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Joyful, Anyway
The bestselling author and Duke University professor discovers the true magic of it appears when we least expect it—and even if we don’t feel happy, we can be joyful, anyway.
Life aches. Joy is the cure.
After surviving a stage-four cancer diagnosis, Kate Bowler knew she was supposed to be grateful. Alive. Blessed. But she still ached—for more connection, more surprise, less resentment on an ordinary day.
So she went looking for joy. Not the toxic positivity kind. Not a 5-step plan. But the type that sneaks in unexpectedly, seemingly out of nowhere. A lemur sunbathing. A belly laugh at a funeral. A dive into the Atlantic with a shark wrangler.
In Joyful, Anyway, Bowler takes us on a hilarious and tender journey through big questions and small delights. With wry wit and deep honesty, she explores how joy can surprise us even in the middle of pain, boredom, and longing.
This is not a book about fixing your life. It is about how we can all find more—feel more—by making room for small extraordinary moments.
For anyone who has ever felt stuck, who is achy for meaning, who feels undone by loss, who feels that joy is just out of reach, who wants, simply, to have more fun, Joyful Anyway is a delicious, insightful tour through the questions that sit in the deepest part of our souls. It proves that for every time we Is this it? Joy will there is more.
Life aches. Joy is the cure.
After surviving a stage-four cancer diagnosis, Kate Bowler knew she was supposed to be grateful. Alive. Blessed. But she still ached—for more connection, more surprise, less resentment on an ordinary day.
So she went looking for joy. Not the toxic positivity kind. Not a 5-step plan. But the type that sneaks in unexpectedly, seemingly out of nowhere. A lemur sunbathing. A belly laugh at a funeral. A dive into the Atlantic with a shark wrangler.
In Joyful, Anyway, Bowler takes us on a hilarious and tender journey through big questions and small delights. With wry wit and deep honesty, she explores how joy can surprise us even in the middle of pain, boredom, and longing.
This is not a book about fixing your life. It is about how we can all find more—feel more—by making room for small extraordinary moments.
For anyone who has ever felt stuck, who is achy for meaning, who feels undone by loss, who feels that joy is just out of reach, who wants, simply, to have more fun, Joyful Anyway is a delicious, insightful tour through the questions that sit in the deepest part of our souls. It proves that for every time we Is this it? Joy will there is more.
304 pages, Hardcover
Published April 7, 2026
About the author
Kate Bowler
18 books1,924 followersKate Bowler, PhD is a New York Times bestselling author, podcast host, and a professor at Duke University. She studies the cultural stories we tell ourselves about success, suffering, and whether (or not) we’re capable of change. She is the author of Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel and The Preacher’s Wife: The Precarious Power of Evangelical Women Celebrities.
After being unexpectedly diagnosed with Stage IV cancer at age 35, she penned the New York Times bestselling memoir, Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved) and her latest, No Cure For Being Human (and Other Truths I Need to Hear). Kate hosts the Everything Happens podcast where, in warm, insightful, often funny conversations, she talks with people like Malcolm Gladwell and Anne Lamott about what they’ve learned in difficult times. She lives in Durham, North Carolina with her family and continues to teach do-gooders at Duke Divinity School.
After being unexpectedly diagnosed with Stage IV cancer at age 35, she penned the New York Times bestselling memoir, Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved) and her latest, No Cure For Being Human (and Other Truths I Need to Hear). Kate hosts the Everything Happens podcast where, in warm, insightful, often funny conversations, she talks with people like Malcolm Gladwell and Anne Lamott about what they’ve learned in difficult times. She lives in Durham, North Carolina with her family and continues to teach do-gooders at Duke Divinity School.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 369 reviews
November 2, 2025
I always believed in the white picket fence.
I was in my early 20s when, over the course of a year, it seemed as if I had lost everything a human being could lose.
My wife died by suicide not long after the death of our newborn, Jennifer.
Not long after, I lost both of my lower legs due to infection and, quite honestly, a lack of self-care.
Finally, my already fragile finances fractured and I found myself living in my car.
After a childhood with spina bifida and years of childhood sexual abuse, I was broken. Yet, my own suicide attempt failed.
So, I wheeled. I wheeled and I wheeled and I wheeled. I wheeled for 41 days and over 1,000 miles on an event I called "The Tenderness Tour" because, after all, tenderness was what I found myself looking for and I knew it would take 1,000 miles to find it.
I found it. I returned from that first Tenderness Tour convinced that the old tapes that playing throughout my life were lies and that there was a reason I was still alive.
I began to believe in the white picket fence. I began to believe in my good life.
I returned from that first trip, there have been 35 since, and I began slowly assembly the puzzle pieces of my life in an effort to build what I considered to be my good life.
Alas, there was no white picket fence.
I never remarried. I never had another child. I never became "happy," whatever happy means. I kept living. I kept wheeling. I built a better life with a good job, good projects, a tapestry of friends and family of choice.
I thought of all of this often throughout Kate Bowler's "Joyful, Anyway," Bowler's latest journey that weaves together personal testimony and academic excellence to explore the surprising magic of joy to carry us through the exhilarations and exhaustions of love and those often unbearable tensions that exist when we experience trauma or pain or loss or grief or illness or any other of life's inevitable benchmarks.
For many of us who read nearly everything Bowler writes, myself included, we already know that Bowler survived a stage-four cancer diagnosis. Having survived cancer twice myself in the past three years (bladder, prostate), I ache with familiarity as Bowler shares these stories just as Bowler herself ached knowing that she should be grateful and yet such an experience also leaves you longing for even more.
Now then, if you know Bowler's writing you know that this longing did not result in toxic positivity or some miracle plan or a journey into prosperity theology. Instead, it became an openness to the everyday simple experiences of joy.
"Joyful, Anyway" isn't about fixing one's life. It's also not about some faux denial-based joy that calls us into simply letting go of our traumas and our dramas. "Joyful, Anyway" is more about learning how to hold the door open for joy to surprise us so that we can live in the tension of a life where we experience everything and refuse to surrender our joy.
It has been 35 years since that first Tenderness Tour. Even being alive defies logic, though I'm not quite prepared to call it miraculous (especially after reading "Joyful, Anyway."). Life has turned out so extraordinary that a feature documentary recently had its world premiere about The Tenderness Tour and my current efforts to eliminate medical debt for others.
I've lived a life far beyond anything I've ever imagined.
Yet, there are still certain tense truths that continue to radiate throughout my physically difficult life filled with significant health issues, few natural supports to speak of, and a social awkwardness that I find both hilarious and embarrassing. Bowler, whose public persona is one of frequent laughter and deep compassion, exudes what I can only describe as an honest humanity and a rich tenderness throughout "Joyful, Anyway," a book where Bowler peels away the layers of her own existence to share with us that awkward tension that sometimes breaks us and other times resurrects our souls.
I was in my early 20s when, over the course of a year, it seemed as if I had lost everything a human being could lose.
My wife died by suicide not long after the death of our newborn, Jennifer.
Not long after, I lost both of my lower legs due to infection and, quite honestly, a lack of self-care.
Finally, my already fragile finances fractured and I found myself living in my car.
After a childhood with spina bifida and years of childhood sexual abuse, I was broken. Yet, my own suicide attempt failed.
So, I wheeled. I wheeled and I wheeled and I wheeled. I wheeled for 41 days and over 1,000 miles on an event I called "The Tenderness Tour" because, after all, tenderness was what I found myself looking for and I knew it would take 1,000 miles to find it.
I found it. I returned from that first Tenderness Tour convinced that the old tapes that playing throughout my life were lies and that there was a reason I was still alive.
I began to believe in the white picket fence. I began to believe in my good life.
I returned from that first trip, there have been 35 since, and I began slowly assembly the puzzle pieces of my life in an effort to build what I considered to be my good life.
Alas, there was no white picket fence.
I never remarried. I never had another child. I never became "happy," whatever happy means. I kept living. I kept wheeling. I built a better life with a good job, good projects, a tapestry of friends and family of choice.
I thought of all of this often throughout Kate Bowler's "Joyful, Anyway," Bowler's latest journey that weaves together personal testimony and academic excellence to explore the surprising magic of joy to carry us through the exhilarations and exhaustions of love and those often unbearable tensions that exist when we experience trauma or pain or loss or grief or illness or any other of life's inevitable benchmarks.
For many of us who read nearly everything Bowler writes, myself included, we already know that Bowler survived a stage-four cancer diagnosis. Having survived cancer twice myself in the past three years (bladder, prostate), I ache with familiarity as Bowler shares these stories just as Bowler herself ached knowing that she should be grateful and yet such an experience also leaves you longing for even more.
Now then, if you know Bowler's writing you know that this longing did not result in toxic positivity or some miracle plan or a journey into prosperity theology. Instead, it became an openness to the everyday simple experiences of joy.
"Joyful, Anyway" isn't about fixing one's life. It's also not about some faux denial-based joy that calls us into simply letting go of our traumas and our dramas. "Joyful, Anyway" is more about learning how to hold the door open for joy to surprise us so that we can live in the tension of a life where we experience everything and refuse to surrender our joy.
It has been 35 years since that first Tenderness Tour. Even being alive defies logic, though I'm not quite prepared to call it miraculous (especially after reading "Joyful, Anyway."). Life has turned out so extraordinary that a feature documentary recently had its world premiere about The Tenderness Tour and my current efforts to eliminate medical debt for others.
I've lived a life far beyond anything I've ever imagined.
Yet, there are still certain tense truths that continue to radiate throughout my physically difficult life filled with significant health issues, few natural supports to speak of, and a social awkwardness that I find both hilarious and embarrassing. Bowler, whose public persona is one of frequent laughter and deep compassion, exudes what I can only describe as an honest humanity and a rich tenderness throughout "Joyful, Anyway," a book where Bowler peels away the layers of her own existence to share with us that awkward tension that sometimes breaks us and other times resurrects our souls.
May 5, 2026
Kate Bowler never misses. Funny, poignant, uplifting, real.
April 11, 2026
"Joy is, at bottom, the belief that existence is good. That TO BE is good. That's why it coexists with suffering, why is cannot be separated from suffering. Because suffering is what raises the question... Is it still good to be? Is it still worth it? Is it a blessing, and not a prison sentence?"
I am so grateful for Kate Bowler 🩷💛💜
I have loved Kate since I discovered her podcast years ago in the early years of what turned out to be a long period of loss and suffering. No one I have come across writes so eloquently but accessibly about the most painful and beautiful parts of life, and how they are always running parallel to one another. This is not a book about toxic positivity. Kate makes clear the difference between happiness and joy and never turns away from the pain, grief, and longing we all experience in our lives, but refuses to close the door to joy. Because in truth, both suffering and joy are present in every life, but when we avert our eyes from joy, or reject it, or do not seek it out, we miss one of the greatest parts of being human.
The second quarter of this book drug a little for me, and I initially gave it 4.5 stars, but I have gone back to reread passages over and over and again, and they both impact and move me each and every time. I marked this book up more than any other I've ever read with the exception of Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. This is a book I will be obnoxious about and gift to people.
After 8 hard years, I am coming out of period of fighting back overwhelming dread and fear, and my word of the year is "savor". This book came to me at the perfect time, and I'll end this review with another of my favorite passages:
"I need to stop giving everything away and find my own delight. I need to take seriously the fact that I might be the only person on the planet who benefits. How useless, how ridiculous, how wonderful. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, reminds the book of James. It is for you. The moon and the sun, the winter and summer, the birds and the lilies- it is for you. What a treat. It was made for YOU.
Accept it".
I am so grateful for Kate Bowler 🩷💛💜
I have loved Kate since I discovered her podcast years ago in the early years of what turned out to be a long period of loss and suffering. No one I have come across writes so eloquently but accessibly about the most painful and beautiful parts of life, and how they are always running parallel to one another. This is not a book about toxic positivity. Kate makes clear the difference between happiness and joy and never turns away from the pain, grief, and longing we all experience in our lives, but refuses to close the door to joy. Because in truth, both suffering and joy are present in every life, but when we avert our eyes from joy, or reject it, or do not seek it out, we miss one of the greatest parts of being human.
The second quarter of this book drug a little for me, and I initially gave it 4.5 stars, but I have gone back to reread passages over and over and again, and they both impact and move me each and every time. I marked this book up more than any other I've ever read with the exception of Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. This is a book I will be obnoxious about and gift to people.
After 8 hard years, I am coming out of period of fighting back overwhelming dread and fear, and my word of the year is "savor". This book came to me at the perfect time, and I'll end this review with another of my favorite passages:
"I need to stop giving everything away and find my own delight. I need to take seriously the fact that I might be the only person on the planet who benefits. How useless, how ridiculous, how wonderful. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, reminds the book of James. It is for you. The moon and the sun, the winter and summer, the birds and the lilies- it is for you. What a treat. It was made for YOU.
Accept it".
November 17, 2025
This is Kate Bowler's best book yet. My word for 2025 is Joy, and this book gave me a lot to meditate on. She shares academic, spiritual, personal, and even crowdsourced insights on what joy is and how to find it in everyday heartache (big and small). I plan to give this book to several friends and get a hard copy for myself!
May 27, 2026
I love Kate Bowler. I love her theology and her stories. I did not, however, love this book. The whole book could have started halfway through. I also would have liked it to feel more connected / unified. It felt a bit like a stream of Instagram posts. Maybe it just wasn't what I needed right now?
May 1, 2026
An extraordinary treatise on joy as only Kate Bowler -- diagnosed at 35 with stage IV colon cancer and given two years to live, now in remission 10 years later due to immunotherapy -- could write. Highly highly recommended for anyone who wants to live with joy no matter the circumstances.
March 17, 2026
Kate Bowler's Joyful, Anyway is a delightful exploration of how small wins and pieces of hope can be pulled out of almost all situations
It's a message I can get on board with. However I wasn't the biggest fan of the way this message was given. The book is a collection of anecdotes, a lot about her friend rather than herself, instead of a more philosophical dive into the topic.
I full understand that there is a place for that, and it will be very easy to connect with for a lot of readers, but Its not a type of book that interests me. I also subscribe to a more Stoic look at life, and while a lot of these anecdotes end with the general idea of letting things go and realising you cant change what other people do, I felt the way it get there often blamed others for being annoying or causing issues. Not all but some, and that also made it hard for me to grasp.
The book is uplifting, and very personable, the author seems incredible charming, and is great at putting herself into the pages, making herself pop out of the words and feel like a sympathetic and likeable character in the story. I hope other people read this, connect with it, and walk away feeling positive and inspired
It's a message I can get on board with. However I wasn't the biggest fan of the way this message was given. The book is a collection of anecdotes, a lot about her friend rather than herself, instead of a more philosophical dive into the topic.
I full understand that there is a place for that, and it will be very easy to connect with for a lot of readers, but Its not a type of book that interests me. I also subscribe to a more Stoic look at life, and while a lot of these anecdotes end with the general idea of letting things go and realising you cant change what other people do, I felt the way it get there often blamed others for being annoying or causing issues. Not all but some, and that also made it hard for me to grasp.
The book is uplifting, and very personable, the author seems incredible charming, and is great at putting herself into the pages, making herself pop out of the words and feel like a sympathetic and likeable character in the story. I hope other people read this, connect with it, and walk away feeling positive and inspired
March 16, 2026
I lost track of how many times I cried reading this book. I started within the first 10 pages. Kate Bowler asks all the hard questions and does it with so much lightheartedness and humor that you don't even realize you'll be punched in the gut, the breath stolen right out of your lungs, and tears streaming down your face in the next paragraph. At least this was my experience with Joyful, Anyway. In her latest memoir, Kate's on a quest to figure out how to experience joy even in the middle of The Ache every human being feels. She shares stories of her life post-cancer, mid-chronic pain, about everything that comes with being a daughter, wife, mother, professor, friend, and any other hat you could think of for a modern woman to wear. This book combats consumerism, toxic positivity, and self-help happiness culture while embracing a both/and outlook. It asks, can we grieve the injustices we've experienced while also inviting joy? Both heartbreaking and hopeful, it's hard to put into words everything I loved about this book, so I'll just say: read it for yourself and then tell me what you think.
Thank you, deeply, to NetGalley and The Dial Press for the digital review copy and the honor of serving as an early reader.
Thank you, deeply, to NetGalley and The Dial Press for the digital review copy and the honor of serving as an early reader.
May 28, 2026
4.5⭐️ This is my first Kate Bowler book, but it won’t be my last! I appreciate her approach to understanding joy in its complexity and also in its surprising simplicity. I loved the anecdotal writing and found myself laughing and tearing up throughout the book. She’s curious and insistent and that lends itself to helpful commentary around our preconceived notions about joy rather than toxic, mediocre self-help blather . Her ideas, while maybe not revolutionary are necessary…especially today.
One of my (many) favorite quotes: “It is easier- it is so much easier- to decide that you will simply wait and see. That you will not be surprised because you never hoped for anything, one way or another. That you will stay stuck as you were because stuck is safe…we grow so accustomed to being protective and disappointed that any good thing would need to commit a felony to get to us.”
Highly recommend!
One of my (many) favorite quotes: “It is easier- it is so much easier- to decide that you will simply wait and see. That you will not be surprised because you never hoped for anything, one way or another. That you will stay stuck as you were because stuck is safe…we grow so accustomed to being protective and disappointed that any good thing would need to commit a felony to get to us.”
Highly recommend!
May 25, 2026
I love this genre of self help / memoir style book, but I’ve read many that I connected to and enjoyed more than this one. Still, some good tid bids and reminders of the delight, hope, and gratitude that joy brings us.
April 16, 2026
I don’t have words to say how much I loved this book. It really resonated with me and encouraged me. Kate mixes humor with some really deep thoughts that keep you thinking even after you are done with the book. This will be a yearly read for me.
May 16, 2026
This book pairs well with The Sheep Detectives and parents who have/had cancer.
-1 for millennial humor. Sorry Kate!
-1 for millennial humor. Sorry Kate!
April 13, 2026
I love everything Kate writes. She’s deeply intelligent, faithful, authentic, and hilarious. This book pulls together a thesis on joy that she has been sharing over recent years on her podcast and in her Substack writings. She is the friend you feel like you are sitting with…laughing and weeping your way through life.
April 15, 2026
What does the research say about joy and how to cultivate more of it in our lives? That's the premise of this book tackled in a very honest way. I finished the book committed to appreciating the uniqueness of each human I have the privilege of engaging with each day.
March 22, 2026
Kate Bowler is amazing, full stop. She, like Anne Lamott, is on my list for reading anytime I need inspiration or to feel calmed down in this shitpile of a world. They are spiritual without being dogmatic, which has the result of a warm embrace type feel. It’s uplifting, but in a way that positively anyone can relate to. I’ve been looking forward to this book and it was worth the wait.
April 13, 2026
Ugh. First couple of chapters I was recommending it to friends. Now finishing I am rescinding the recommendation. I like the gist but it could've been an essay. Also bad on me for not realizing there are religious undertones to it all. She jumps all over the place with stories and timelines I just got bored.
March 8, 2026
This book was a great reminder of paying attention to the small moments in life…both the good and the bad where joy can be found. Short chapters and lists made for an easy, enjoyable read. It’s very conversational and reminded me of the podcasts I’ve listened to with Kate.
Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy.
Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy.
April 12, 2026
I really wanted to love Joyful Anyway, but it just didn’t fully land for me. The premise is interesting and there are a few thoughtful moments, but overall it felt a bit repetitive and lacked the depth I was hoping for. Some sections dragged, making it hard to stay engaged. Not terrible, but not especially memorable either. ⭐⭐
June 1, 2026
The good: This book inspired some really great conversations for a work book study, and I think it's great, accessible fodder for sparking communal reflection. It led our discussions to vulnerable, beautiful topics. I appreciated the way Bowler named "the ache:" struggling without a direct cause of grief, human longing for more, or wondering "what if things had been different?" I highlighted quite a few thought-provoking quotes she included from theologians or her personal stories.
The mediocre: Kate Bowler always has funny and poignant moments, but so many of the anecdotes in this book felt like they were trying too hard to be self-consciously zany. I frequently got confused about the point of a quip, or even what was happening in a story as she told it.
The bad: I disconnected heavily in the Joy section, which should theoretically have been the heart of the book. The messaging felt extremely individualistic and out of touch to what "the ache" is for many people (structural injustices and poverty), despite obliquely gesturing toward Christian nationalism a few times. Though Bowler can and does write with authority about joy despite the dark night of the soul, I failed to find a through-line from the meaningful moments to the overly embellished stories that made up the brunt of the book.
The mediocre: Kate Bowler always has funny and poignant moments, but so many of the anecdotes in this book felt like they were trying too hard to be self-consciously zany. I frequently got confused about the point of a quip, or even what was happening in a story as she told it.
The bad: I disconnected heavily in the Joy section, which should theoretically have been the heart of the book. The messaging felt extremely individualistic and out of touch to what "the ache" is for many people (structural injustices and poverty), despite obliquely gesturing toward Christian nationalism a few times. Though Bowler can and does write with authority about joy despite the dark night of the soul, I failed to find a through-line from the meaningful moments to the overly embellished stories that made up the brunt of the book.
May 16, 2026
I’ve been a longtime fan of Kate Bowler. There is no one else that can make you laugh out loud and cry in the same sentence. She is hilarious and has zero pretence. This is her journey to finding joy (not toxic positivity) after grief. Spoiler alert, joy and grief can exist together. Also, I want to be her friend because she is awesome.
May 29, 2026
Perhaps because I read this book, just one section per week, I don’t consider it inspiring. I read this as part of a group book study. I enjoyed the weekly discussions but found the book disappointing. The last chapter was good.
June 17, 2026
Very quirky, humorous stories (sometimes so quirky as to be confusing). This woman has got to be a force to reckon with in real life. 😅
*but hey, can we PLEASE at least acknowledge that not everyone has the time/money/freedom from responsibilities to do things like paragliding or going to a lemur habitat to restore their sense of joy?
*but hey, can we PLEASE at least acknowledge that not everyone has the time/money/freedom from responsibilities to do things like paragliding or going to a lemur habitat to restore their sense of joy?
May 5, 2026
Excellent. I appreciated her sense of humor and sarcasm and how the hard things didn’t keep her from noticing and living, while also maintaining her intellectualism.
June 2, 2026
This was my first Kate bowler book. I love her emails and essays she writes. This book however was not good. I read it slowly almost as a daily devotion and it was a struggle to finish. Each chapter is a separate essay about her desire to figure out how to capture joy and recreate it. I found nothing helpful and it could have been a singular essay summed up by the last two chapters. She is funny, hence the three stars.
June 3, 2026
Good book, one of her best, but WARNING WARNING she did not use any kind of note system for all the pithy quotations. 🤦♂️
Read
June 9, 2026Got locked out of my Goodreads account for 5 months, but I’m making my grand comeback, starting with this book, which I unsurprisingly adored. Thank you Kate Bowler! Thank you god!
April 23, 2026
The downside of writing a truly exceptional book is that every future book will (likely) suffer by comparison, as is the case here. There are laugh-out-loud moments as well as moments of beauty, but for me, neither reached the heights or depths of Everything Happens for a Reason. Still, this was a good (and not saccharine!) account of joy appearing and surprising amid pain and sorrow.
April 12, 2026
I am a fan of Kate Bowler and have waiting for the book to come out on Kindle. Many profound nuggets and wisdom within the pages. I dont know if she was the narrator on the Audible version, but I kept thinking if she did narrate I would have loved the book even more. Now to put in practice to what I read...that's the task at hand.
April 15, 2026
I listened to this one in audio book form. I loved it and loved hearing Kate read it. She is a treasure - full of wisdom and hilarious too. I actually laughed out loud a number of times.
April 12, 2026
Just exactly the book I needed this week. Kate Bowler's approach to important concepts about how best to get through life are equal parts reassuring and challenging, balancing faith with lots of connection to history, philosophy, psychology and personal experience.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 369 reviews