Kind Is the New Classy: The Power of Living Graciously

Actress, producer, and author Bure (Reshaping it All) explains in this encouraging book how she’s learned that women can make a meaningful impact on the world by choosing to be kind. The actress, who rose to fame as a teenager on the TV show Full House, emphasizes character traits she believes “make women truly remarkable”: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Purpose is a recurring theme throughout as Bure discusses her decision to place acting on hold to raise her children, and to return to her career as her children came of age. Thoughtful, lucid prose gives readers a realistic view of what it’s like to work in the entertainment as an unashamed Christian. She recalls coming under fire from LGBTQ Instagram users for sharing a photo of herself in a “Not Today, Satan” shirt—a phrase made popular by a well-known drag queen. Bure presents her side of the encounter and flimsily defends herself: “It breaks my heart when I see so-called Christians holding up malicious signs that say God hates homosexuals,” she writes. Bure also candidly shares how she’s received support from unexpected places and reopens the conversation about her battle with bulimia from previous books. Bure’s self-help, semi-autobiographical approach will appeal to readers who believe that affecting culture must start with the self. (Apr.)