Being Beautiful

by Helen Gordon, Amanda Berglund

Beauty. How do we achieve it? Who gets to define it? How do you live a beautiful life? Beauty standards of today are exacting, ever-evolving, and often overwhelming. Being Beautiful is your timely, illustrated guide and companion to navigating the relentless pursuit of beauty, both inside and out.

A captivating collection of writings, quotes, poems, and musings from some of the world's greatest thinkers—philosophers, celebrities, writers, cultural commentators, and more—on what it means to be beautiful, it is an inspiring anthology for anyone interested in the concept of personal beauty, from the clothes we wear and the make-up we use, to the lives we lead and the relationships we nurture.

Through contemplative, humorous, uplifting and humbling passages interspersed with specially commissioned illustrations, the book attempts to explore and illuminate what beauty means to us in the twenty-first century. And most of all, to inspire, provoke and delight. The discussion is organized into five chapters:
Defining Beauty
Finding Beauty
Living Beautifully
Inner Beauty
Outer Beauty
Topics range from how we might define a beautiful face (Edmund Burke), how one can live a "beautiful" life (Buddha), and the beauty that can be found in aging (Naomi Wolf). Contributors include such varied voices as Sali Hughes, Emily Dickinson, John Cage, Francis Bacon, Charlotte Brontë, Immanuel Kant, Joan Collins, and Kate Moss.

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.