BookPage Fiction Top Pick, October 2015

Years before I read Eat, Pray, Love, I clipped a quote from Elizabeth Gilbert's 2006 bestseller that I still have today. "Happiness is the result of personal effort," she wrote. "You have to participate relentlessly." This was not news I wanted to hear at the time, but a life spent waiting for the right bluebird to cross my path wasn't working out too well, either. I started to put a little more shoulder into my efforts, and did, in fact, find myself enjoying life more. If you're living a creative life (and news flash—you are), the same rules apply. In her latest book, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, Gilbert contends that persistence and curiosity are the keys to pushing past your boundaries to live a bigger, happier life.

The writing here is so friendly and funny that Gilbert's perspective on creative living goes down like lemonade in summer. I howled at her description of a childhood so bound by fear that a trip to the shore left her agonized by all the people who insisted on swimming (it hit a little close to home). Pace yourself and pay attention, though, and you'll find substantive teaching about the paradoxical nature of creativity: You need to work at it with great consistency but little thought for the end result; rather than expect it to take care of you, financially or otherwise, it's best to work in order to support your creativity; cultivating a sense of play is often the most direct path to your best and most serious work. 

Gilbert tells the story of a novel she almost wrote, which then took a circuitous path away from her and landed with Ann Patchett instead. She weighs the various ways one can respond to such wonders. (Hint: It helps to view them as wonders rather than resentments.) The short story that launched her career after years of work and rejection was only accepted after a series of crucial changes. Agonizing, yes, but, "screw it. Because let's be honest: It wasn't the Magna Carta we were talking about here; it was just a short story about a cowgirl and her boyfriend."

Whatever tune your creativity whistles, Big Magic will renew your love for the dance.

Eat, pray, love, and now get creative with Gilbert, who's stepping back from her formidable nonfiction and fiction best sellers to take a look at her own creativity. How does inspiration work? How do we determine what we love and conquer what we fear? How do we hone our attitudes and our habits so that we can find what she calls "the strange jewels" within us? Touching on the spiritual while remaining resoundingly grounded, Gilbert aims broadly at everyone from artists to office workers.

Gilbert, of Eat Pray Love fame, aims to encourage lives more strongly driven by curiosity than by fear. Having the courage to do that, says the author, will lead to an enchanted existence. Readers start the process by daily respecting their inclinations and creative instincts then running with them. Persistence and trust in oneself through failures are necessary challenges—the only way to find hidden internal treasure—that will result in discovering a divine spirit within. VERDICT Gilbert serves as an enthusiastic coach for readers who want more out of life. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, 3/9/15.]

Gilbert (The Signature of All Things) offers an empathetic and inspiring guide to mustering the courage to live a creative life. That doesn't necessarily mean a career in the arts, she's quick to point out ("If you're alive, you're a creative person," she states); instead, she proposes a life fueled by curiosity rather than fear. Gilbert, more than most, can understand how a big success can make one feel as if the follow-up must not disappoint, writing that "I can't tell you how many people said to me during those years , ‘How are you ever going to top that?'?" She notes that this kind of pressure can be an instant creativity killer and encourages readers to let go of perfectionism and embrace being good enough. This mind-set, in her experience, leads to the willingness to take chances, live life to the fullest, and act on risky ideas. Gilbert divides her book into six sections, each devoted to a quality she believes necessary for living without fear: courage, enchantment, permission, persistence, trust, and divinity. In each section, Gilbert peppers sound advice with personal triumphs and failures. Nearly anyone who picks up this self-help manual should finish it feeling inspired, even if only to dream of a life without limits. Agent: Sarah Chalfant, Wylie Agency. (Sept.)