Beautiful and you can relate to it. Read slowly and savor the words and meaning. You will think about this book long after you finish reading it.

Unfortunately this book did not download from NetGalley.

This is a beautiful book, not to be read cover to cover in one sitting, not to be rushed in any way, but to be savored, in small thoughtful doses, over the course of many weeks or months. Mark Nepo's writing is reflective, meditative, and reframes the world as you read. The writings are drawn from his journals, and this book includes a section of journal prompts to empower the reader to help you do your own reflecting and beautiful writing.

A nicely written series of quotes and wisdom about life. I found it enlightening and useful .

I received a digital copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Overall I did not enjoy this book very much. This book tries way, way too hard to be philosophical and introspective, and it shows. Unfortunately, almost every vignette is so short is comes off as extremely shallow, barely skimming the surface of the topic he was trying to dig into. Many times I had no idea what it was he was really trying to get across with a vignette, because it was short, shallow, and tried to hard to be philosophical. This book uses a lot of words without really saying much at all. He would have benefited greatly from a better editor that was willing to tell him which vignettes to dump and which to expand upon.

The author also changes voice, sometimes using first person (I, me) and sometimes using second person (you). This became very disorienting, especially considering we are never told who this mysterious "you" is he refers to. It's obviously sometime important in his life, but he provides no indication of who that is or why he only sometimes addresses this person.

There are a few good juicy nuggets scattered throughout the book. The best part was at the end, when he discussed how he uses journaling for personal development and discovery, and provided a long list of journaling prompts for the reader. This section seemed out of place in the context of the rest of the book, though. Aside from this section, the rest of this book is mostly just a waste of time.

Things That Join the Sea and the Sky contains beautiful prose vignettes about life's experiences that connect us all while giving lessons to remember and revisit. The book is wise and wonderful!

Major topics include: Stopping the Noise; Unravelling Our Fear; Beyond What Goes Wrong; The Gift of Deepening; The Practice of Relationship; What Holds Us Up; Navigating Trouble; Right-sizing Our Pain; Shedding Our Masks; The Reach of Kindness; The Radiance of All Things; Burn Off What's Unnecessary; Finding the Extraordinary in the Ordinary; Always Building & Amending; The Strength of Our Attention; Letting Everything In & Through; How We Make Our Way; Threading Inner & Outer; the Practice of Journaling.

I challenge anyone to read this book and not find something that they want to make note of. I bookmarked over 20 pages and plan to put this book on my "Keeper" shelf so I can revisit it time and again!

Many thanks to Netgalley, Mark Nepo & Sounds True Publishing for allowing me the privilege of reading an e-ARC of this wonderful book!

I consider Mark Nepo to be one of my very best teachers. I've never met him in person, nor attended one of his workshops, but my life has been affected, and deeply, by his words. This new book feels like a meeting with an old friend; I have been dipping into it for several minutes a day, allowing whatever pages I land on to feed me, nurture me, startle me, hold me. It is far too rich to be digested all in one sitting. Sometimes after I read a particular wisdom, I just sit with the book closed on my lap and allow it to sink into my emotional skin. Sometimes I unravel a new thought, a new way of looking at life, or death, or fear, in my journal. If I could give this book 10 or 20 or 100 stars, I would, but alas there are only 5 to choose from!

Mark Nepo's writing is the closest thing I find to having a heart-to-heart conversation with the soul of the universe. I know that sounds a little schmaltzy, but it's the only way I can describe how I feel when I read his books, and "The Things that join the Sea and Sky" is no different. It's beautiful food for thought. I think what I appreciate most about this particular book is that it reminded me what's truly important and helped me see through some of the cruddy fuzz that I sometimes let drag me down. This is a book that truly inspires and touches, and I know that I will be reading and re-reading it for years to come.

Highly recommended.