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How to Have a Fabulous Life--No Matter What Comes Your Way
Everyone experiences those times when it seems like nothing is going right. How can we get back that inner peace we so desire? With her signature wit, Karen Scalf Linamen helps women put it all into perspective. She shows how to feel alive and vibrant despite our circumstances. With hilarious true stories and plain-sense practicality, this book is just what women need when life seems to be falling apart at the seams.
185 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 2009
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July 5, 2024
This book has twelve chapters offering "twelve ways we can stretch, flex, and tone our peace, joy and hope - every day, rain or shine, even when it's dark outside, especially when it's dark outside." These include:
- Knowing it's possible to experience peace, joy, and hope independent of one's circumstance
- How to manage memories
- How to choose the tone and content of one's inner dialogue
- How to hang on to images that heal and empower
- How to take temporary setbacks in stride
- How to choose life and make healthy choices
- Knowing that good stuff exists outside of what one can see and feel
- How to be still and listen
- How to take care of one's basic needs, including the need for intimacy with God
- How to be inspired by big dreams
-How to get unstuck.
Along the way, Linamen tosses out lots of ideas and suggestions for finding and cultivating peace, hope, and joy. She also assumes a lot. Example:
Feeling "blue"? Go out and buy. Anything. Everything. Shoes. Curtains. Lunch out with the girls. Feed your craigslist addition. Spend a "plunder-filled morning" shopping at Hobby Lobby. This "advice" may be intended as humorous, but readers on a budget may not be laughing.
Some of the ideas posited- like the fire in the empty fruit can to "watch limitations go up in smoke" - are like, you're kidding, right? But, hey. It was the 2008s, dude. Like, totally.
I also wondered about that weird item in chapter 12 where Linamen describes sorting through her junk-filled 4Runner while waiting for a flat tire to be changed. She finds a bunch of mis-delivered mail on her floorboard. "Apparently the mailman had delivered a batch of letters to my house that didn't belong to me. They had ended up on my floorboard and stayed there." (So what happened to that mis-delivered mail? Inquiring minds want to know. The original, intended addressees might, too.)
Now, don't get me wrong, as Linamen like to say. Over and over and over. There's some good stuff in Fabulous. There's also a lot of down in the dumps and visits to the therapist. And a fair amount of 'you're kidding, right?'
Regarding writing, some readers will find Linamen’s tell-all, journal entry-type style open and honest. Others may find it cringeworthy, especially when she chronicles her marital woes (she divorced and remarried later). Like, Girl, get some Boundaries. And pick up a gallon of common sense with a quart of propriety while you’re at it. Geez!
Overall, however, I like this book. It's witty, warm, and engaging. Inspiring and entertaining. But as is the case with some prior titles, Linamen tends to pretty much write the same book over and over and over. Only with different scenery.
Chapters are bite-sized so they're easy to chew and swallow. Chapters usually close out by repeating a line or concept from the opening line or paragraph. Then it’s on to the next chapter. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
It works pretty well most of the time, especially if you’re looking for bite-sized appetizers of the Mini Phyllo Feta Bites or Crab Cake Egg Rolls variety. If you’re looking for a full-course meal, however, keep looking. This ain’t it. And maybe it’s not meant to be. So some readers will like the predictable rhythms. They’re familiar and … predictable. Others may want to stock up on No Doze.
Linamen books are pretty much as predictable as a cat’s meow: Eat right. Exercise. Get enough sleep. De-clutter. Make friends. Forgive. Cultivate quiet. Love God. Smart and spunky and sudsin’ with sass, the text aptly conveys timeless truths. There's not a lot here that the neighborhood fluff bucket can't figure out. But sometimes seeing it in print helps. Especially if you're fresh outta buckets. Or fluff.
- Knowing it's possible to experience peace, joy, and hope independent of one's circumstance
- How to manage memories
- How to choose the tone and content of one's inner dialogue
- How to hang on to images that heal and empower
- How to take temporary setbacks in stride
- How to choose life and make healthy choices
- Knowing that good stuff exists outside of what one can see and feel
- How to be still and listen
- How to take care of one's basic needs, including the need for intimacy with God
- How to be inspired by big dreams
-How to get unstuck.
Along the way, Linamen tosses out lots of ideas and suggestions for finding and cultivating peace, hope, and joy. She also assumes a lot. Example:
Feeling "blue"? Go out and buy. Anything. Everything. Shoes. Curtains. Lunch out with the girls. Feed your craigslist addition. Spend a "plunder-filled morning" shopping at Hobby Lobby. This "advice" may be intended as humorous, but readers on a budget may not be laughing.
Some of the ideas posited- like the fire in the empty fruit can to "watch limitations go up in smoke" - are like, you're kidding, right? But, hey. It was the 2008s, dude. Like, totally.
I also wondered about that weird item in chapter 12 where Linamen describes sorting through her junk-filled 4Runner while waiting for a flat tire to be changed. She finds a bunch of mis-delivered mail on her floorboard. "Apparently the mailman had delivered a batch of letters to my house that didn't belong to me. They had ended up on my floorboard and stayed there." (So what happened to that mis-delivered mail? Inquiring minds want to know. The original, intended addressees might, too.)
Now, don't get me wrong, as Linamen like to say. Over and over and over. There's some good stuff in Fabulous. There's also a lot of down in the dumps and visits to the therapist. And a fair amount of 'you're kidding, right?'
Regarding writing, some readers will find Linamen’s tell-all, journal entry-type style open and honest. Others may find it cringeworthy, especially when she chronicles her marital woes (she divorced and remarried later). Like, Girl, get some Boundaries. And pick up a gallon of common sense with a quart of propriety while you’re at it. Geez!
Overall, however, I like this book. It's witty, warm, and engaging. Inspiring and entertaining. But as is the case with some prior titles, Linamen tends to pretty much write the same book over and over and over. Only with different scenery.
Chapters are bite-sized so they're easy to chew and swallow. Chapters usually close out by repeating a line or concept from the opening line or paragraph. Then it’s on to the next chapter. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
It works pretty well most of the time, especially if you’re looking for bite-sized appetizers of the Mini Phyllo Feta Bites or Crab Cake Egg Rolls variety. If you’re looking for a full-course meal, however, keep looking. This ain’t it. And maybe it’s not meant to be. So some readers will like the predictable rhythms. They’re familiar and … predictable. Others may want to stock up on No Doze.
Linamen books are pretty much as predictable as a cat’s meow: Eat right. Exercise. Get enough sleep. De-clutter. Make friends. Forgive. Cultivate quiet. Love God. Smart and spunky and sudsin’ with sass, the text aptly conveys timeless truths. There's not a lot here that the neighborhood fluff bucket can't figure out. But sometimes seeing it in print helps. Especially if you're fresh outta buckets. Or fluff.
Displaying 1 of 1 review