Consolations

The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words

David Whyte author Maria Popova editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Canongate Books

Published:7th Nov '19

£14.99

Available for immediate dispatch.

This hardback is available in another edition too:

Consolations cover

In Consolations David Whyte unpacks aspects of being human that many of us spend our lives trying vainly to avoid - loss, heartbreak, vulnerability, fear - boldly reinterpreting them, fully embracing their complexity, never shying away from paradox in his relentless search for meaning.

Beginning with 'Alone' and closing with 'Withdrawal', each piece in this life-affirming book is a meditation on meaning and context, an invitation to shift and broaden our perspectives on life: pain and joy, honesty and anger, confession and vulnerability, the experience of feeling overwhelmed and the desire to run away from it all. Through this lens, procrastination may be a necessary ripening; hiding an act of freedom; and shyness something that accompanies the first stage of revelation.

Consolations invites readers into a poetic and thoughtful consideration of words whose meaning and interpretation influence the paths we choose and the way we traverse them throughout our lives.

Keep this book by your bedside forever. I know I will -- ELIZABETH GILBERT, author of EAT PRAY LOVE
Consolations, it bears repeating, is an absolutely magnificent read - the kind that reorients your world and remains a compass for a lifetime -- MARIA POPOVA
We think we know what we are talking about, the meaning of things, the basic rules of language, until we read David Whyte's Consolations where we are forced to reassess everything and begin again. Such an essential and beautiful book' -- NICK CAVE
A word can know you better than you know yourself and I did not fully understand this until I read Consolations. It is an immensely powerful book. It is an extraordinary book . . . You will want to keep it forever -- LEMN SISSAY
Sometimes a book you had never heard of resonates so profoundly that it leaves you wondering how you hadn't come across it. This is such a book, one that shakes you to the core and speaks to you in an intimate aside, a considered whisper that echoes through your days long after you turned the last page . . . Fully aware and observant * * The Lady * *
Elegant, tiny essays on the consoling power of words, written by one of my favorite living poets. I think Whyte is as much a mystic as an author, and this book proves it. Beautiful, soulful, thoughtful -- ELIZABETH GILBERT
Pasternak once said Chekhov had the perfect blend of sympathy and irony toward his characters. David Whyte's essays have the same: they rescue us without letting us off the hook, they lay bare our self-delusions while showing us that right there, where we least expect it, an innocence is waiting to be recovered. Who knew such penetrating, much-needed wisdom could be such a delight -- HENRY SHUKMAN, Zen teacher, author of ORIGINAL LOVE and co-founder of THE WAY

ISBN: 9781786897633-WfP6

Dimensions: 220mm x 144mm x 18mm

Weight: 276g

192 pages

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