Review: Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

Readers of all ages and walks of life have drawn inspiration and empowerment from Elizabeth Gilbert’s books for years. Now this beloved author digs deep into her own generative process to share her wisdom and unique perspective about creativity. With profound empathy and radiant generosity, she offers potent insights into the mysterious nature of inspiration. She asks us to embrace our curiosity and let go of needless suffering. She shows us how to tackle what we most love, and how to face down what we most fear. She discusses the attitudes, approaches, and habits we need in order to live our most creative lives. Balancing between soulful spirituality and cheerful pragmatism, Gilbert encourages us to uncover the “strange jewels” that are hidden within each of us. Whether we are looking to write a book, make art, find new ways to address challenges in our work,  embark on a dream long deferred, or simply infuse our everyday lives with more mindfulness and passion, Big Magic cracks open a world of wonder and joy.

Review: I have to say, this book was quite different to what I was expecting. I didn't expect such a personal account of Elizabeth Gilbert and her life's creativity and this was a pleasant surprise for me. The structure of the book was fairly loose, with ideas and essays arranged in slightly linear form but then also arranged by topic. Gilbert would offer some personal account of something and then reference others and other texts that deal with this aspect of creativity. 

So many people have told me how inspiring this book was and I would agree with them. I found that it reassured me that my form of creativity, my casual writing, my blog and the other things i create in my life are worthwhile and something that I should take an active part in rather than waiting for them to happen to me. This has been something that I've been aware of in my life in the past. It also made me feel more confident in my role as an educator and gave me a tool to support those I teach to embrace their creativity too. 

This book has a strong voice and I listened to it on audiobook, despite having this one on ebook. I think it would be a good book to have a physical copy of too, because it is definitely something I'm going to be dipping back into as time goes on, but I loved hearing each part read in the way the author intended. Having an audiobook version also meant that I could listen to a bit of it and then go and do. This book is hard to describe but is definitely an uplifting and motivating read. If you read it all at once, like I did, or read it in parts, I think either way will have equal value and I really recommend picking this one up if you've been tempted to in the past!

You can order your copy here...