ISBN #: 978-1401310165
Page Count: 288
Copyright: March 30, 2010
Publisher: Hachette Books; Reprint Edition
Book Summary:
(Taken from Goodreads)
There are many words to describe Michael J. Fox: Actor. Husband. Father. Activist. But readers of Always Looking Up will soon add another to the list: Optimist. Michael writes about the hard-won perspective that helped him see challenges as opportunities. Instead of building walls around himself, he developed a personal policy of engagement and discovery: an emotional, psychological, intellectual, and spiritual outlook that has served him throughout his struggle with Parkinson's disease. Michael's exit from a very demanding, very public arena offered him the time-and the inspiration-to open up new doors leading to unexpected places. One door even led him to the center of his own family, the greatest destination of all.
The last ten years, which is really the stuff of this book, began with such a loss: my retirement from Spin City. I found myself struggling with a strange new dynamic: the shifting of public and private personas. I had been Mike the actor, then Mike the actor with PD. Now was I just Mike with PD Parkinson's had consumed my career and, in a sense, had become my career. But where did all of this leave Me? I had to build a new life when I was already pretty happy with the old one. .
Always Looking Up is a memoir of this last decade, told through the critical themes of Michael's life: work, politics, faith, and family. The book is a journey of self-discovery and reinvention, and a testament to the consolations that protect him from the ravages of Parkinson's.
With the humor and wit that captivated fans of his first book, Lucky Man, Michael describes how he became a happier, more satisfied person by recognizing the gifts of everyday life.
Kathy's Review:
(Reprinted with her permission from her personal blog, Grown Up Book Reports)
Michael J. Fox could do no wrong in my book. He starred as Marty McFly in the Back to the Future trilogy, another beloved piece of my childhood. I’ve seen the first movie dozens of times, the other two sparingly, as they don’t live up to the original in my estimation. But still, those films define the 80’s and my formative years.
His posters adorned my bedroom walls in my tween and pre-teen years. My tastes in my teens may have matured (or immatured) to boy band members and bad boy actors like Kiefer Sutherland, but Michael J. Fox always held a special place in my heart.
In Always Looking Up, Fox chronicles some of his triumphs in the past ten years, all of which involve his efforts to battle Parkinson’s disease, of which the actor suffers. A memoir of sorts, Always Looking Up strives to show how positivity and strong family values has helped him through the tough times. Fox jumps around in time, using anecdotes from his family life, political and religious beliefs to illustrate his concepts. Slightly tongue in cheek at times, and using an impressive vocabulary, I enjoyed hearing Fox’s point of view and glimpse into his personal life.
This is one of my heroes, and the fact that he is bravely facing down a disease and trying to help secure stem cell research to help countless others, only serves to raise the pedestal upon which he has stood my entire life. Though he is no longer a pin-up, he is a role model and an inspiration.
*Read for the 2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
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I loved this book as well. It contains a positivity I didn't expect from someone suffering such a disability disease. His response is such an inspiration and a great read.
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