Big Magic : Creative Living Beyond Fear
Elizabeth Gilbert
2015, 276 pages
Nonfiction
Told in a casual, conversational tone, filled with anecdotes from the author’s life and advice that is universal across any creative pursuit, Big Magic is the permission slip to indulge in a passion. Being a creative person is not easy. It’s far too easy for responsibilities to get in the way of making something that might bare the soul, or might be judged, or might not be “enough.” It’s easy to ignore it for more important things, to put it off for later when there’s time, or to try, fail and give up after a thousand rejections.
Creativity is what makes life worth living, for those who indulge in it, and for those who consume the creative pursuits of others. Gilbert’s book acknowledges that fear is a part of being a creative, that it’s okay to be afraid of any number of real or imagined things relating to whatever your passion might be – but that to live up to your best self, you have to walk beside fear and keep going anyway.
Big Magic is the friend who encourages you to write that novel even if it never gets published, or to paint that picture because it speaks to you even if no one will ever see it; it’s for novelists, painters, figure skaters, or anyone who creates something from nothing, who has a need to express what’s in their heart in some way.
Amanda AlwynConcord Public Library
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