Blue sky, green trees.
I read less than 100 pages of this book. Didn't even make it halfway. But I didn't need to. The first 2 tips have really been a game-changer for me, and I'm pretty satisfied with how they have helped me manage my worrying. If I feel like those strategies aren't working for me anymore, I will absolutely go back to the library for this book and get another few tips.
FYI this book is mostly composed of anecdotes. After reading of 2 or 3 cases where a particular strategy has helped a person, you can definitely skim to the next chapter if you so choose and not miss a thing.
Somewhere between 2.5 and 3 stars, but I don't feel right about rounding up this time.
There are several rambling parts that are deadly boring, just blah blah blah about beauty or The Writer's Life or whatever; I strongly suggest skipping these bits. Basically, whenever you sense that Maugham is straying from the plot just skim until he picks the thread back up, it makes the book much more enjoyable.
That being said, I'm glad I finished it because I liked the way he ended things quite a bit.
Somewhere between 3.5 and 4 stars.
At first I loved the book, the tone of it and the descriptions. It was a book that unfolded rather than rushed ahead and I liked that. Actually I liked that part all the way through to the end. What kind of spoiled the book for me was the story line involving Virginia and Edmund. It seemed so unrealistic that Virginia would just all of a sudden stop being mad at Edmund about sending their young son to boarding school. They in no way resolved it, she just stopped being mad and he essentially patted her on the head and gave her jewelry as a reward. Then when he's not able to take Henry to the first day of boarding school she is furious again, has sex with another man, and decides to leave Edmund. THEN Henry runs back home and so Virginia decides not to abandon her marriage and everything is totally fine between her and her husband. I mean, what?! What kind of a relationship is this?Also, I hated the old fashioned gender roles. Super lame.
My favorite chapters were Amma, Bummi, and Hattie. I HATED the Yazz chapter, just a completely off-putting person (maybe all 19 year olds are unlikeable, hard to say). The After Party chapter was a bit disappointing, it felt disjointed and why are we getting in the head of a man for page-upon-page all of a sudden? I thought the Epilogue more than made up for it, though.
The first part of the book is mildly interesting. From when he dies through to the end of the adventure with the surveillance cameras it's pretty good, I liked it much more. But then the rest of the book was complete bullshit. This random guy tells the narrator to go to Tibet and walk a round a mountain, AND HE DOES IT! No reason given to him as to why he should go, no reason given to us as to why he decides to do it. The walking to the mountain, and around it, is super boring, even when the narrator joins up with some other people. Finally the Chinese military shows up and arrests everybody, which sounds interesting but quickly fizzles out into nothing. The narrator is put in one of the concentration camps, at some point moves to a different one, and eventually the book ends. THAT'S IT. All told in a boring, lifeless prose. One star extra given for the first half of the book, though it doesn't especially deserve it. I want my week of reading back.
This is a book to delight Agatha Christie fans. Other readers may enjoy it, but the real magic is getting a behind-the-scenes look at both her life and how she came to some of the settings we later enjoy in her mysteries. For example, she describes her delight in taking the Orient Express from Calais to Istanbul, how she always loved the look of it from afar and was so excited when she got to take it the very first time, and how the charm of it has never left her on subsequent trips. Well, Christie fans know what she did with this train!
Her particular style of writing, with its sharp observations and subtle humor, is just as charming in a non-fiction book as in her mysteries. I felt an overwhelming urge to find some archeological dig and offer to do all the cataloging and photography for them, just like Agatha Christie did on the 5 digs described in this book.
Another one of those stories where a precocious child with absent parents goes off and does something. However this story has talking animals, setting it firmly in the world of fantasy and so the other unbelievable elements (wise & competent child, absent parents) can be forgiven.
Special nod to the illustrations, which were lovely.
I felt like some stuff was left rather vague, like why Hetta went after servants and why she started up after 200 years of silence. I guess a demon is gonna demon? Also, regarding whether or not Sarah existed, why didn't they ask the butler, or Peter the carriage driver, both of whom saw her and were not killed. Anyway, for all that it was an exciting and fun book.