Tuesday, October 23, 2007

'A Lifetime of Secrets' by Frank Warren


ISBN: 0061238600
Format: Hardcover, 288pp
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Pub. Date: October 2007
Price: $27.95

In 2005 Frank Warren launched a blog as an experiment in community art, inviting strangers to mail him anonymous homemade postcards with their secrets written on them. The only rule is that it has to be a true secret that you have never before shared. Be creative he told the masses. The response he received was overwhelming.

Each Sunday PostSecret is updated with all new secrets and every Monday morning, before I’ve poured my coffee or checked my work e-mail, I check PostSecret. Why do I read PostSecret? There are a lot of reasons. Each week it's different and each week I find a little bit of me in someone else’s words. Some make me cry, making me glad that I've come into the office early enough that I can cry in peace. Some make me laugh. Then there are the ones that steal my breath, break my heart, and make me want to reach out to who ever was brave enough to commit those words to paper. It’s all about making a connection even if it's only for the briefest of moments through an anonymous postcard and a computer screen or book.

In a Lifetime of Secrets, Frank Warren’s fourth collection, he says “I've selected postcards that show how secrets can reveal a momentary impulse or haunt us for decades and arranged them by age to follow the common journey we all take through childhood, adolescence, adulthood, maturity. Stretched over a full lifespan, the secrets expose the meaningful ways we change over time, and the surprising ways we don't.”

Happy, sad, beautiful, ugly, ecstatic, ornate, simple and everything in between; this is another collection worth looking for a bit of yourself in. Where ever you are in your life right now, whatever your path there is someone else out there who knows what it’s like. It's nice to think that maybe you aren't really alone.I was reading secrets online a few weeks back and I saw one that really struck a cord with me. “We are all part of something bigger and we are all part of it together."

Do you have a secret? Share it. Let it go and know that somewhere out there someone will laugh, cry, or realize that their life isn't as lonely or as hard as they thought. Today is the day to let go.

PostSecret
13345 Copper Ridge Rd
Germantown, Maryland 20874

8 comments:

EP said...

Interesting post! I've heard about "A Lifetime of Secrets", and it sounds so unique. I'm definitly going to check this book out. Thanks for sharing!

T.C. Robson said...

I love that blog myself. Some of the secrets leave me slack-jawed, while others give me warm fuzzies. It's a very interesting and original concept.

Katie said...

Eduardo, thanks for stopping by. PostSecret is such a great idea and I think that this collection is one of the best. If you check it out let me know what you think of it. :)

7ine, me too :)

Pallav said...

its the funniest blog out there!! its my regular sunday does of laughs!!

Ha ha!!

N

dingobear said...

My deep, dark secret: some people look at me and think it would be great to be young, smart, and good-looking. Well, actually ... IT IS!

Regards from your obnoxious friend,
dingobear

minijonb said...

i gotta go check that book out. the blog is awesome, but i don't think i've ever bought one of the books. that might change soon...

Yoga Gal said...

I saw this book at a local bookstore in Larmont in Westr Hollywood and it's on my wish list!

Katie said...

Yoga Gal, this is one of the better collections he's put out. Well... at least I think so :)