Being Beautiful

by Helen Gordon, Amanda Berglund (Illustrations)

Beauty. How do we achieve it? Who gets to define it? How do you live a beautiful life? Being Beautiful is an inspiring assemblage of writings on beauty – inner and outer – from some of the world’s most fascinating thinkers.This is an anthology for dipping into, but also for drawing lessons about the business of being beautiful. Contributions include the Buddha on living beautifully, the philosopher Edmund Burke on how to define a beautiful face, Dolly Parton on the importance of inner beauty, and Naomi Wolf on ageing beautifully. Through its text and original illustrations, the book attempts to explore and illuminate what beauty means to us in the twenty-first century, and to inspire, provoke and delight. Other contributors include John Cage, Maya Angelou, Francis Bacon, Charlotte Brontë, Immanuel Kant, Joan Collins, Kate Moss, and many more.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 7, 2020

About the author

Helen Gordon is the co-author of Being A Writer and author of Landfall, a novel published by Penguin. Her journalism has appeared in Intelligent Life and the Guardian. She is former associate editor of Granta magazine, lives in London and teaches creative writing at the University of Hertfordshire.

Reviews

[Hermine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ofc a book about beauty will be aesthetically pleasing. This definitely was more like a coffee table book to flip through rather than a curated piece of work to challenge and progress my thinking on beauty.

[thewoollygeek (tea, cake, crochet & books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely anthology of inspiring quotes and wisdom on beauty, what different ideas of beauty are and how it is differs for everybody. Inspiring nice read.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

[Hayley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I usually love these anthology books but I really just couldn’t get into this one. My favourite thing about it was the front cover. I really wanted to like this book, but I found myself whizzing through it just to get it over and done with.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good anthology of quotes about beauty.

[Kirsten Lost 2022 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this extremely difficult to read - I'm sure there's good info in here but it's pretty impenetrable. Some of the images are nice though!

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful, thought provoking and made me smile on several pages. Confident words to live on in this books.

[Jacquie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being Beautiful by Helen Gordon and Amanda Berglund is a rich tapestry of beauty over time. It is sometimes hard to read and sometimes sad, but always rich in wonder. I normally pick up a mystery or a thriller, but this book was one of the first to make me be at peace. It was a reflection of what beauty means to us - what does it really mean? i have a chance now to truly look at the world and decide for myself as did all the quotes here. It is a quick read but also breathtaking!

Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group at Chartwell Books and NetGalley for the digital copy and the opportunity to read this glorious book. Opinions here are my own.