Making Choices - Hardcover

Stoddard, Alexandra; Romano, Marc

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688109357 ISBN 13: 9780688109356

Publisher: William Morrow, 1994

Synopsis

The author of Grace Notes and columnist for McCall's magazine shares her philosophy for living a fulfilling life of responsibility, decision, courage, and empowerment. 75,000 first printing. Tour.

About this title

About the Author

Author of twenty-four books, Alexandra Stoddard is a sought-after speaker on the art of living. Through her lectures, articles, and books such as Living a Beautiful Life, Things I Want My Daughters to Know, Time Alive, Grace Notes, Open Your Eyes, and Feeling at Home, she has inspired millions to pursue more fulfilling lives. She lives with her husband in New York City and Stonington Village, Connecticut.

Reviews

The choices we make, asserts interior designer and McCall columnist Stoddard ( Grace Notes ) not only solve immediate problems but contribute to the shape of one's life. "Your life and who you ultimately are is a step-by-step, choice-by-choice creation." Rather than listing specific decision-making rules, Stoddard offers guidelines, citing numerous examples from her own experiences and those of others concerning love, intergenerational family relationships, friendship and professional matters. With the exception of emergencies, when "biting the bullet" takes precedence over all other choices, the author stresses the need to resist pressure from others by learning to say "no." She emphasizes that many decisions, such as that of having a child, affect other people. Her wise advice about selecting a mate warns against marrying merely to escape loneliness. Illustrations not seen by PW. Author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Lifestyle expert of McCall's magazine and prolific author of low-calorie self-help (Daring to Be Yourself, 1990, etc.), Stoddard offers her personal reflections on turning 50, revealing how she met the conflicting demands of a beautiful home, family, and life. The audience advised to nurture their spirits by surrounding themselves with flowers in Living Beautifully Together (1989) is here exhorted, first, to get rid of weeds they didn't plant, to become the architects of their own lives, to choose their own happiness, take charge of their own finances, face difficulties (``bite the bullet''), and learn the ``Art of No''--which could possibly allow them to dispense with a lifestyle expert. To this counselor on surfaces, decorations, and accessories, whose children are beautiful, whose marriage is successful, and whose siblings (the only dark note) are expendable, the philosophy of choice means that everything in life can be replaced, rearranged, recovered or purchased in a different color. Stoddard takes up the subjects of family, parenting and being parented, marriage, divorce, friends, occupations, along with the problems, challenges, and blessings of life generally, and concludes that the best life--self-fulfillment- -comes with power, with choosing, trusting, and affirming: with acting rather than reacting. The death of a child, the infidelity of a spouse, losing of a job, having to move--all can be handled by making choices. For the Stoddard addict, paralyzed by the shopping, fitting, and matching that the beautiful life requires, courage lies in choosing what color sheets to buy or who to invite to dinner. With quotations in the margins from real philosophers (from Samuel Johnson to Sartre--more choices), Stoddard offers a comforting anodyne, a palliative to get through the middle years. Harmless and, to the totally inert, perhaps inspiring. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Stoddard, best known for her column in McCall's magazine, recently hit 50 and decided to share her perspective on mid-life questions. She feels that life is basically about making choices and that individuals who have the courage to face formidable opportunities and make decisive, well-considered choices will lead the most fulfilling lives. She discusses a host of personal, familial, and work-related options. She also considers one's recourses when it seems no choice is available, as well as how to muster the mettle required to say no. An interesting spin on self-help from a woman who has offered many readers guidance on external beauty and home design and now turns her attention to inner needs. Denise Perry Donavin

Edition details

• Publisher: William Morrow
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0688109357
• ISBN 13: 9780688109356
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 222