Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Joy for Beginners
    Unavailable
    Joy for Beginners
    Unavailable
    Joy for Beginners
    Audiobook7 hours

    Joy for Beginners

    Written by Erica Bauermeister

    Narrated by Cassandra Campbell

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    "Moving, touching, wonderfully written, inspiring to read." -Garth Stein, author of The Art of Racing in the RainAt an intimate, festive dinner party in Seattle, six women gather to celebrate their friend Kate's recovery from cancer. Wineglass in hand, Kate strikes a bargain with them. To celebrate her new lease on life, she'll do the one thing that's always terrified her: white-water rafting. But if she goes, all of them will also do something they always swore they'd never do-and Kate is going to choose their adventures.Shimmering with warmth, wit, and insight, Joy for Beginners is a celebration of life: unexpected, lyrical, and deeply satisfying.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJun 9, 2011
    ISBN9781101484395
    Unavailable
    Joy for Beginners
    Author

    Erica Bauermeister

    Erica Bauermeister is the author of the bestselling novel The School of Essential Ingredients, Joy for Beginners, and The Lost Art of Mixing. She is also the co-author of non-fiction works, 500 Great Books by Women: A Reader’s Guide and Let’s Hear It For the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. She has a PhD in literature from the University of Washington, and has taught there and at Antioch University. She is a founding member of the Seattle7Writers and currently lives in Port Townsend, Washington.

    More audiobooks from Erica Bauermeister

    Related to Joy for Beginners

    Related audiobooks

    Literary Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Editor

      Mar 6, 2022

      Grab a cuppa and sit down for some “me time” – we have lots of stories this week that are sure to inspire you. With so much turmoil in the royal family right now, the wise Windsor women, including Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, are really stepping

      1 min read

    • Article

      Haphazard By Starlight

      Dec 16, 2020

      ADVENT is a time of waiting and we have become a congregation of experts. I nominate the people of Planet Earth for the Nobel Prize for Waiting. Even in a country smaller than Montana, we have modified our motto ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ to ‘Keep Wait

      4 min read

    • Article

      Book CLUB

      Oct 19, 2021

      Book CLUB
      1 min read

    • Article

      Aisle be DAMNED

      Aug 2, 2020

      Aisle be DAMNED
      2 min read

    • Article

      Character Study

      Jun 24, 2021

      Character Study
      3 min read

    • Article

      Hot Right Now!

      Jan 26, 2023

      £13.15, WHSMITH Winner of the Merky Books New Writers’ Prize, this incredibly moving novel is a deep dive into family, loss and what it means to be a person of colour in Britain today. After his grandfather dies, Nik has the opportunity to learn abou

      2 min read

    • Article

      This Is the Fruit I’ll Never Die For: Featured Poetry by Paisley Rekdal

      May 7, 2019

      By turns sensual and sweet, Rekdal’s narrator captures the many facets of hunger. The post This Is the Fruit I’ll Never Die For: Featured Poetry by Paisley Rekdal appeared first on The Millions.

      2 min read

    • Article

      A Holiday In Verse

      Oct 18, 2022

      He kept tons of lists and stockpiled gifts,Cleaned the house and hung the lights.Sent cheery cards to distant fam,Hoping that they’d booked their flights. He watched cheesy movies day and night,Queued up all the sappy songs.Researched festive recipes

      1 min read

    • Article

      Hattie’s Chowder

      Dec 27, 2022

      Hattie’s Chowder
      1 min read

    • Article

      The Five Senses

      Feb 12, 2024

      The terminal smelled like disinfectant and heavy perfume, a mixture that gave Charles a headache on the spot. He shifted his body to the right, so that he was facing the stream of disembarking travelers. The Spanish ones had better faces than the tou

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Cloisters

      Dec 28, 2022

      The Cloisters
      1 min read

    • Article

      Deal With It

      Nov 10, 2022

      Deal With It
      2 min read

    • Article

      Week In Showbiz

      May 25, 2021

      No rest for my deliciously wicked pal Alan Carr, who is back gigging in August. ‘It’s been two years,’ he tells me. ‘The jokes weren’t that fresh when I wrote them the first time round!’ I’ve no doubt it’ll be a roaring success. When it comes to gett

      1 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Feb 19, 2020

      As guests arrive on a remote island for a wedding, it’s soon clear that past grudges and hidden jealousies abound. The groom, a rising television star, and his bride, an ambitious magazine publisher, have planned the wedding of the year to perfection

      1 min read

    • Article

      Kirstie Stanway’s CARNIVAL OF LOVE

      Feb 26, 2023

      Standing at the altar, looking into the eyes of her very-soon-to-be husband as she reads her wedding vows, sports presenter Kirstie Stanway can’t quite believe the magnitude of the moment. Finally tying the knot with the partner she met eight years a

      5 min read

    • Article

      Best On The Box

      Jan 26, 2020

      Best On The Box
      1 min read

    • Article

      Great Reads

      May 31, 2023

      by Lucy Atkins (£16.99, HB, Quercus) In her heyday, Astrid was a successful actor with a film-star husband. Now, in her 80s, she lives a frugal life with her wire-haired dachshunds next door to a historic but decrepit windmill. Mrs Barker, who came t

      2 min read

    • Article

      This week in... February 13, 2023

      Feb 5, 2023

      With Valentine’s Day around the corner, this issue is all about love! Whether you’re a hopeless romantic or take the day in your stride, there is something for everyone. We kick things off with two royals who are popular for their down-to-earth attit

      1 min read

    • Article

      Editor’s Letter

      Mar 23, 2021

      Editor’s Letter
      2 min read

    • Article

      From The Editor

      Jan 17, 2021

      It's hard to imagine when Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, wasn't a part of palace life. This year marks two decades since our future queen met a young Prince William at Scotland's University of St Andrews and the rest, as they say, is history . From

      1 min read

    • Article

      Running Toward Home

      Dec 22, 2020

      Running Toward Home
      1 min read

    • Article

      Hot Right Now!

      Nov 4, 2021

      Jen Shaw has climbed all her life: daring ascents of sheer rock faces, crumbling buildings, cranes – the riskier the better. Her entire life revolved around free climbing, and the adrenaline high it gave her. Until one day her luck ran out and someon

      2 min read

    • Article

      Thursday, March 10

      Feb 24, 2022

      Thursday, March 10
      2 min read

    • Article

      Chris Erskine: More Than Just A Game To Cheer At This Tailgate

      Oct 1, 2019

      Keats had his ode to autumn, and I have this: a tailgate party on a pastoral piece of a public golf course, not far from a radiant old stadium. We must have 15 cases of White Claw. Have you heard about this swill? If not, just ask your 27-year-old ki

      3 min read

    • Article

      Out Of Tragedy, Love

      Mar 10, 2022

      Out Of Tragedy, Love
      4 min read

    • Article

      Book CLUB

      Apr 25, 2023

      Book CLUB
      2 min read

    • Article

      Book CLUB

      Mar 12, 2024

      Book CLUB
      2 min read

    Reviews for Joy for Beginners

    4/5

    217 ratings51 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Enjoyable book about friendship and change
    • 3/5
      She writes really well, when it comes to female experiences. Each story is more of a short story within a very thin framework of a circle of friends. 5 stars for writing about motherhood, marriage,longing, and loss of self in a very realistic way (all white though). 1 star for the framework.
      The School of Essential Ingredients is much better.
    • 1/5
      I listened to this book during my commute to and from work. It was like listening to a Lifetime movie.
    • 4/5
      Beautiful, evocative, poignant read!
    • 3/5
      I really liked the idea of this book. It was a quick read, but very light and fluffy. No characters really fleshed out; just felt like a very cliched piece written for a creative writing class. But for a sitcom of a book, it was uplifting and pleasant.
    • 5/5
      Finished reading this last night, I fell in love with the story and characters. Kate survived her bout with cancer, and to celebrate she meets up with 6 of her close friends. It was during then that Kate's friends dares her to go white water rafting, something she's terrified to do. Kate accepts the challenge but only if each of her friends agrees to do a challenge of their own that Kate assigns. As each woman takes on their dare, they discover something about themselves and the special friendship that they all share. The book is divided among the 7 characters, their stories told from their own pov. Beautifully written, I saw myself in each of these women, the story resonates with me long after I read the last chapter. Joy for Beginners is definitely one of my favorite novels this year.
    • 5/5
      A second chance. A woman who survives cancer and challenges her odd group of friends to do something they never would have tried. Some things seem simpler then they are. Well written and I enjoyed reading this book. I was also drawn to this book because of the cover.
    • 5/5
      This book has been called predictable chick-lit by some reviewers, but I didn't see it that way. I took my time reading it and savoring the lush descriptions that kept me turning the pages. The book features a female "live like you were dying" plot, starting when Kate's breast cancer goes into remission. She decides to challenge herself to really live life, instead of just being a spectator on the sidelines watching others enjoy themselves.

      One day soon after returning home from the hospital, Kate makes a deal to go whitewater rafting if everyone in her inner circle of friends will challenge themselves to do something they have put off doing, or are fearful of. The caveat, Kate gets to choose what they should partake in. The story continues with a chapter devoted to each friend, told in the third person view, and features such tasks as cleaning out an ex's large collection of books, learning to bake bread, overcoming a fear of cancer by participating in charity walk, etc. On their own perhaps a story revolving around one friend's story would not make a good tale, but telling the story of a chain of friends, and how the women are all connected, made for great reading. I do enjoy sometimes reading chick-lit, but I think this is something different. Whatever you call it, I think there is an audience out there for this inspirational clean fiction, and it comes recommended from me.
    • 3/5
      Fabulous! This was the perfect book to pick me up after reading so many sad books lately...
    • 3/5
      3.5. Not unbelievable, not bad. Not much to say.
    • 4/5
      Terrific book. I bought this one because I had read Bauermeister's The School of Essential Ingredients and had enjoyed it. What Bauermister excels at is relationships. For me that is what this book is about whether it's the relationships between a husband and wife (good and bad), sisters, mother's and daughters or those that are in the midst of dealing with a possibly terminal illness there was one relationship you could connect with. The story is about Kate, a cancer survivor and her friends who are meeting for what Kate calls a get-together but what her friends call a victory dinner. They didn't want to have her going to a lot of work to hostess and used their role in Kate's victory to allow them to share the work of a dinner as they shared in her healing. During the dinner one of her friends see a pamphlet about white-water rafting and asks Kate about it. When they find out its something her daughter wants her to do they all challenge her to do it. She agrees but only if she can choose a challenge for each of them. As I started reading this book I wondered how the heck the author came up with the title, Joy for Beginners as none of the women seemed joyful, - drained, relived, a little aloof but not joyful. But as the author leads us through the women's stories I understood that somewhere along the line duty or some event or just life got in the way of that joie de vivre, the basic joy in living and that by completing the challenge Kate sets for them she helps them to see or find that joy in life. Kate's challenge is something her daughter asks of her - to go white-water rafting down the Grand Canyon and Kate is left wondering why when she has just come away from a near-death experience she would want to voluntarily risk her life? The joy she finds during the experience, that all the women find, is still with me as I write this review. This book didn't make me want to create a bucket list as some reviewers discussed (although I could understand where they came from) - what it did make me want to do is to find my joy and pull it into my daily life and my career.
    • 5/5
      For many this would be classified as chick-lit because it involves a story focused primarily on the friendship between a group of women that make a promise to one of the other characters to meet certain tasks that she places before them, due to deciding to go white water rafting after she beats cancer. For me this wasn't chick-lit, but human-lit. It weaved stories of hopes, dreams, loves, and loss all within its mere 260-some pages.

      Bauermeister alternates the chapters by being the complete story of one of the women in the group of friends. We are told somewhere within the chapter their task that was presented to them and we discover throughout why this task was such a burden to accomplish for them to that particular date and why Kate, the cancer survivor, has chosen it for them. In some cases it seems rather mundane the tasks given, but when you understand that in life the simple things are sometimes the hardest for us to accomplish it rings so much truer than if they were being told to do bigger tasks. Sometimes with the stories bigger tasks are revealed to the character and it changes their lives. That is why I call this human-lit because it is about how we must take these small moments/small steps sometimes to see what our full potential is. If you never take that first step you never know what you are capable of and sometimes you will falter, but most of the time it results in learning that would never have occurred otherwise.

      Bauermeister isn't the next Hemingway by any means, but who needs every single story they read to be a classic, sometimes a lighter story is more desirable. Sometimes a simpler read can touch you in more ways than a classic can ever do. "Joy for Beginners" is that, a simpler read, that will teach you a lesson about life, if you allow it to and do not get caught up on other things, like macho pride for you male readers out there. So nothing technically blows up in this story and there is little to no violence within its pages, but this book is about humanity and the lives that are touched by one singular event. How friendships grow organically and how people can do big things if they just try. Oh we may not be the best all the time, but we humans can do such beautiful and wonderful things! This book reminded me of that!
    • 4/5
      This is the second book I have read by Bauermeister, and I must say that she is one of my favorites. Her writing absolutely transports me. One of the few authors who is able to make me feel a part of the story and not simply reading a story.

      With that said, I really enjoyed the characters in this book. I loved the premise of the story: a cancer survivor handing out individual tasks to complete within a year to those friends who supported her through her illness. She has an uncanny knack for assigning extremely personal, poignant and life changing tasks to each woman.

      I loved that each chapter was devoted to an individual woman. There was no one main character. Each chapter gave insight, background and reasoning into the woman. When a chapter was complete, you knew this person. However, each character popped in and out of all of the chapters, serving to make each character full and well-rounded. With the end of each chapter, I was sad to see that person go, and sure that I would not relate as fully with the next one; only to be proven wrong. By the end of the book, I loved all of these women, and their husbands, kids, boyfriends and mothers.

      What keeps me from giving this one 5 looks? I'm not sure. It wasn't awe-inspiring, ground-breaking, life-changing or envelope-pushing. It is just great storytelling, and writing that really speaks to me. Maybe it IS a five. :)
    • 4/5
      Having survived a life-threatening illness, Kate celebrates by gathering with six close friends. At an intimate outdoor dinner on a warm September evening, the women challenge Kate to start her new lease on life by going white-water rafting down the Grand Canyon with her daughter. But Kate is reluctant to take the risk. That is, until her friend Marion proposes a pact: If Kate will face the rapids, each woman will do one thing in the next year that scares her. Kate agrees, with one provision - she didn't get to choose her challenge, so she gets to choose theirs. Whether it's learning to let go of the past or getting a tattoo, each woman's story interweaves with the others, forming a seamless portrait of the power of female friendships.
    • 3/5
      She writes really well, when it comes to female experiences. Each story is more of a short story within a very thin framework of a circle of friends. 5 stars for writing about motherhood, marriage,longing, and loss of self in a very realistic way (all white though). 1 star for the framework.
      The School of Essential Ingredients is much better.
    • 4/5
      I'll serve up the same disclaimer for Joy for Beginners as I did in my review of Erica Bauermeister's previous novel, The School of Essential Ingredients: you know the advice that you shouldn't go grocery shopping on an empty stomach? Well, similarly, neither should you read an Erica Bauermeister book if you're hungry.

      There's just something about the way Bauermeister writes about food that is so decadent and food pron-ish. Here's a taste:

      "It was almost midnight. The tables were cluttered with napkins and used silverware, tablecloths rumpled like bedsheets. The diners reclined in their chairs, hands drifting leisurely back and forth between espresso cups and the last sips of port. Tips of fingers caressed the surface of white plates, snaring the last flakes of chocolate left from cinnamon-dusted truffles. Smells lingered in the air, sliding across bare shoulders, nestling into curls of hair - risotto and chanterelle mushrooms, sweet and rich and buttery, the bite of Parmesan, the rosemary and white wine and garlic of a slow-cooked pork roast. And bread, of course, the long loaves having been passed from hand to hand, chunks pulled off, dipped in small white dishes of green olive oil with dark, molten drops of balsamic vinegar floating in its midst. Wine bottles had long ago lost their ownership, traveling up and down the tables like porters on a train. Artists had met book dealers had met plumbers had met research scientists, people getting up between courses and changing places. Over in the corner, a couple was forming, their heads bending slowly toward each other like candles melting." (pg. 71-72)

      Joy for Beginners opens on the eve of a joyous occasion indeed. Kate has gathered several of her closest friends together for a dinner party to celebrate her recovery from cancer. With the way Bauermeister writes, you almost want to pull up a chair and join these ladies for a glass of wine.

      "The plates were almost empty, the light gone early from the September sky. The edges of Kate's patio were lost in the foliage beyond, its contours lit by the back porch light and the candles on the wrought iron table, around which the women sat, talking with the ease of those who have settled into one another's lives. Out on the road the occasional car drove by, the sound muffled by the laurel hedge that held the garden with its green walls. Everything felt softened, the garden more smells than sights, emitting the last scents of summer into the air." (pg. 5)

      As the dinner party winds down, the conversation turns to the white-water rafting trip down the Grand Canyon that Kate's daughter has planned in celebration, and which terrifies Kate. She strikes a bargain with her friends: if she goes on this trip, each one of them must also, in the next year, do something that is equally new or difficult or scary for them - and since Kate didn't have any say in the white-water rafting trip, she gets to choose their challenges.

      In the spirit of friendship, each woman accepts Kate's challenge, which turns out to be something that is perfect for each of them and something that each woman needs. As the novel unfolds, we learn their personal stories and how the friends are connected to each other and to Kate. They're all in different life stages and circumstances, but their stories are familiar enough to be universal. There's Caroline, who is going through a divorce and needs to finally shed her ex-husband's books; Daria, who needs to come to peace with her childhood and learn how to bake bread; Sara, who needs to rediscover her identity and travel alone; Hadley, who needs to open her protective world more; Marion, who needs to become more adventureous, and Ava, who needs to embrace the spirit of survivorship.

      In all of their tasks, there is the sense that there has been something holding each woman back, preventing her from living more deeply. From the very first lines of the novel:

      "But life is persistent, slipping into your consciousness sideways, catching you with a fleeting moment of color, the unexpected and comforting smell of a neighbor's dinner cooking as you walk on a winter evening, the feeling of warm water running between your fingers as you wash the dishes at night. There is nothing so seductive as reality." (pg 1)

      This is a novel that I really enjoyed (and that I can definitely see being made into a movie). It is about the power and spirit of women's friendship, about taking risks and discovering who you are, about the moments of realization and the a-ha moments of enlightment, whether that comes from the every day moments or the big life events.

      "There were moments in life, Marion thought, when you reached back, baton in hand, feeling the runner behind you. Felt the clasp of their fingers resonating through the wood, the release of your hand, which then flew forward, empty, into the space ahead of you." (pg. 189)

      I chose this book deliberately as my first novel of 2012 after seeing it in the library and knowing how much I enjoyed Erica Bauermeister's The School of Essential Ingredients, and after seeing it on several bloggers' Best of 2011 lists. It's too early to tell if it will make it onto my year-end best of list, but although this had some similar thematic and formulaic elements as Bauermeister's previous book, it was a perfect read for the beginning of the year.

      Joy for Beginners spans an entire year and even though it begins in September, it gets the reader thinking about what changes and challenges you can accept in your own life to become a better person 12 months from now. What do you need to become happier, to grow as a person, to become more fulfilled?

      I tried to answer that question, to mentally place myself as among the guests at Kate's dinner party and have her issue the same challenge to me. Melissa, your challenge is to _______ . I think the answer is to finish the damn novel. I've been talking about that for several years now and it just hasn't happened. I've revised the same pages, over and over, but just haven't moved forward. I think I know why and what's been holding me back psychologically. Maybe this is the year to let that all go ... out into the world.

      So. If someone challenged you to do something new or different or scary this year, what would your challenge be?
    • 4/5
      Kate has finally finished with chemo and recovery from her double mastectomy. She has beat Cancer and decides to have a victory dinner with her 6 friends that stood by her through her ordeal. But the celebration turns into something more. Her daughter has been trying to convince Kate to go on a white water rafting trip through the Grand Canyon but Kate is afraid to take the risk. Her friends convince her to make a bargain - she takes the rafting trip but they each have to do something that is outside their comfort zone and Kate gets to choose for each of her friends. The book chronicles each of the ladies' challenge and their emotions at facing their own fears. It was interesting because the challenges were so individual and unusual and yet match the background of each character perfectly.
    • 5/5
      I really love Erica Bauermeister's writing. It's so sensual and you feel like you can see, taste, smell what she's describing. I also really liked all the women and the strength they found in themselves.
    • 4/5
      Joy for Beginners" by Erica Baumeister made me squeal!How often do you find yourself in a book? As I was reading one of the chapters, I kept thinking this person is so much like me and in some case identical to me! I found myself glued to the chapter that I am in!Kate is having a celebration party for surviving cancer in a Seattle backyard. Her daughter tells her that she needs to go rafting down the Grand Canyon. That gives her the idea of giving each of her friends and neighbors who stuck with her so many years an assignment too. Daria and Maria are sisters, Sarah and Hadley are neighbors, and Caroline and Kate have been friends for a very long time. One person who was invited did not come but she still gets an assignment too. All the assignments given by Kate were what she knew that particular person was afraid of doing. Each woman is featured in her own chapter showing her personality, history,and reluctance to take her assignment.This book could be a great beach read. But for me it was a squealing read. Not telling you which chapter was like me! Who knows, maybe you will find yourself in this book. By the way, I had already done my assignment before I read this book!I recommend this to all women, aged forty and above.Enjoy!
    • 5/5
      Have you ever lost someone and you just know their unique smell void of any perfume? Author, Erica Bauemeister touches on a very intimate knowledge I share with one character in Joy for Beginners. I was amazed to read the words!Surviving cancer taught Kate that life should be embraced, chances should be taken & there is joy to be found when a challenge is won. To celebrate her recovery, Kate gives herself & 6 friends different challenges. Each woman, through their challenge learns to overcome fears, embrace love & enoy life to its fullest. This is a book of friendships. Life is breathing in!! I don't always do well with the standard chick lit but this was far more reaching into the minds healing. Will read author's other book "School of Essential Ingredients" based on her writing style.
    • 3/5
      This was a lovely little novel, each story linked by friendship, compassion, and hope. Kate, a breast cancer survivor, challenges her closest friends to do something that scares them. With each challenge, we learn more about the women, about the past that shapes them. The two stories that touched me most were Caroline and Hadley. While the other stories focused on redemption of sorts, I felt that these two focused on acceptance. This is the kind of novel that is passed along from friend to friend, mother to daughter. It highlights the bonds that women form, the way we band together to help one in need. It reminds us to challenge each other, to seek our happiness, to remember that we are more than just a disease, a fear, or an unhappiness. We let those things make our worlds small when we have the power to reach beyond and find our joy. Sometimes it helps to have someone point us in the right direction. I highly recommend this Joy for Beginners. Especially if you need a little hope or a little help rediscovering your joy.
    • 3/5
      Joy for Beginners is an easy, entertaining read. Set in Seattle, the novel It tracks six women at different stages of their life as they undertake challenges as seemingly mundane as learning to bake bread or getting rid of your ex's books to whitewater rafting. The challenges are selected by Kate, who has survived breast cancer, for the friends who have helped her through her ordeal. While not overly profound or life changing, the book is life affirming. There are some wonderful passages with astute observations about the awkward shift into middle age: "The cold reality of it struck her, as if, perched on the crest of a roller coaster, the rest of the ride was suddenly, irreversibly clear. On the way up, the vista had been infinite, the time to look about sometimes agonizingly long; now there was only the certain and dispassionate knowledge that there was one set of rails to travel upon, the ending immutable and about to begin. It didn't matter that the end of the journey might take twenty, even thirty years to complete, the angle of the ride had changed." Yep, the whole seize-the-day, mortality theme gets a nice treatment in these pages. An elegant little series of upbeat stories about women bearing up, succeeding, enjoying and living life fully and freely, the book is worth your time.
    • 4/5
      Joy for Beginners by Erica Bauermeister is the perfect read for any middle-aged women who needs to gather up her courage and "just do it!! This women's fiction title tells the story of 6 friends who gather to celebrate their friend, Kate, and her recovery from cancer. Kate announces that to celebrate her new lease on life she is going to do the one thing that has always terrified her-- white water rafting. Kate challenges her friends to get out of their comfort zones and Kate is going to choose their adventures. For anyone women who've questioned the should've, would've and could've in their life-- Joy for Beginners is the perfect inspirational read.
    • 3/5
      A good, easy read that makes you thhink. 6 women gather to celebrate their friend, Kate's, victory over cancer. While at the party, each is given a life-affirming task to complete. The book tells each woman's story in a separate chapter, almost like 7 short stories that all come together to form a friendship.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book. I love Bauermeister's use of language; the way she makes words come alive into images. This book tells the interconnected stories of a group of women. Kate, having just survived a battle with cancer, is encouraged to go rafting in the Grand Canyon even though she's terrified. In order to encourage her each person in her circle of friends decides to do something that scares them: the only catch is that Kate gets to choose their task. Each section of the book follows a different woman completely her task. Their lives overlap and intersect. Beautifully done.
    • 4/5
      Bauermeister continues to write good women's fiction. As in her first book, she uses different narrators for each chapter and unifies their tales with a theme, in this case each is a friend of Kate, a cancer survivor, and is asked by her to do something which will challenge them. There is quite a range of women in this group, both in age, background and relationship to Kate. Each character seems genuine and I would consider myself very lucky to have a web of support like Kate had.
    • 4/5
      I was delighted to receive Joy for beginners through the Early Reviewer Program as I enjoyed Erica's The school of essential ingredients so much. I was not disappointed. Joy for beginners displays the same warmth, wit, and insights into women.The story begins as 6 women get together to celebrate the recovery from cancer of one of the group. She challenges them each to do something they swore they would never do, and she is going to choose each one's challenge. Each challenge is distinct to that particular person, but in completing their challenges they illustrate how women bond with one another to enrich their lives and that true friendship is a thing to be treasured.
    • 4/5
      So often the way one responds to a book depends on mood. Under a lot of stress? An 800 page book on Theodore Roosevelt may not be the best choice -- too long, too wordy, too much detail, takes too much concentration to understand. Under a lot of stress? An 800 page book on Theodore Roosevelt may be the best choice -- nice and long, excellent writing, so much detail it takes one away from their current circumstance. "Joy For Beginners" was the right book for my mood -- I needed something somewhat easy to read (not too long) but with depth to it (not all fluff). Since the novel contains characters of a variety of ages there is a high probability that a reader will find some common ground with at least one of them. Add in all their stories, challenges and relationships and I found I didn't put it down until I finished. I teared up in a couple of places, felt myself nodding in others and already know to whom I shall recommend this title.
    • 3/5
      As I was reading Joy for Beginners, the word gentle kept popping into my head. Seven separate stories, intertwined by the friendship of the women discussed, Joy for Beginners reads like a gentle current, allowing glimpses of complex characters. The stories are enough for us to care about these women, but only offer us a brief segment of much more complex issues. Key details are left out, for the reader to only surmise. Oftentimes, the stories are not resolved or give teasers of things to come.As a reader, I enjoyed such touches. It left things up to my imagination. For those who like firm endings, this may not be the best read. Still, I felt the stories were well developed, the characters enjoyable and interesting studies. Joy for Beginners may not win a Pulitzer but it is an excellent read over a nice cup of tea.
    • 3/5
      Chick lit, but better than the average. Beach book, but better. I would have given it 3 stars but I thought some of the stories were uneven and a little heavy on the descriptions at times with a few passages finding me rolling my eyes. But I liked it, really I did! This could be inspirational for some people at certain time in their life.