Tag: humor

The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck: How to Stop Spending Time You Don’t Have with People You Don’t Like Doing Things You Don’t Want to Do by Sarah Knight

The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck: How to Stop Spending Time You Don’t Have with People You Don’t Like Doing Things You Don’t Want to Do by Sarah Knight

Since I just posted on Spark Joy, I thought that it was the appropriate time for a review of this one.

Full title, it’s a whopper and very descriptive of the book’s contents: The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck: How to Stop Spending Time You Don’t Have with People You Don’t Like Doing Things You Don’t Want to Do.

F-bombs aplenty in this parody of Marie Kondo’s international best seller about tidying. If you can look past the obvious language thing, Knight gives some fairly solid advice. She counsels readers to not care so much about what others think and give that mental energy to yourself. You’ll be surprised what you can accomplish.

“Please listen when I say that the shame and guilt you feel when you’re trying so hard to not give a f***? It’s usually not because you are wrong to not give that f***. It’s because you’re worried about what other people might think about your decision. And guess what? You have no control over what other people think.”pg 26

See? She reminded me of a more foul-mouthed Byron Katie.

Sometimes she manages to string together two whole sentences without the F-word. Check it out: “You can sidestep the prospect of hurt feelings entirely when you view your conflict through the lens of simple, emotionless opinion. NotSorry (Knight’s method) is all about simple, emotionless opinions.” pg 31.

Beyond managing your own mind, she branches out to give advice to parents: “One mother responded from the perspective of teaching her own kids what to give a f*** about: As someone who grew up in a household full of guilt, I think it’s important for our kids to know that they can make decisions about what to care about, and that they don’t need to pay attention to the approval or condescension of other people in deciding how to live their lives.”pg 92.

I can get behind that idea.

Then we move right along to shades of Eckhart Tolle and The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment with contemplating the meaning of existence and its temporariness: “The reality is, unless we’ve been given a ballpark figure by a reputable physician (and sometimes not even then), not a single one of us knows when we’re going to shuffle off this mortal coil. It’s morbid, but it’s true. Tomorrow you could get hit by a bus, or mauled by a pack of wolves, or be scared to death by a clown. When you think about it like that, don’t you want to make every second count? pg 184.

Sarah Knight’s book, in my opinion, doesn’t have the life-changing magic of the other book, but she’s got some interesting thoughts that I believe are true and, sometimes, rather funny. But make sure to bring your sense of humor with you when you pick this one up because the author doesn’t give a … well, you know.

Thanks for reading!

Expecting Someone Taller by Tom Holt

Expecting Someone Taller by Tom Holt

expecting someone tallerExpecting Someone Taller by Tom Holt is a humorous fantasy novel based off of the Ring Cycle of Norse mythology.  It’s older (published in 1990) but I like reading pulp fantasy fiction, no matter its age.

Full disclosure: I know The Lord of the Rings better than the Norse mythological stories it is based on. Holt provides a very short synopsis of the myths for folks like me and I was grateful for it. Otherwise, I would have not understood what on earth was going on.

Holt is an English fantasy-humorist and, like Pratchett’s many offerings, I enjoy his books but never have laugh out loud moments. I don’t know if the humor is lost-in-translation or what.

I expect that those who are more familiar with the Norse myths and who enjoy subtle humor might really love this rather silly tale of Malcolm and the ring.

There were some memorable lines: “Ingolf eased the plain gold ring off his finger and passed it to Malcolm, who accepted it rather as one might accept some delicacy made from the unspeakable parts of a rare amphibian at an embassy function.” pg 7 Nice.

“The next morning, Malcolm thought long and hard before waking up, for he had come to recognise over the past quarter of a century that rather less can go wrong if you are asleep.” pg 15 Absolutely true in my experience too.

Malcolm figuring out how the Tarnhelm (a hat that can change the wearer into anything) works: “Make me,” he said aloud, “as handsome as it is possible to be.”… He stood for awhile and stared… “We’ll call that one Richard” (he had always wanted to be called Richard). He resumed his own shape (which came as a bitter disappointment) then said “Richard,” firmly. At once, the Most Handsome Man reappeared in the mirror, which proved that the Tarnhelm had a memory, like a pocket calculator.” pg 20-21

The difference between smiles: “The girl looked at him and smiled. Malcolm had come to believe that he was fairly well equipped to deal with smiles, but this was a new sort; not a happy, optimistic smile but a sad, wistful smile. It didn’t say, “Wouldn’t it be nice if…” like the stock delivery of a Rhinemaiden, but, “It would have been nice if…” which is quite different.” pg 117

Why humans are the worst pick for ring bearing: “And so you give this irregularity in your minds a name of its own. You call it Love, which is meant to make everything all right. Rather than try to sort it out or find a vaccine, you go out of your way to glorify it. I mentioned your art and your poetry just now. What are your favourite themes? Love and War.”…”Now be fair,” he continued, “can you honestly say that a member of a species with this ancestral fallibility should be allowed to rule the universe?” pg 160 Fair question.

If you enjoyed Expecting Someone Taller, you may want to pick up The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar (a modern day fantasy with fairies) or Anansi Boys by Neal Gaiman (a fantasy about gods and their descendants).

Thanks for reading!

Food: A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan

Food: A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan
food a love story

In Food: A Love Story, Jim Gaffigan waxes poetic about one of his favorite topics – food.

Gaffigan is one of my favorite comics. He has clean, family-oriented humor (so I can watch his specials while my kid is awake rather than waiting for her to go to sleep) and he generally avoids political topics (so I can watch his specials without my husband getting mad and walking away).

I love his humor. However, this book was almost too much for me, even being the huge fan that I am.

At least, in his stand up, he switches topics. Gaffigan is funny in this, don’t get me wrong. But a book’s worth of jokes on just one thing… it’s a tall order. And not just of fries. 🙂

On why he doesn’t like oysters: “Once I had a friend defensively point out to me, “Pearls come from oysters.” I never really understood his reasoning, but I explained I make a rule not to eat things that also make jewelry. Diamonds come from coal, but we aren’t dipping that into cocktail sauce.” pg 60 (ebook)

On BBQ: “I’ve found barbecue to either be some of the best or the worst food I’ve eaten. There is no in between. Either it’s an amazing meal I can’t stop talking about, or I’m angry that I wasted the energy to lift the food to my mouth. Of course, I still finish the whole plate. As I mentioned before, I am not rude.” pg 72 (ebook)

On organic chips: “These potato chips are cooked with avocado oil, so I can eat ten bags. It’s good for me.” Usually the only discernible difference between a regular potato chip and a “healthy chip” is the difficulty in opening the bag. Supposedly there are good fats and bad fats. I like to think of myself as a good fat. It helps my self-esteem when I look in the mirror.” pgs 119-120 (ebook)

Photo by Edu Carvalho on Pexels.com

Kale: “People seem to bring up eating kale as if it’s something that’s going to impress me. Guy: I just ate kale. Me: I don’t care.” pg 154

Comparing different kinds of cakes: “Ice cream cakes: I never really understood the appeal of an ice cream cake. They are so temporary. They just end up stressing me out.” pg 401 (ebook)

And, finally, breakfast: You would feel guilty about eating most traditional breakfast items at any other meal during the day, but since it’s the morning, somehow these foods are considered okay.” pg 416 (ebook)

That’s a good sampling of Gaffigan’s food jokes. It goes on for pages, joke after joke.

The sheer amount of material Gaffigan had to construct about food is kind of impressive actually. Be aware though, it is a one note book.

Thanks for reading!