Rejuvenate! It’s Never Too Late by Eartha Kitt: book review

Rejuvenate (2002) is not just the memoir of American dancer, singer, and actor Eartha Kitt, it is also a guide to keeping healthy and active in your seventies.

Eartha Kitt (1927-2008) played Catwoman in the 1960s TV series of Batman. She wrote this book when she was 72-74 years old, and includes chapters such as: Breathe, Stretch, Bend, Rock-and-Roll, Release, Walk, Balance, and Eat. Each chapter presents one exercise, without high-impact routines, but in a gentle yet invigorating way.

As she provides guidance to others, she uses examples of her own methods for vitality and living healthily, from food to exercise. Instead of discussing her dates with famous celebrities, she writes of having lunch with Socrates and Plato books. She writes about regular simple exercises, without a gym or expensive equipment, and without a personal trainer.

In the final chapter, Kitt includes ‘mind and body’ tips, as well as other exercises not previously mentioned: bounce, jump, twist, and punch.

She writes about reading, ‘stretching’ life experience outside of her comfort zone, ‘bending’ her mind so that she was not rigid in her views, walking her dogs, curiousity, the benefits of habit, creativity, caring for the planet, peace and stamina, cordiality and community, simple food, and having a love of life.

It seems that Eartha Kitt didn’t take life too seriously, and knew when to be a rebel and provocative, how to get through life’s challenges, how to use humour, and when to release her frustrations through exercise, while remaining elegant and calm. This is an inspiring, motivational book for men and women, throughout the ages, written as a memoir-style-guide to get people moving with health and happiness, purpose and poise.

MARTINA NICOLLS

SUBSCRIBE TO MARTINA NICOLLS FOR NEWS AND UPDATES

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Comments

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass...

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing...

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog