Tag Archives: Book review

November 14, 2025 · 10:13 am

Memoir Lifestyle review no2 ~ Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert ~ controversy no 2

This book sits on my shelf as one to dip into, or reread, from time to time. The plot is well known to everyone and had a great impact on people’s lives, including mine, as she searches for meaning to life in Italy, India, Indonesia and searches for love, following a divorce. So many of us empathised. It was a block buster movie starring Julia Robert. Fantastic film.

click picture for Amazon

Not long after the controversy surrounding The Salt Path, written about last week, I read an article in the Saturday Times magazine of a frank interview with Elizabeth Gilbert, about her life now. Like the Salt Path it gave me a jolt, a shock to the heart.

a) In what ways did ‘Eat Pray Love’ originally affect my life? It gave me hope. I felt a connection; a kindred spirit enjoying adventure, whilst searching for some meaning and purpose to life.

b) I realised that I was not unusual and certainly I was not unique.

c) I continued my search for spiritual peace, travelling and meeting different peoples too, for a greater understanding of the world and my tiny part in it.

When I read this recent article about Elizabeth Gilbert today, at first I felt that sinking feeling. We put people in our lives on a pedestal, whether they be celebrities, friends or family. To realise that ‘their feet are made of clay’ is a sobering moment. After the initial shock though, there are moments of calm. Not only to realise they are only human too, not much different to ourselves, but to realise that their original message, and its positive message, remains firm in our hearts, and that can’t be bad, can it? And so, Eat, Pray and Love remains on my bookshelf, alongside Elizabeth Gilbert’s ‘The Big Magic’ which actually, more recently, had even more of an effect on my psyche.

This book made me reflect on of my own memoir, “The Healing Paths of Fife” which has raised over £750 for local charities, including The Kirkcaldy Foodbank. It is a beautiful part of the world, with a lesser known coastal path, meandering along the Firth of Forth (and the Tay), with castles, quaint fishing villages, history, cliffs, machair, golf courses, rocks, beaches and, of course, The Forth Bridge. I describe it as a fantasy memoir, making clear that it veered from truth to history to fiction. It too has made an impact on people’s lives, selling mainly in gift shops, fairs and events.

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Filed under Book reading, Book reviews, Inspiration, Memoirs

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November 7, 2025 · 9:04 am

Memoir / Lifestyle review 1 ~ The Salt Path by Raynor Winn ~ controversy no 1

Laying aside the controversy surrounding Raynor Winn’s delightful and moving book, what effect did it have on my life, having read it?

click on cover for link to Amazon

a) It made me appreciate the coast far more, and be observant of the nuances of our surrounding area along The Fife Coastal Path

b) It made me think of the links between a sense of well being, lifestyle choices and health

c) It prompted a return to Cornwall this year after, at least 12 years absence. (It’s a long way from Scotland!) We spent our honeymoon there and it has been an important part of my life growing up, but especially meaningful in my husband’s childhood and early adulthood memories with his parents.

Now, does the recent controversy surrounding this book make a difference to me. Initially yes. My heart sank, since to me it is a very special book. With nearly 50000 reviews on Amazon, it has done extremely well, and deservedly, because it is well written and evocative. I will read it again, of that I’m sure, although this time with my eyes open.

It makes me think of my own memoir, “The Healing Paths of Fife” which has raised over £750 for local charities, including The Kirkcaldy Foodbank. It is an equally beautiful part of the world, with a lesser known coastal path, meandering along the Firth of Forth (and the Tay), with castles, quaint fishing villages, history, cliffs, machair, golf courses, rocks, beaches and, of course, The Forth Bridge. I describe it as a fantasy memoir, making clear that it veered from truth to history to fiction. It too has made an impact on people’s lives, selling mainly in gift shops, fairs and events.

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September 19, 2025 · 9:13 am

Diana’s September Book Review ~ Monty Don’s My Garden World

Monty Don’s book is a treasured gift from a special friend down in Bedfordshire. She knew my love for nature, gardening and the countryside, from our many walks and talks with our husbands and their dog over the years. It sits on my bedside table and I savour every moment, as I read about Monty’s world at home, in his garden and on his farm, month by month. In fact I read it a month at a time, enjoying his reflections on changes that have taken place over the years, in terms of wildlife and birds, occasionally unusual sightings and living alongside what we would call ‘garden pests’.

It is a very different world to ours on the east coast of Scotland, on the Firth of Forth estuary, but nevertheless it encourages me to be more observant and to appreciate each moment in time. I have always had a wary approach to watering to excess and using chemicals, slug pellets for example, and Monty has encouraged, me by his words, to be even more vigilant and philosophical when the natural world wins a battle over some plant or other or corner of my cliff garden. I am only a custodian of my plot for the time being after all.

Monty Don’s observations are thoughtful, beautifully written and even charming at times. You feel his joy when birds and butterflies are spotted for the first time in the year, even though this is hopefully a yearly event, and his sadness over the decline of various species.

I love the cover. Roger, my husband, always used to call Gardener’s World The Nigel Show, after Monty’s photographic dog, who was always getting in the shots. And didn’t he pose for the camera? He was a natural!

My world is richer through his words. Thank you!

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Filed under Author Diana Jackson, Book reading, Book reviews, Scotland

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