Brave Enough by Cheryl Strayed

Brave Enough
by Cheryl Strayed [808.882 Str] 

Strayed’s autobiographical book Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Coast Trail was one of my top five favorite reads the year it came out (2012). In Brave Enough, Strayed has some introductory remarks about how she’s collected inspirational quotes from other people’s writings over the years, and how important some of those have because to her — helping her to get past rough patches in her life. For this collection, she has pulled quotes and passages from her own past writings, after friends, colleagues and readers told her that she and her writings were inspirational to them.

The quotes/passages she shares in this small collection range from one-sentence pithy statements, to multi-paragraph explorations of various concepts. Strayed’s writings can be, shall we say, rather salty….so if you’ve got issues with moderately doses of what most people would consider profanity, this collection probably isn’t for you. But if you don’t mind four-letter-words scattered liberally through her self-quotes, Strayed has a lot of very thoughtful things to say. By the time I was done reading this, I had copied several of her statements out that had an impact on me, including “To love and be loved. That is the meaning of life.”, “Put yourself in the way of beauty”, “Trust your gut. Forgive yourself. Be grafteful”, and “Don’t own other people’s crap!”.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Strayed’s other books, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Coast Trail, and Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life From Dear Sugar.]

[ official Brave Enough page on the official Cheryl Strayed web site ]

Read Tracy T.’s reviews of Cheryl Strayed’s book Wild, from May 2016
Read Scott C.’s review of the movie adaptation of Wild starring Reese Witherspoon, from June 2016

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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