Gail Bernice HollandRecensioni

I enjoyed this book. I rather liked the fact that it allowed a glimpse into others lives in an effort to make one realize the things that one should not take for granted as they live each day!

I enjoyed tnis book because it showed a glimpse into a variety of peoples lives and how your life can change in an instant!

This book is inspirational. With many moving stories that gives us a glimpse into other people's lives. It shows that life is to be celebrated, shared, and cherished. Live Each Day.

I won this book via a Member Giveaway on Librarything.com.

From the title "Love Each Day Live each day so you would want to live it again" I was expecting to be uplifted and motivated by these 40 inspirational stories, but instead I was left wondering why these "articles" were picked. I would say these were not stories, based on that each was only a few paragraphs long and more resembled something you would find in a newspaper article. With the exception of a couple articles, these were nothing more than everday occurences that happened in someone's life. Half of the people were not even all that interesting, which I'm guessing was the point of the author to "love each day and live each day so you would want to live it again", but I was expecting a lot more out of these "inspirational stories" I would call these every day occurences instead.½

Being a recent college graduate, I liked the approach Love Each Day took to defining a meaningful life, and how each day, or better yet, each action can open new doors and create new opportunities. I agree that life is meant to be lived and experienced, not just muddled through, and these short stories of personal experiences reaffirmed it for me. I only wish there had been a more diverse set of stories considering the collection's short length. In the end attitude is one of the keys to having a fulfilled and meaningful (to the individual) life. Overall a good read; and recommended.

The premise

Billed as ‘40 true inspirational stories’ I was drawn to this book by the promise of being inspired to enjoy life. I will admit that I often tend to have quite a negative (although I prefer the term ‘realistic’) outlook on life, and I thought it might be quite pleasant and life-affirming to have a set of stories to dip into which might challenge this perception of the world. Quotations on the back cover promise that the stories within “remind us that each day is a life, each day is a new world, each day is another opportunity to bless and be blessed.”

Holland begins her introduction by reminding us of a much quoted piece of advice: “Live each day as if it were your life.” After quickly establishing the flaws inherent in such a piece of advice, (who would ever wash the bathroom or take out the garbage on the last day of their life?,) Holland suggests a more ‘healthy’ maxim: “Live each day so you would want to live it again.” The ‘stories’ in this book describe days that their protagonists would want to live again, for various reasons. Some are ordinary, others are extraordinary.

The style

The author has interviewed a (supposedly) diverse range of people and then told their stories in the first or third person to add a little variety. Each story unfolds briskly over a couple of pages and focuses primarily on one day in that person’s life. Holland is a journalist by trade and so the ‘stories’ read like brief newspaper articles. Rather than being encouraged to empathise with the ‘characters, Holland seems to set out to create a certain distance: each is referred to by their last name and summaries at the beginning and end of each ‘story’ set their brief history into context. Whether this is deliberate or a product of the desire to cram 40 ‘stories’ into a slim volume is debateable. I would actually describe these as anecdotes, rather than stories. Few words are spent on descriptive detail and all events are briefly summarised.

Some minor irritations

Firstly, I need to register a protest regarding the word ‘stories’: a story, to me, is a developed tale in which time is spent over details and characters are well-realised. These are anecdotes of the kind that you would find in-between the pages of a newspaper. For me, this was slightly disappointing, although if I had considered the size of the volume – a mere 123 pages – then I would have begun reading with different expectations. It’s also worth mentioning that this book is part of ‘the Reflections of America series’ and is published by Modern History Press. In summary, if you’re looking for ‘stories’ then you are likely to be disappointed.

On a similar note, Holland claims to present a range of life experiences, but I would argue that her ‘characters’ are drawn exclusively from the ranks of the middle class, rich and super rich. This does make it slightly irritating when the final anecdote, told by someone who hops into their private plane to attend a funeral, concludes with the advice that taking care of your own happiness should take priority over saving for a rainy day. Well, yes. If I earned millions every day, I’m sure I would worry less about scrimping on a few pennies here and there. In her epilogue, Holland concludes that the people who shared their anecdotes ‘never focused on status or money’. I would argue that this is because, in ninety per cent of cases, they already had these things, often in abundance. Is this really a serious criticism of the book? Not at all: once again, I simply feel that it is slightly misleading marketing.

Finally, Holland encourages us to love each day, and live it in such a way that we would want to relive it, yet, inevitably, most of the days recorded are seriously special (graduations, winning a nobel prize, moving to a new country). One hopes these would always be special, uplifting days that we love. Surely it is the more routine days that we should be focusing on trying to improve? For this reason, my favourite anecdote is the lawyer’s: there’s a day I could live again and again.

The anecdotes

These range in scope from a man walking on the moon to a woman confronting her husband about an affair to a student becoming a physician. It is quite interesting to learn a little about these days and why they were so meaningful. There were a few days which genuinely touched me, although it is very difficult in such formal prose to engage with the life-changing experiences and heightened emotions that Holland reveals. Many anecdotes focused on the joy of giving something back to the community and there was not a single wicked character lurking in any of the tales. In this sense, they are almost pieces of real life made fairytale: whatever the outcome, the characters respond as if they have been given a little piece of heaven on earth. It was uplifting to read about such positive responses, although I found the effect to be muted as I could not really empathise with the situations outlined. Sometimes I found myself wishing Holland had shared more of this person’s story, but often I was simply untouched.

Final thoughts

These were interesting to read once and the whole book would be quite pleasant for most readers to dip in and out of. I did come away from the experience feeling vaguely impressed by the notion that it is ultimately one’s attitude that determines their experience of life. (So I’m screwed, then.) Still, this wasn’t a new or earth-shattering revelation, more an extra hearty dollop of common sense.

For me, the real tests of a book’s quality are whether or not I would recommend it to a friend and whether or not I would read it again. Personally, I didn’t find it engaging enough to do either, but then again, I am quite a cynic and this is not written in my preferred style. I suspect it would most suit those who are already possessed of a fairly positive nature and would just like some additional assurance that, ultimately, the world can be a joyous place full of meaning.

P.S. If anyone else has read this collection, can you please explain to me how the cow pooping has such a major effect on the young banker? I’m sure I missed something…

FORGET ME NOT
Gail Bernice Holland

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