Time Alive: Celebrate Your Life Every Day (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Our time alive is brief by any standard..." (more)
Key Phrases: time alive, divine potential, New York City, Roger Mühl, Aunt Betty (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As in several of her 24 previous books (Choosing Happiness; Feeling at Home), Stoddard focuses on how to live a fully rewarding life. She advises on how to find time in a busy schedule for goals like volunteer work or taking a class, suggesting that you maintain a detailed calendar of how you spend every hour and day, which will help you avoiding time-wasting distractions (her list ranges strangely from worrying to "marrying the wrong person"). The volume is a series of short, softly toned essays that lack a unifying theme, touching on everything from style (and her personal discomfort with "frills and fussy designs") to enthusiasm (Stoddard likes to skip when the doorman compliments her on her attire). An experienced interior decorator, she strongly advocates continually reorganizing and improving your living space. She also recommends the luxury of carefully prepared meals, bubble baths and cultural activities. Stoddard can be platitudinous (one chapter is called "Your True Essence Is Love") and perhaps not everyone can afford "fresh, crisp new fabrics" every five or 10 years, no matter how diminished the old fabrics' "life force" may be. Alexandra's guide to life is thus not for everyone; there's a lot of work involved in living the simple life she recommends. (Oct. 1)
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Product Description

In seven sections representing essential domains of life—Time, Home, Style, Enthusiasm, Caring, Purpose, and Spirit—Alexandra Stoddard shows us how to celebrate every moment of life. This treasury of brief essays is chock-full of the wise ideas, personal anecdotes, and practical strategies that have inspired millions of her readers and audiences to live more beautifully and meaningfully every day. She helps readers form their own personal philosophy for living as well as discover specific, small actions that build tranquil time into the most hectic day, add lightness and energy when needed most, elevate a passing moment into a vivid memory. She encourages readers to "take stock, and rethink everything. We need to make the connection between how we spend our time and how well we live our lives."

With each essay offering a memorable mindset for living, Alexandra's observations are searching ("What is your deepest desire?"), surprising ("Lower your standards"), encouraging ("You have 8,766 hours a year to act wisely"), and whimsical ("You've gotta have a look") and are certain to spur readers to new levels of insight and joy.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow (October 4, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060796642
• ISBN-13: 978-0060796648
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #315,566 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Considering Alexandra Stoddard, July 3, 2006

By	Barbara - See all my reviews

I own nearly all of Ms. Stoddard's books and have been reading her reviews for this and other titles she has written. Clearly, it is true that she is consistent with her message, which is repackaged in different ways, with different themes and emphases: time, beauty, home, happiness, love, etc. Yet one does not buy a new Alexandra Stoddard book and expect a new Alexandra -- rather, one expects to resume a conversation with a friend who is known and trusted. Like a good friend, Alexandra repeats her ideas now and again, she shares with us what she considers important, and encourages us to move on in our own lives with grace, positivity, and joy.

I am a professor of American literature and understand that Alexandra includes quotes from great American writers including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edith Wharton, and Henry David Thoreau. She also includes her favorite messages from world authors, philosophers, historians, politicians, artists, and designers. Indeed, in this sense, Ms. Stoddard does not have a new message: she shares her take on the messages she has gleaned from a lifetime of reading and experience. One could say that it would be best to just read Emerson or Thoreau -- but how many do? Is Ms. Stoddard not a messenger encouraging our own reading of these classics along with her message of how they have been important to her? As a professor of American lit, I am thrilled that someone is quoting Emerson and Thoreau in hopes that Ms. Stoddard will lead her own readers to search out these classic American texts. The 19th century British writer Thomas Carlyle wrote in "Sartor Resartus" that there are no new texts, but rather old ideas tailored in new and different ways. And so it is with Alexandra Stoddard. Before dismissing her, perhaps we might consider the possibility that she brings classic ideas to a broad audience -- that she has re-tailored the ideas of Emerson, Thoreau, and others for our times and for the general population.

I understand and can empathize with those who do not relate with her lifestyle -- indeed, she is blessed with a good life -- one that it appears she has worked for. I am happy for her and ask this: why should an individual's hard work, good fortune, and general abundance indicate that we, as a more general population, cannot relate to her? If she can afford more than we can does that mean her ideas do not apply to us, that she is removed from life as we know it? Oprah Winfrey, for example, is a fabulously wealthy woman -- one of the richest Americans alive -- and no one questions her ability to relate to common people. Granted, she was challenged as a child to overcome a difficult set of life circumstances, yet we do not know what Alexandra has overcome in her life -- can't she also express her ideas about a life well-lived without us judging her ideas in terms of her socioeconomic status? Let's move beyond this to her ideas, I say. Look at what she has to say at its core -- many of these ideas are universal.

I am grateful that Ms. Stoddard keeps writing. I read her as a respite from other reading. I read her as I would read a letter from a friend. I do not judge her as she does not seem to judge others herself. I take her messages at face value and accept her suggestions for living as her own way of spreading a spirit of good faith.

As I mentioned, I teach literature: my classes read works by Kurt Vonnegut, John Updike, Langston Hughes, Toni Morrison, Kate Chopin, Theodore Dreiser, and others. Ms. Stoddard presents a particular slice of life -- it seems as valid as any to me. She does not claim to be the great American author or philosopher, but someone who can encourage us to look at our lives more carefully and help us to live more fully and mindfully. Although I understand the misgivings of some, I am grateful that she has chosen to write. Her work has contributed to my life, and I look forward to her hearing her voice again in her next volume.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Time well spent, December 21, 2005

By	cepet "cepet" (ohio) - See all my reviews

As always, Alexandra never fails to inspire me to be more creative, to open my eyes, to live life and enjoy even the smallest things. She does not advocate a lavish lifestyle. On the contrary, her books have more to do with enjoying the little things in life that do not cost much.
I have all her books and this one has new ideas for me to underline, just as her other books are well read and underlined on my shelf. She is one of my favorite authors....

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Take Joy!, December 26, 2005

By	Meredith (California) - See all my reviews

This charming book is full of inspiring ideas on how to make the most out of life by creating standards and honoring the sacredness of time. As with all of Alexandra Stoddard's books, this is for the optimistic person who delights in the romance and wonder of everyday life.