August book of the month: THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS. Come and chat to author Elizabeth Gilbert on Thursday 18 September, 9-10pm

[RachelMumsnet]

Oprah magazine called our August choice ‘the book of a lifetime’, and there is no doubt that The Signature of All Things is a big book.

It is epic in scope – an adventure through the nineteenth century that takes in botany, female emancipation, genius, Darwinism, war and empire – with a delight in the boundless beauty of the natural world.

Elizabeth Gilbert is an award-winning writer of both fiction and non-fiction, and the author of the phenomenal bestseller Eat Pray Love, which was published in over thirty languages and sold more than ten million copies worldwide. Elizabeth will be joining us for a webchat to chat about this book and her other fiction and non-fiction in early September - date TBC.

We have 50 copies of The Signature of all Things to giveaway. Apply here for a a free copy. If you're one of the lucky 50 we will inform you next Tuesday (22nd July). If you don't access a free copy, order it up online to read over the summer to join us for bookclub in September.

I agree with that about Oprah's previous recommends. This book was fantastic!

I was going to ask if you saw yourself in any of the characters. I find memoirs difficult to read sometimes, but you seem such a lovely person I should pick up EPL again. I think talking to you about your thinking when writing really helps give a better sense of what you're about. Thank you for coming to talk to us!

@museumworker

talking of me time, how do you protect your writing time? do you have to manage a lot of distractions?

You have to be a fierce bodyguard of your own time, space, and creativity. I've learned this because it becomes terribly evident over the years that nobody will guard your time for you. I've had to work on learning to say NO to so many things, in order to have this time to write in peace. I'm still not great at it, but I'm getting better. The trick is that you not only have to learn how to say NO to things you don't want to do, but you must also learn how to say NO to things that you really DO want to do...because there simply is never going to be enough time in the day for everything. So you must learn at times to turn down alluring invitations, happy distractions, fun parties, good movies, terrific TV shows...all so that you can stay inside with the door locked behind you and work. I gave up the idea long ago that I can have it all. Instead, I just try to have that which is most important to me — my marriage, my work, my very closest friends, and Breaking Bad. :)

@MrsRedWhite214

I was going to ask if you saw yourself in any of the characters. I find memoirs difficult to read sometimes, but you seem such a lovely person I should pick up EPL again. I think talking to you about your thinking when writing really helps give a better sense of what you're about. Thank you for coming to talk to us!

I see myself in all of them. Sometimes I think I am mostly Alma, but other times I think I am entirely Henry (the ambition! the ambition!)...but there are days when I am purely Beatrix (the firmness and discipline) and other days when I am crazier than Retta and dreamier than Ambrose. The only character I don't identify with so much is Prudence, because her goodness is so out of reach to me. I wish I were so virtuous, but I afraid I'm not such a saint!

I would love for people to describe me as Prudence but I'm definitely an Alma!

I am cheering inside at your answer to AliJaneT about women in mid-40s. I wholeheartedly believe that the most creative part of a life can happen in the mid-life stretch. Both my mother (a garden writer) and my mother in law (a campaigner) saw their careers and their impact on the world take off when they were in their mid 50s. And they're still fully engaged with it in their 70s.

In your book about creativity, do you look at the age issue and whether there is a different sort of creative power that comes from a more experienced outlook?

I wanted to ask if you find it hard to leave the characters behind when you finish writing a book, or do you have a feeling of relief to get to the end? When I finish reading a book I really love I often feel almost a sense of mourning. And reading this webchat makes me want to go back and read SOAT all over again!

@Sarah3kids

Whilst researching this book, do you think of other books/projects for the future or do you just totally immerse yourself in the story?

How did you feel once you have completed a book? I was really pleased with the ending, it was both happy & sad - (thought provoking) however, at the end of a good book I feel a bit mean putting them down and moving on.

Hi darling! New ideas are always coming, but I get very stern with them, when they distract me as I'm already at work on a project. I have to say to the new ideas, "Get in line, take a number, be patient...mommy's working." Otherwise I would just bounce from project to project and never finish a thing! I love finishing things. I think there is a great deal of grace in the moment when you say, "And now this is done." I'm not one to cling to a project, putting endless final touches on it...I think oftentimes people do that out of fear, out of a reluctance to put their "baby" into the world. But I have never felt that my work was my baby; I have always felt like I was ITS baby — like it was teaching me, forming me, bringing me into being. And when I have gotten what I needed to get out of project, it is finally time to release it into the world, and to let people have their own feelings about it. Thanks, Sarah!

@TillyBookClub

I am cheering inside at your answer to AliJaneT about women in mid-40s. I wholeheartedly believe that the most creative part of a life can happen in the mid-life stretch. Both my mother (a garden writer) and my mother in law (a campaigner) saw their careers and their impact on the world take off when they were in their mid 50s. And they're still fully engaged with it in their 70s.

In your book about creativity, do you look at the age issue and whether there is a different sort of creative power that comes from a more experienced outlook?

Thank you, Tilly! I am really interested in how we get better at managing every single aspect of life as we get older. My feeling is that — unless you're REALLY not paying attention — life should all start to make more sense as you age. And that definitely goes for creativity, as well. I suffered so much more in my 20s as an aspiring writer than I do now, in middle age. There is a level of trust that I have in myself and in the process, and I also don't buy into my own drama anymore. (That's another reason I love older women — so much less drama!) I don't fall into fits of panic and despair, because I've been through enough to know that it will pass, that I will puzzle it out somehow, that it will all be OK, and that it isn't all about me. It's a great relief to have this knowledge in hand...

Super webchat Liz. Thank you for your time, honesty and warmth - just lovely.

I wish you lots of days looking at the Daisy's instead of the cucumbers ;-)

xxx

@frogletsmum

I wanted to ask if you find it hard to leave the characters behind when you finish writing a book, or do you have a feeling of relief to get to the end? When I finish reading a book I really love I often feel almost a sense of mourning. And reading this webchat makes me want to go back and read SOAT all over again!

I wept big sloppy tears the entire day that I wrote the ending of SIGNATURE. It was so hard to leave Alma behind. We had spent nearly four years together! I knew her and loved her so deeply. She had been my Everywhere Companion, and she had taken me all over the world (literarily and figuratively) in the writing. But if I had not released her, she could never have become what she ultimately needed to become: A character in a novel, who could enter into other people's minds and hearts, and become part of their lives. So it was time to let her go at last, so she could become fully realized. And so that I could move on to the next passion. Thank you!

@Michybella

Super webchat Liz. Thank you for your time, honesty and warmth - just lovely.

I wish you lots of days looking at the Daisy's instead of the cucumbers ;-)

xxx

Daisies forever!!! :)

@MrsRedWhite214

I would love for people to describe me as Prudence but I'm definitely an Alma!

We all want to be Prudence....! But, yup, I think most of us are Alma!

Thank you Liz for a fantastic book, and good luck with your next projects!

Sadly the hour is up, and we will have to finsih it there.

Many thanks to everyone for making this such a fascinating and lively discussion.

Elizabeth, you've been an outstanding guest. So generous and funny and thoughtful. And I know you have an extraordinarily busy diary with a huge number of demands on your time (as discussed above!) so THANK YOU for making it here tonight, and being such a star.

Good luck with the new book, I can't wait to read it. And I do hope you'll join us again someday.

Many many thanks again.

Thank you Elizabeth, it's been lovely talking to you!

@TillyBookClub

Sadly the hour is up, and we will have to finsih it there.

Many thanks to everyone for making this such a fascinating and lively discussion.

Elizabeth, you've been an outstanding guest. So generous and funny and thoughtful. And I know you have an extraordinarily busy diary with a huge number of demands on your time (as discussed above!) so THANK YOU for making it here tonight, and being such a star.

Good luck with the new book, I can't wait to read it. And I do hope you'll join us again someday.

Many many thanks again.

My very great pleasure! Thank you to all of you for your warmth and candor, and for letting me join you this evening. I know you all have busy lives and millions of commitments and obligations, so this means a great deal to me. Without readers there can be no writers...I am deeply grateful! Onward, and all love — LG

Hello. I just finished this amaZing book.

Have only just caught up with a little of this - EG comes across as full of warmth and wisdom. I will have to look out for one or other of those titles which caught my eye ......

Excited to get this book and join this lovely book club! can never decide what book to pick up but now I have one. Can't wait to chat about it.

Phew!!! ... have finally read the books piled with the mail when I returned from my trip abroad. Many, many thanks to Mumsnet.com for the opportunity to read and appraise this book.

--> Review has been posted!!!

:)