically seen.

- Nadia Bolz-Weber's "I Packed for Shit That Day" offers a raw account of grief that acknowledges how losing someone you love temporarily dismantles your ability to function.

- Oliver Jeffers's "What I Learned from the Astronauts" draws parallels between the perspective shift astronauts experience and how distance can transform our understanding of conflicts.

- Lindy West's "The Mayor's Underpants" delivers a hilarious exploration of how video games can become a compulsion loop that distracts us from creative work.

The prompts range from simple activities like "Set a timer for five minutes and do nothing" to deeper explorations like "Write a letter to a stranger—someone imaginary, someone you met once, someone you only know from a distance."

Strengths: Where The Book of Alchemy Shines

The Book of Alchemy excels in several key areas:

1. Accessibility - The book welcomes both experienced journalers and absolute beginners, emphasizing that there is no "wrong way" to journal.

2. Genuine diversity of voices - Rather than token representation, the contributors offer genuinely different perspectives, experiences, and approaches to creative expression.

3. Balance between structure and freedom - While organized thematically, the book encourages readers to follow their intuition and skip around as needed.

4. Emphasis on process over product - Jaouad consistently reminds readers that journaling's value lies in the practice itself, not in creating a polished final product.

5. Integration of science and soul - The book acknowledges research on journaling's mental health benefits while honoring the spiritual and creative dimensions of the practice.

Most significantly, Jaouad writes with hard-earned wisdom about accepting impermanence and uncertainty. Her approach to journaling isn't about toxic positivity or simplistic "healing journeys," but about developing the capacity to hold life's complexity—"to hold the brutal and the beautiful facts of life in the same palm."

Critiques: Where It Could Be Stronger

Despite its many strengths, The Book of Alchemy isn't perfect:

- Overwhelming volume - With 100 essays and prompts, it can be difficult to know where to begin or how to approach the book as a cohesive whole.

- Uneven essay quality - While most contributions are excellent, a few feel less developed or insightful compared to the standouts.

- Limited practical guidance - Readers seeking structured journaling techniques or step-by-step instructions might want more concrete direction.

- Potential for spiritual bypassing - Occasionally, the language of "alchemy" could be misinterpreted as suggesting that all suffering can or should be transformed into something beautiful.

These critiques are minor compared to what the book accomplishes, but they're worth noting for readers who might have specific expectations.

For Whom This Book Is Essential

The Book of Alchemy will be particularly valuable for:

- Those navigating transitions - Whether facing illness, grief, career changes, or relationship shifts

- Creative people experiencing blocks - Writers, artists, and makers who need to rekindle their creative spark

- Mental health journeyers - People using journaling as part of their mental health practice

- Spiritual seekers - Those exploring questions of meaning, purpose, and connection

- Busy professionals - Anyone seeking a counterbalance to digital overwhelm and constant productivity

It's also worth noting that the book itself is a beautiful physical object—the kind of book you want to keep on your nightstand or carry in your bag, designed to be returned to again and again.

Final Verdict

The Book of Alchemy is a generous, wise companion for anyone seeking to engage more deeply with their life through writing. While not flawless, its imperfections mirror what Jaouad teaches about journaling itself—that perfection isn't the point, presence is.

The book's highest achievement is how it embodies its own message. Just as Jaouad encourages readers to transform isolation into creative solitude, she has transformed her own experiences of illness and uncertainty into a resource that will help countless others navigate their own difficult passages.

In the book's afterword, written as Jaouad faced yet another cancer recurrence, she offers what feels like both the book's thesis and her own credo: "I reach for the page like I reach for prayer... The journal is oceanic. It is capacious... Here I create myself. Here I write my way through."

For readers willing to engage with its invitation, The Book of Alchemy offers exactly that: a way to write ourselves through—through joy and sorrow, through confusion and clarity, through the full spectrum of what it means to be alive in these complex times.

[Em · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a therapist who often uses expressive writing in my work with clients, I found 'The Book of Alchemy' by Suleika Jaouad to be such a powerful resource. This collection of reflections and prompts provides readers with an invitation to slow down, check in with yourself, and explore your emotions with curiosity and care. The writing prompts are thoughtful and rich, helping you reflect without feeling pressured to get it “right.”

What really stood out to me were the personal stories shared alongside the prompts—they’re full of life lessons and moments of vulnerability that feel like gentle reminders that we’re not alone in our struggles. This is the kind of book I’d keep close—on a nightstand or desk—perfect for morning reflections or unwinding at the end of the day. Whether you’re new to journaling or a seasoned writer, it offers a beautiful way to process emotions and reconnect with yourself.

[Stacy (Gotham City Librarian) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not one who journals. I like the IDEA of it, and to be honest, I technically had a LiveJournal many years ago. But I don't think that counts. Whenever I've tried to get into physical journaling, it just felt unnatural. I also didn't like the idea of anyone else finding and reading what I had written. This book helps with that, by suggesting that you can go as far as destroying the pages when you're done with them. It's the act of the writing itself that's cathartic. I chose to read this because the reviews were good, and because I thought that maybe I could use some of the prompts for creative writing purposes. 

The book absolutely lived up to my expectations and more. I'm even considering trying to journal again. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked at writing prompts in the past and thought to myself, “Wow, these prompts suck.” I’m talking about writing prompts that I’ve seen basically everywhere over the years. I was starting to think that good, helpful ones didn’t actually exist. Or that maybe I was too picky? But there are 100 different suggestions in this book, from 100 different authors. Admittedly, few of them aren’t very good, but I’ll just skip over those. That's a pretty small percentage, in the end. You have SO MANY to choose from if you don’t want to do the entire thing. It’s technically designed to be a 100-Day Challenge, which is fun. But I read through the entire thing in one go, and will probably go back to pick and choose which prompts I want to use later. Most of the sections are bite-sized and easy to read and contemplate quickly, or you can do a bunch all at once. I liked that. 

Author Jaouad’s musings at the beginning of each chapter are very insightful and inspiring, often offering valid life advice. She goes into detail about her experience with Cancer and what it did to her physically and mentally. Actually, quite a few of the authors wrote about stints in the hospital or their experiences with serious health problems. It's a recurring theme. Definitely sad to read about, but all of them came through it to continue making art. 

I enjoyed this read and thought it was a great push to be creative and more thoughtful about life in general. I'm looking forward to using many of these prompts! They are unique, fun, and different from any others that I've seen in the past.

TW: There is some talk throughout about the pandemic, because many of the authors bring it up. So if that’s something that bothers you, be aware. (None of the actual writing prompts have anything to do with that topic.) Others include substance abuse/addiction, Chronic illness, Death/grief, Disordered eating, Domestic abuse, Homophobia/Hate speech 

[Aly Lauck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great, beautiful, transformative book! Really enjoyed all the contributors and their anecdotes and well as the writing prompts. One of my favorites for the year so far!!

[Eileen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Suleika Jaouad's The Book of Alchemy is a magical book about writing. Jaoad's book benefits from the standard "write about what you know" offered by most books about the topic, but this merely gets the book in motion. Jaouad's writing career started with writing a newspaper column about her life with cancer. Drawing on that writing experience, she wrote a book, taught writing, and now wrote this one. It includes personal experiences, short essays from over 50 contributors, and close to 100 writing prompts. The prompts go beyond the basic ones found in typical how to write books. They require the writer to be insightful and use sensory input. The prompts capture various aspects of the essays they follow without resembling a college admissions question. Use this book to improve your journaling. Read it to see and feel what the contributors wrote. One that moved me was written by a prisoner who has since been executed. Some were written by writers known for their fiction and not their essays. Just read it to see if it can help you write. Read it to appreciate and be inspired by the creative alchemy of this book.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a book about jumpstarting your journalling practice. It is so not that. It is so much more. It is a wonderful collection of short pieces on creativity written by 100 people who range from famous writers to friends of the author. Suleika Jaouad pulls this all together with her own meditations on her life which has been a decades long relationship with cancer as it stalks her.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Jaouad's first book so I had high hopes for this one. I would have gotten more out of it if I had journaled alongside listening to the audiobook. There were beautiful passages and writing prompts, but I didn't connect with the novel like I was hoping.

[Debbi · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is plenty to like about this book. It is an interesting blend of memoir, short essays and journal prompts. Each chapter has a theme On Memory,
On Fear, On Seeing, On Love, etc. I found some of the chapters more interesting than others. Many of the authors/contributors are well known and some of my favorite essays were written by authors I haven't heard of. For me, the short essays were often a little too short and Jaouad's autobiographical introductions to each chapter seemed too long. Not every prompt will appeal to every writer but each one of them is thought provoking. Many of them are stellar.
Recommended for both beginning and seasoned journal writers.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing an advance copy for review.

[Jamie Newman · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are some great journaling prompts here. I think that my rating is more that the timing for me was wrong for this read. She really has some ROCK star prompt writers, but a fair bit of them felt like someone dashed off a writing assignment at the last minute. The good prompts are great, but there's really only a handful in here that I thought were interesting.

I definitely give her 1 star for the research (I can't imagine getting this many people to write pieces) and 1 star for the concept.

[Roxanne Meek · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would read anything and everything written by Suleika Jaouad. After reading Between Two Kingdoms I was a fan for life.

What this young woman has been through, and sadly continues to go through, and yet still she sparkles and glows and inspires with the magic that is Suleika.

I would love to be friends with this inspiring young woman.

[Lida Bushloper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've never been a fan of writing prompts. For me, instead of generating creative thought, they've always seemed limiting and contrived. The prompts in this book changed my mind. They're more like a good and trusted friend asking what you really think about issues normally below the radar of conscious thought. And since the responses can be forever secret, what you write can be brutally honest.

The essays that preceed the prompts are deeply engaging, likely because they are so personal. A few were by names I knew, but the ones by writers new to me were just as powerful. The introduction alone is worth the price of admission.

While the book appears to be aimed at writers and other artists, the practice of journaling that it describes and promotes can be useful and liberating for anyone. I myself used journaling obsessivily after my mother died to process a boatload of complex emotions that were haunting me. One of the topics that gets addressed is how fears and other mental obstacles inhibit creativity, and presents suggestions for techniques to get past them. But a reader can use these same techniques when faced with fears about other life situations and crises.

I like, too, that journaling doesn't have to be in writing. It can be sketching, painting or other means of expression. Nothng in this description of journaling practice is rigid or rule-bound. It's based solely on what works for others. You can pick and choose what works for you.

I also like books that can be dipped into a few minutes at a time, that don't have to be read sequentially. These essays and prompts are like that. Just reading one or two when one has a quite moment is satisfying. In fact, they are so thought-provoking, for me at least, that was almost a necessity, even if I didn't respond immediately to each prompt.

I kept a journal for years and suddenly stopped a few months ago. I don't know whether this book will induce me to re-start. But I still believe in the value of journaling and this book reinforces that belief.

Thanks to Goodreads for an Advanced Reader's Edition of this book.

[Larry (LPosse1) · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Book of Alchemy – 5 Stars

Suleika Jaouad has created something truly extraordinary with The Book of Alchemy. This isn’t just a book—it’s a work of art, a meditation, and a healing journey all in one. Every page feels intentional, from the design and imagery to the thoughtful, vulnerable words that invite the reader to pause, reflect, and transform.

What moved me most was how deeply personal yet universal this book is. Jaouad captures the fragility and resilience of life with honesty, turning difficult emotions and experiences into something luminous. She guides the reader through themes of loss, creativity, renewal, and joy with gentleness and grace. Reading it felt less like consuming a book and more like being invited into a sacred space.

On a personal level, I found myself slowing down with this book, journaling alongside it, and even re-reading sections that resonated. It reminded me that transformation isn’t always dramatic—it can be quiet, tender, and deeply human.

This is a book I’ll return to again and again. It’s a gift for anyone seeking beauty, solace, or a reminder of the power of art to alchemize suffering into meaning. Parts of this book are sad. Many authors and artists sharing their suffering. I work at a therapeutic day school and I’ve shared a few stories and journal prompts with a few of my students. What positive results I’ve seen. So beautiful! Please take your time with it!

A masterpiece. Highly recommended

[Whitney Price · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always loved reading, devouring every book I could. Writing, however, has always seemed to me so daunting. Filled with short and wildly varied essays, each with its own writing prompt, the Book of Alchemy was a breath of fresh air. The collection of essays that the artist gathered together are written on wildly diverse topics by equally diverse voices, from acclaimed authors to prison inmates. The stories they tell made me smile, more often they made me cry, and even more often they filled me with my own inspiration. And though I've never been a writer, I too was pulled by the prompts and began making journal entries of my own. If you journal, want to journal, or haven't even considered journaling, I have a good feeling that author Suleika Jaouad might just surprise you.

[Ashley Gravel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The jury is out for me.
I’m not sure what’s missing for me. I am so nosy, I think I would have liked to know the prompt before reading the entry so I found myself skipping ahead and then rewinding back, rinse and repeat. I found my mind wandering with each prompt— where would I have gone with this? How would I have answered this?!

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good range of topics and prompts to get you thinking and writing

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm actually not going to finish this until December 31. Each day I am reading one of the short essays(about a page) and then answering the prompt given after the essay. There are 100 essays and by chance I just happened to start on October 2 so I will have my final prompt NYE! Talk about serendipity.

I read Jaouad's memoir a few years ago and found it excellent. When I learned she had published a new book about journaling I actually bought it - in hardback no less! I rarely buy books these days so when I do buy one, it's a big deal to me. I wanted to support Jaouad's work. Not that she needs the money, being married to Jon Baptiste, but I know that publishers need to see numbers, need to see a book moving off the shelf in order to continue publishing an author. Also, I knew it would be a book I would be slowly reading for months and thus worth actually buying. I was taking a bit of a risk, not knowing if the essays and prompts would be cheesy or not. I'm glad to say I'm not disappointed in my decision to purchase.

Of course, every essay doesn't hit it out of the park for me. It would be odd if they did. Still, even the essays that I don't relate to or find a bit odd, those essays still spark an idea in me and lead me to writing about something I would not have considered on my own.

Some prompts have led me to write multiple pages. Others I only feel moved to write a few sentences. And that's ok! I just want to build a daily habit, to take time at the beginning of the day to pause and reflect. To sit, sip my coffee, read and think. To make space for myself before I sit at my desk and begin working at my job. This book supports that goal.

Some quotes from Jaouad's introduction that I want to recall:

The goal of writing every morning felt like a challenge, but one I could keep up. It became my morning meditation, sweeping out the clutter in my mind. It freed me from the bondage of perfectionism and allowed me to get loose and limber before diving into the rest of the day's work.But as weeks passed, I learned I needed more than morning pages to get me there. Certainly, I got better at transcribing the chaotic jumble of my mind, but when you're stuck in your life, you can also get stuck in a solipsistic chamber of your own thoughts. That was me. I wasn't breaking through the same tired patterns. I got caught in repetitive loops.I found myself rehashing the same old grievances. I was officially bored by the sound of my own voice.

I have long believed that journaling allows you to alchemize isolation into creative solitude. As it happens, reading also enacts that shift. Rather than feeling trapped and alone with your thoughts, you're in conversation.

Reading someone else's words before I write always stirs something new in me. It's such a natural way in to keeping a journal. Sometimes I respond to an insight, an image, a turn of phrase. Sometimes it's the fact that the person's experience feels so familiar. Other times, the writer's perspective is so unlike my own that I'm completely bewildered by it, and I write into that bewilderment. Someone else's words awaken a different train of thought, a new energy. A synapse fires that, moments earlier, was dead asleep.

The journal is capacious. It can be an aid to memory, a reliquary of major life events, a place to let off steam, rattle off lists of dos, don'ts, and dreams, or conjure something beautiful and wild and unexpected. It's where we can go to cut through the noise, where we take stock and discover meaning, where we tap into the subconscious and our free-flowing stream of intuition. The journal is where we seek out and find our highest, most liberated, most creative self.

[Sher · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give the audiobook 3 stars (rounded up) because it was hard to use and follow in this format. I think it would be much better as a traditional book (i.e. a physical book not an e-book) format.

The content is a series of writing prompts (exercises) submitted by all sorts of interesting people: Martha Beck, Sharon Salzburg, Ann Patchett (I love her), Dani Shapiro, Pico Iyer, Alain de Botton, Elizabeth Gilbert, John Green, George Saunders, her husband - the wonderful Jon Batiste, and so on and so on. Each writing prompt is narrated by the guest essayist or someone playing them (Salman Rushdie did not narrate his entry).

Each chapter introduction is written and narrated by Jaouad. The creative prompts themselves are great for inspiration and the list of contributors alone are a great starting point to dive into the rabbit hole to read up on their works if you want to learn more about them.

I'm interested in giving this another shot in hardback or paperback. Do check out her excellent memoir (Between Two Kingdoms), which was published in 2021.

[Brittany Pearce · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was inspired by this collection of writing prompts. Each prompt was introduced by essays explaining the background that inspired it. And then SULEIKA, one of my favorite authors, introduces each section of prompts. This reinvigorated my writing life.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

After hearing an interview with Suleika Jaouad, I was impressed and wanted to read about her journaling and how writing and creating helped during her battles with cancer. I am intrigued by and somewhat envious of those who write as therapy. I can’t say reading these over 100 short essays and prompts inspired me to write anything, but I enjoyed reading them and thinking about them. Both the cast of contributors and the writing are impressive. However, for now I will stick to writing the occasional book review.

[Priscilla (Bookie Charm) · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars*

[Robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

this actually left me inspired. and also left me with a paper cut.

[Gail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful and emotional, I could read Suleika’s writing all day. Short essays by different authors, their inspired stories and prompts for journaling. I don’t journal, but still really enjoyed the wisdom of this book. Who knows, maybe I’ll start;)

[Molly McGurran · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the short stories and journal prompt within the book. I don’t end up doing them bc I just loved reading it quickly but defs a great read.

[Libby Foley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve never read a book quite like this one!! Love how the story alternated between her perspective throughout chemo and other writers’ reflections on different themes. She’s such a beautiful writer and this was such a great read throughout. Also first kindle book (woohoo)!!

[Caitlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who has been journaling ever since I learned how to write (and now have over 50 journals in my collection), this book definitely piqued my personal interest. Suleika Jaouad is incredibly talented with narrative essay, and I had a reality check to be more grateful for my own life after reading about her multiple bouts of leukemia she has endured.

There are 100 journal prompts throughout the book with guest pieces written by a slew of writers, so I am excited to start taking on the 100 days of journaling challenge and go through each prompt myself. If you also carry lifelong dreams of becoming a published writer but keep putting that goal on the backburner, these prompts seem like a good place to reignite creativity and to just get into the practice of regularly writing again. Guess we'll see how these next hundred days go!

[read chelsea read · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm often asked why I go into almost every book blind, and this is why.
After reading Between Two Kingdoms and loving it, Jaouad became an auto buy author for me (or auto place on hold through the library in this case). So, once this book was announced, I added it to my list, knowing nothing about it but the cover, and that was that.
Meanwhile, I've spent 2025 trying (and repeatedly failing) to get back to my journaling roots that I had all through childhood and my teenage years, but have managed to lose for reasons that don't belong in a book review. 🙃
So, imagine my chagrin to finally get my hands on this book and discover that at its core, it's a list of 100 journaling prompts. Call it kismet. Call it alchemy. Call it whatever you want, but sometimes not knowing exactly what something is can bring you exactly what you need. Would I have still dived into this book as soon as I could if I knew what it was first? Who's to say? ...but I'm leaning towards no.
While I don't see myself drawing a picture of my own foot or following a 5 part prompt so long that I didn't even bother reading what it was (sorry), I did highlight every prompt, so I still have access to them once I return the ebook and I have a fresh notebook ready and waiting. I'm scared of what will unravel in those pages, but I know it'll be cathartic even if it's painful.
All that aside, even if you don't write or have much interest in the topic, this book includes beautiful words from 100 individuals, such as Elizabeth Gilbert, John Green, and Hanif Abdurraqib, that will make you laugh, cry, and think from a perspective other than your own.

[Ann Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I entered a writing challenge at the beginning of summer: write about one prompt from this book every day for 100 days. I'm glad I did it, and I'm on my last 10 prompts now. The writing has been good because I can write what I will.
Each prompt is preceded by a short essay that leads to the prompt. There were a few gems in this book. Interestingly almost every piece or quote that really resonated with me was because of something someone else (other than the essayist) had said or done. Many of the essays just fell flat. I felt I had to tweak or change completely many of the prompts, but I did and I wrote, and that was good.
I am coming away from this challenge with about 100 pages of my own words, and I'm happy about that. I love a good prompt and some of these were good. The rest I did my best to make good.