Crenshaw's Books & Decks

This is a 28-page e-zine, with a collection of short stories or images that can also be found in Yumi Sakigawa's website on Tumblr. Some of the stories are drawn in colour and others in B&W, and they are mostly motivational and New Age, with some "how-to" regarding anxiety, negative people, consciousness and so on. 

The drawing style is naive and young, intuitive more than artistic, but very charming. There is a mix of text and doodling as well, like the book's cover for example. 

All of the stories have a pearl of wisdom in them, and I think they would make a nice block desk calendar if more were added. 

Perhaps because a person I know has been dumping their negativity on me lately, the advice on how to deal with negative people in the e-zine seemed especially relevant. I also liked the whimsical advice on how to get out of a  dry creative spell.

The Rendering for Kindle is outdated. As this work has just 28 pages, it is not really an issue, but not the latest rendering for graphic books I get from other graphic books.

If you are a woman (sorry Barbie it is not you) you have told yourself one of these lies at a certain point in your life and, by doing so, you've self-sabotaged yourself successfully. Congratulations, you feel miserable. No prize for you, you just pay the price.

Written by a female coach,  Big Lies... offers a concise evaluation of fifty-nine self-lies, limiting beliefs and distorted views of your female self and your self in general. They deal with your worth, your body, self-care, success, money, love, relationships, authenticity, and your spirit. The message is, see them as lies, because they are, and do not use them to justify your situation, your misery or your empty life.

Examples of big fat lies are: I am old, I cannot do X, I have to please everybody to be liked, money is bad, it is OK living beyond your means, you have to fake who you are to get a man, love is sacrificing yourself, better be polite than authentic, grieving openly and strongly is wrong, and so on. 

Many of these beliefs could be applied to men, as well, but others are specifically female. Also, some of these big fat lies are obvious, but others are not, and are the ones that I like the most, because they are not socially popular or accepted and will help you to separate hay from grain. Having said this, even the obvious ones are important to be highlighted because the truth is that a ridiculous amount of women are spending tons of money to "improve" themselves and "gain confidence" by increasing the size of their boobs, cutting and modifying pieces of their body flesh, and faking what they are not, instead of focussing on inner, ethical or intellectual growth. 

I found some of the "lies" on spirituality redundant. Being not religious or not spiritual is perfectly OK, as long as you have ethics. The power and value of behaving ethically is overseen too often despite being more universal than any religion out there, and applying to any religion out there. I am a bit sick of religious spiritual people who say and preach that they have strong morals or look for people with strong morals and then disrespect me or treat me in ways I consider totally unethical. Spirituality is fine if you need it. It is fine to believe or practice any religion, but being agnostic or atheist with a good set of ethics is something to be proud of, not a macule on your soul, mind you.     

The book is easy to read, and a quick read as well, as every single big fat lie has a mini chapter devoted to it, so you can read them easily while commuting. 

This is a sound book, but this is not the book of a psychologist. See it for what it is.

An entertaining good-hearted read overall. 

I rarely buy or own non-digital books any more. This book was recommended to me in a way that I felt I had to have it in my hands to physically squeeze it. I couldn't resist the cover, that was a decisive yes-buy-it moment - most of my "judge the book by its cover" moments actually work for me.

I am glad that I did because no digital edition would make merit to a book that is sensorial and sensually enjoyable. The texture of the paper, especially of those pages painted in colours, the brightness of the colours and the smell of the pages are invigorating, inspirational and even evanescent. The font is a handwriting sort of font, not the usual printing ones, and the book is full of little funny drawings and sketches made by the author - like a children book for adult women.

The book is structured in different areas of interest, as a personal diary that Sark shares with the reader. All the themes and subjects are very much ingrained into the female psyche and femininity for different reasons (genetic, cultural, social, religious, whatever). Some of the subjects are universal worries, fears or thoughts that most woman have, will have or have had. Despite the lightness and humour of the writing, there is a lot of wisdom, compassion, daring, aha! moments, and, in my case, many moments of mirrored recognition in this book. Each chapter finishes with a list of recommended readings, and soundtracks that go well with the theme. The book has quotes scattered through it, but the ones I would quote come from Sark herself.

Despite being published first in 1977 (I've got the 1997 edition) the book is still so fresh that one cannot but splash oneself with its words and feel it smells of mangoes.

I recommend this book to any woman with W. out there, or any girl who wants to become a woman with W. Men are welcome as a "gifters" to their beloved women with a W.

I just love this book. I have always felt succulent, wild and womanly, but I thought that being too imperfect, too perfect, too matter of fact, too green, too ripe, too much of "me" was far from acceptable. It turns out that the succulence is in the "me", whohoo!, but also in the "we" of us the "xx" chromosomal human beings.

Just a wish - The bibliography at the end of each chapter could be easily updated, and the music tracks too.