Boy, does this little volume pack a punch! Keep Moving is an exploration of grief--what it feels like, the space it takes, and how to live with it and "keep moving." It’s so relevant for right now and I've definitely recommended this to so many people who need the inspiration offered by Maggie Smith.

I wanted this book to be so much more than it was. While there were certainly lots of gems I could pull out and highlight, it felt jumbled and too abrupt. Essays would have provided more chance for the reader to really feel what Smith was saying, rather than just getting glimpses. This would be a good gift for someone to keep on their shelf and periodically look through, but not so good to sit down with and read in one sitting.

Rating: 3.5 stars rounded up
Recommend? For people who liked "Big Magic"

I am not a big reader of self help or inspirational books, but I appreciated this little missive on overcoming (or, maybe, living with the ever-present effects of) grief. It reminded me of Big Magic, and I'd recommend it for anyone who likes to keep those types of books on hand for quick hits of inspiration.

Keep Moving is an absolutely beautiful book , meant for just about everybody at some point in their life.  I admit, I first zoomed through cover to cover, fed by each page and eager for the next, and then strolled through.  I know this is a book that will be on my shelf to take down and flip through when I need to Keep Moving.  

What I found particularly effective was the language.  I was expecting, I guess, something different.  Chapters, full pages, lots of words.  What I discovered was only the words needed to express the sentiment, and the constant refrain of "Keep Moving."  Smith is an excellent poet, and that should suffice as explanation for her careful word choices, and the pages with more space, to remind us to make room.  

Keep Moving is a wow.  Buy a copy for yourself, buy a copy and give it to a pensive friend.

Maggie Smith’s writing is the perfect expression for many of my own feelings. I loved reading this book and I even loved her little snippets of wisdom between stories (I don’t usually love snippets, but these are worthwhile). The stories of her life, her children, her divorce, and her transformation are written beautifully.

This book was so motivational. We experience loss and grief in so many different way, the author was really great about being open and raw and at the same time share some amazing quotes to keep you moving forward!

Great read!

I was surprised by how much I liked this book.  It's kind of a poetic self-help, which is not a genre I thought I'd really appreciate.  But the author intersperses her quotable messages with her own personal narrative, and it all works together really well.  I found that the story of her divorce and grief translates well to other forms of grief and struggle, not just divorce. so I found myself able to relate to her emotions and grief.  We sometimes forget that grief is not just for death, but for all kinds of losses; I found her message that grief is a process very hopeful.

"Revising our stories-our lives-is no easy task. Our stories may take strange turns. We may find that we are living part mystery, part romance, part comedy, part tragedy, part ghost story. We don't know what will happen next or how it will end. But we keep moving." 

Maggie Smith takes readers on an emotional journey to confront loss and love while remaining true to ourselves. Filled with hope-inspiring quotes, resonating chapters and personal accounts, Smith reminds readers that there's hope despite despair. Our lives don't promise perfect roads but ones that unlock new journeys and possibilities. 

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for the copy of #KeepMoving in exchange for an honest review. Living in uncertain times, Smith's prose provide hope for the future. We don't know what's ahead but we can control how we respond. Embrace the future of instead of remaining fixated on the past. 

To close, the author's words of wisdom: "Let go of the idea that things could have happened differently, as if this life is a Choose You Own Adventure book and you simply turned the wrong page. You di the best you could with what you knew-and felt- at the time. Now do better knowing more."

Maggie Smith is the author of a couple of poems you've probably read online (Google "Good Bones" if you haven't read it already). In "Keep Moving," she presents a series of affirmations that were originally notes to herself she posted on Twitter. These short items are presented along with essays on the themes of revision, resilience and transformation. There are flashes of real insight here for anyone who has experienced loss or disappointment (ahem, all of us). I think the book will hold particular weight for those experiencing a divorce, as Smith herself was when she wrote the affirmations.

Some books are short and sweet and contain just the right balance of heavy subjects with lighter, positive notes--this is one of those books. Maggie Smith does a really great job in her short essays of describing what she has went through and letting us see that part of her life. I saw a lot of myself in Maggie's words and I have a lot of appreciation for this book. I see this as something I will keep revisiting in the future.

I've enjoyed and appreciated Maggie Smith's poetry, and Keep Moving may be for an even wider audience. While the author wrote notes to herself during the painful end of her marriage, I think these same notes can easily apply to anyone and everyone during the pandemic.

"Think of grief, anger, worry as bricks or planks of wood. Stop staring at the materials, half believing they were delivered to you by mistake, half expecting a truck to haul them away. Accept that these are your materials right now. Start building. Keep moving."

I have a vivid picture associated with this quote, complete with the dust from broken bricks, bags of cement split open, and warped 2x4s that Home Depot has mistakenly dumped in the middle of my driveway. I've walked around this pile for months during the pandemic and my calls to "come and fix this!" have gone unheeded. I'm finally starting to build (or at least move the pile out of the middle of the driveway). We've all faced losses, just as we all have been forced to change, and this is a book that will remind you that as bad as it may be, you can face the uncertainty and keep moving.

Thank you to Atria/One Signal Publishers and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of the book.

This is a brilliant book. I included in two pieces:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/feel-good-books-2020/2020/10/17/4b1759fc-0fe1-11eb-8a35-237ef1eb2ef7_story.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/what-to-read-in-2020-based-on-the-books-you-loved-in-2019/2019/12/20/9230f770-2299-11ea-bed5-880264cc91a9_story.html

Thanks, Atria!

The transparency in which Maggie Smith writes allows you to feel seen and understood because ultimately at some point in our lives we have felt a loss, a brokenness, or at minimum, a setback. It’s part of the human condition. Keep Moving is a collection of  quotes and essays that read part memoir and part self help book. It’s the pep talk that you need from a friend who has walked the hardship you are facing and truly gets it. 

I feel that this book isn’t just for those that are going through a divorce, but really any major life change. It’s focus is to continue on despite what you are encountering and the ways in which we can use our hardships as stepping stones of growth.

Some of the quotes felt a little similar, but were encouraging nonetheless.

Trigger warning: miscarriage

I was gifted an eARC from Atria Books in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

There's not really much new here in this little book, but it's a great pep talk for anyone going through grief - whether from divorce or death.

I devoured Keep Moving in one sitting and would recommend to anyone who's been struggling lately with uncertainty, change, anxiety (aka, most of us?) 

The book is a compilation of Maggie's thoughts following her divorce, but I found the messages to be universal to any times of upheaval. I'm not much of a self-help gal, but this one offers little bits of hope and perspective, and I think I'll find myself returning to my many highlighted passages when I'm feeling down. 

Thanks Netgalley + Atria for my free copy in exchange for an honest review!

I wanted to read this because I heard the author on NPR and liked what she said.  However,  that was the only thing I liked.  Smug and pretentious,  I was annoyed almost from the start.

I really like the premise of this book. The short essays were nice, but I would have liked longer essays that deal more with the nitty gritty elements of loss and grief. They were a little too abstract for me, though the writing is gorgeous. 

The smaller quotes were okay, but some were almost identical to others.

I think some people will get more from this than I did. This isn’t the author’s fault, but I think the book could’ve been marketed more toward the loss of divorce and broken relationships. A lot of the essays/advice didn’t speak to me as someone experiencing grief over the terminal illness diagnosis of a family member, but by being more general about loss on the cover, I assumed grief related to death would have been discussed more. 

Tl;dr: Good writing, but I wanted more depth. Might be right for others!

In her book "Keep Moving", Maggie Smith shares personal anecdotes about the losses she's endured throughout her life. This book was full of wisdom, quick quotes, and inspiration. While I didn't find it personally helpful, I'm sure that someone who has gone through similar losses would find this book useful. 

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Although I know author Maggie Smith had no idea her book would be published during a pandemic, Keep Moving, could not have come at a better time for so many of us. I have always found so much comfort in affirmations that allow us to not only self reflect but continue on our paths forward.

While our feelings of grief and loss can all be deeply personal, there is also a collective feeling of being in something hard when we just feel connected and heard. Maggie Smith's writing is relatable and has the perfect balance of being a reminder of who we are and who we can still become while also celebrating the struggles and the joys of the messy "in-between". 

Thank you to Atria Books for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is a case of the right book at the right time. When everything falls apart what else can we do but keep moving. Just keep moving.