Sketch People: Stories Along the Way [Paperback]

Full disclosure: I'm one of the people featured in this book.

Sketch People is a collection of stories about people - about their work, their passion, and their experiences. I'm honored and delighted that one of the stories in the book is about Buckley and me.

"Hooked on a Feline: Ingrid King and Buckley's Story" was the result of an interview with T.J. Banks. It's one of my favorite stories about Buckley and me, told with Banks' characteristic style that gets at the heart of a story, a person, or a cat. Banks' portrayal of both of us doesn't just get at the heart of who Buckley was, it also expresses how much writing her story meant to me in a way that few other journalists or reviewers have. Writes Banks, "...what we take away from Buckley's Story...{is} the loving spirit of the cat who, like the teacher in the adage, showed up when the human was ready for her. King herself sums it up best. When asked what word-picture of Buckley she'd like to leave the reader with, the writer says simply, `Joy'."

The other stories in the book are told with the same emotional honesty. From animal artist Bernadette Kazmarski to actress Tippi Hedren, the founder of Shambala, a wild cat refuge in Acton, California, Banks helps the reader see how these particular people started on their individual journeys, and where their journeys took them. There's the veterinarian who paints, the woman who learns to embrace her psychic abilities and ends up designing angel-inspired jewelry, and the cancer survivor who goes from being a geologist to a master gardener to goat's milk soap-maker.

My favorite "sketch" of all of them was Banks' affectionate tribute to the late writer and animal activist Cleveland Amory. Banks portrayal of all of her subjects reflects an emotional connection between the writer and her subjects, but in no other story does it show more than in the one about Cleveland Amory. Like all cat lovers, I came to know and love Amory through his three books about Polar Bear, "The Cat Who Came for Christmas." I loved getting a more personal glimpse into what this, to me, larger than life man, was like.

Sketch People is an inspriational collection of stories about people who dared to follow their dreams, no matter what life threw at them. This is a book to be savored, one story at a time. And as you read about all of these journeys of passion, they may just inspire some passion in your own life.

To start with, I'd like to say that I'm beyond-words honored to be featured in T.J. Banks' latest book, Sketch People. Yes, I was hoping that T.J. Banks' blog, Sketch People, would eventually turn into a book. Still, nothing prepared me for the feeling I had when I held the actual book in my hands for the first time, and then rediscovered it on Kindle, Nook and other e-book readers.

It's always an amazing feeling, which then evolves upon starting to read the Stories Along the Way. And it's all possible because of Banks' writing, of her ability to connect with her subjects at the deepest levels and extract the soul of their stories in tales that, in turn, connect with our own selves.

The stories of Sketch People are stories of individuals with names we may not recognize, of individuals creating works or standing for causes we may not be quite familiar with... yet. That's because the real life characters of Sketch People are just that... people like ourselves, using their artistry and passions to do their part in making our world a better one.

Each story holds a seed of hope, of new beginnings and possibilities, of inspiration. If life were a box of chocolate, then also it might as well be a collection of Sketch People's Stories Along the Way. You may never know what or where you're gonna get upon starting reading any of these stories, but you'll end the read feeling more empowered, enlightened, and also inspired, with a deeper understanding of life and the universe in which you live. After all, sometimes it is all about the journey and not always the destination.

Sketch People is a read for any day or season, for any occasion, offering soul-searching, powerful stories of self-discovery, remarkable tales to keep us company along our journeys through life. It is a gift we have to offer ourselves and anybody we care about.

Everybody has a story to tell. In her series of "Sketch People" interviews author T.J. Banks sketches these stories of human interest with warmth and color - from artists to the maxillofacial rehabilitation specialist who displays implant forms and shows us how they work to repair an ear, a nose, a jaw; to Tippi Hedren and her California Shambala wildcat refuge; to animal rights activist Cleveland Amory, and all those in-between. In conversation with Mr. Amory, the author adroitly interweaves her own experience with her observations of Mr. Amory so you feel you are right there in the room with the two of them. Pour yourself a cup of tea and sit down with Ms. Banks and the personalities who pop from the page in their stories of "passion, purpose, and adventures along the way." You'll remember these people and want to read more of T.J. Banks' works.