This book is a collection of Maya Angelou's meditations on a broad range of subjects, from health to manners to memories. I picked it up expecting a quick read, but was unprepared for how quick it really is: there's really very little content, and her meditations are generally only a few paragraphs long. And there wasn't much of a unifying theme, either -- she picks up just about any topic, it seems, offers a few thoughts on the matter, then drops it just as quickly.

She seems not to be quite as culturally aware as she might like to think. For example, at one point she says, "I am besieged with painful awe at the vacuum left by the dead.... Are they, as the poet James Weldon Johnson said, 'resting in the bosom of Jesus?' If so, what about my Jewish loves, my Japanese dears, and my Muslim darlings? Into whose bosom are they cuddled?" (p. 48) You know, some of us do just fine without Jesus's bosom, thankyouverymuch. Also, "Japanese" is not a religion (and some Japanese people are Christians, by the way).

I was disappointed that the book had so little content. I had wanted a meaningful read, but I found it hard to get into this. In addition to the short sections, it seemed that every other page was a chapter title page. And it ends on such a strange note....

2843 Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now, by Maya Angelou (read 25 Feb 1996) This is a book of 24 short essays that took me less than 55 minutes to read. Angelou says some good things, though obviously there are things in her life history quite foreign to me. I did not mind reading these essays. ( )

Insipid Oprahisms. Angelou had nothing to say but was going to say it anyway. ( )

Ms. Angelou is a wise, wise woman. I love her. ( )

An inspirational account of the authors life. ( )