Book Review - DREAM MORE by Dolly Parton

I picked up Dolly Parton's new book, Dream More: Celebrating the Dreamer in You the day it came out.  As soon as I got home with it, I got into my most soft, comfy clothes, slipped on some colorful, fuzzy socks and curled up in my bed with too many pillows to count and my three favorite stuffed animals.  Then I opened up the book to begin reading.  I didn't quit reading until I reached the back cover.  Yes, I stayed up and read it cover to cover.  It's not a terribly long book, but I just couldn't put it down.

Dolly has a bit of a unique philosophy on life, dreams, God and happiness.  In this book, she puts it all out there as her philosophy relates to dreams we have in life.  It's a great stocking stuffer and a truly inspirational read.  I highly recommend you pick it up.

The whole book is basically a deeper exploration into the hopes Dolly expressed in her 2009 commencement speech to the graduates of the University of Tennessee.  One thing I love from the speech is at the very beginning she says, "I usually try not to give advice. Information, yes.  Advice, no.  What has worked for me may not work for you."  I love this quote because I am exactly the same way.  I will give you all the information I can and I'm happy to share my experiences with anyone who'll listen.  But to give advice... no so much.

Here are a few of my other favorite quotes from the book and speech:

 "I would certainly rather wear out than rust out.  I hope that I drop dead right onstage one of these days, doing exactly what I want to do.  It might shake the audience up a little bit, but I hope everybody knows that's exactly what I want."

"Happiness is your commitment  appreciating all that is good in life, big and small."

"Learning is really all about experience, how you look at everything you do and draw lessons from what you have done.  If you learn from that and you don't make the same mistakes twice, then not only are you smart, you have what we call "horse sense."

"I make a point to appreciate all the little things in my life.  I go out and smell the air after a good, hard rain.  I reread passages from my favorite books.  I hold the little treasures that somebody special gave me.  These small actions help remind me that there are so many great, glorious pieces of good in the world."

"All my life I have walked a fine line.  I'm too bad to be good and too good to be bad.  I also walk a fine line between being gaudy and sexy.  My spirituality and my sensuality seem to be intertwined.  But I'm too cartoonish to ever be a threat to wives or girlfriends."  

Seriously y'all!  Pick it up.  It's a great "feel good" kind of book.