Cami Walker

I really, REALLY, wanted to like this book. The author has a degenerative, life-changing disease and suffered through depression as a result. No doubt she has heavy burdens to bear. She meets a healer whose "prescription" is to "give" to others as a way to heal herself -- one gift each day for 29 days. This all sounds good, right? My problem with the book are the "gifts" the author chooses to give. One day she gives someone a Kleenex, another day the "gift" is allowing her aunt to clean her show more house, and so on. Considering these were the gifts, I think the author missed the point.. show less

I like to listen to audiobooks while I do beadwork. My library doesn't always have stuff I know I want to read, so I find myself listening to books that sound at least marginally interesting- and which sometimes are.

This one, though, was so not my thing. I liked the concept & the blurb, but I didn't like the tone, I didn't like the execution, and I surely didn't find the writing engaging. I was put off by too many things to count. The tone seemed to me to see-saw between deeply self-pitying show more and gaggingly self-congratulatory with no stops in the center. The sad and self-pitying parts rang on my ear as whiny, while the shining-light-of-the-world parts just made me weary.

Not for me, not even a little bit. show less

In 29 Gifts Cami Walker tells of how her life was turned upside down when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis one month after her wedding. Quickly losing control over her body and facing a drastically different life than she had planned she sank into a deep depression and prescription drug addiction. When her neighbor, a South African healer prescribed a regime of 29 days of gift giving to heal her, Cami thought the idea was crazy. Desperate to gain control of her life she finally show more agreed and 29 Gifts is the story of what happened.

This is truly a beautiful, thoughtful book written by someone who believes in what she has experienced and wants to share it. Much of what happens to Cami makes perfect sense, she was wholly focused on her own pain and misery and simply shifting her focus to those around her helped a lot. She begins leaving the house more to visit friends in need and this helps her begin pushing through her pain, getting more exercise and seeing that she isn't as limited as she thought. Still the improvements in her life over just 29 days are impressive and her subsequent devotion to spreading the 29 days of giving is heartfelt and touching.

I listened to the audio version of this book and it is fabulously well read by Tavia Gilbert. The wide range of convincing accents she uses from posh British to low brow Cockney really brings the characters alive and makes you feel like you've met them.

This is a sweet little book that will warm your heart and possibly even change your life. show less

Struggling to deal with pain, physical and emotional, of her MS diagnosis, Cami Walker decides to take to advice of her friend Mbali to give 29 gifts in 29 days.at first she can't imagine how this will help but as the experiment progresses she discovers that instead of focusing on all the negativity, pain, and what is lacking in her life she, is now able to see all that is good and her life improves, in ways she never expected.

The book is broken down in a simple day to day fashion which made show more it very easy to follow along. Cami's story is an inspirational one from the standpoint of how she learned to live with her disease, but I can't say it inspired me much to join her giving movement. I listened to the audio version and thought it was well done, though some of her accents sounded a bit ridiculous. If you're interested in the self help genre, this isn't a bad example though I think there are better ones out there. show less