This Is Not the Life I Ordered
by Collins, Speier, Risley and Yanehiro
Published by Conari Press
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Reviewed by Connie Anderson
Subtitled: 50 ways to keep your head above water when life keeps dragging you down
Destiny threw four women together more than a decade ago who started a monthly Kitchen Table Friends. They created a place every woman needs: where she can say the unsayable about her life and those in it.
These women are successful in their own right, so I'll introduce them here with just a sampling of their many accomplishments:
* Deborah Collins Stephens is an author (3 bestsellers).
* Jackie Speier is a lawyer, California State Senator and Jonestown shooting victim.
* Michealine Cristin Risley is an award-winning documentary producer.
* Jan Yanehiro hosts Appraise It! on HGTV and has won three Emmys.
Reading this list might indicate that these successful women "have it all." Not true. They've been divorced, widowed, left without money or a home, fired, lost elections, etc. etc. Marlene Dietrich famously said, "It is the friends you call at 4 o'clock in the morning that really matter." And that's what these women are for each other.
When they were asked to speak about their Kitchen Table Friends concept to a group of professional women--400 packed the room.
The sections show the 50 ways (subtitle), and have wonderful quotes by women. My favorites are:
1. Gratitude (finding it even in the worst of days, like "at least the ...).
2. Saying "how" instead of "why"--as in "how" can I use this
experience--"how" denoting future, and "why" dwells on the past.
3. Facing your fears. Discouragement has courage at its root--and courage has the French word for heart as its root.
An overused word today, but I thought this book was AWESOME. This is a read-every-word, think-about-it-a-while, call-a-girlfriend-to-talk-about-it book. It is both powerful and meaningful. It is filled with humor, hope, handholding and the humanity only women can show to each other.
Recently I received a book to review where the women called each other the B word (I said no). Women of any age should NOT be doing that to each other!
Armchair Interviews says: This is a 10-star book that women will tell friends about and buy as gifts because it is empowering and gives hope.