Recently, my husband asked me why I have so many books with the F word in the title. I didn’t really have an answer. Because they are funny? Because they are good books? Because I love a good curse word?
Fair warning: if you don’t like cursing, just stop reading right now. This post is not for you. I love cursing, and do it a lot. But even I get that this post is excessive. I’ll catch you back here on Saturday for some fun links, and you have yourself a nice day.
For the rest of you filthy animals: Today I have a roundup of books with curse words in the title. Because let’s face it. Sometimes you just need a good F Bomb.
Title: The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a Fuck
Author: Sarah Knight
Synopsis: Are you stressed out, overbooked, and underwhelmed by life? Fed up with pleasing everyone else before you please yourself? It’s time to stop giving a fuck.
This brilliant, hilarious, and practical parody of Marie Kondo’s bestseller The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up explains how to rid yourself of unwanted obligations, shame, and guilt–and give your fucks instead to people and things that make you happy. The easy-to-use, two-step NotSorry Method for mental decluttering will help you unleash the power of not giving a fuck about:
- Family drama
- Having a “bikini body”
- Iceland
- Co-workers’ opinions, pets, and children
- And other bullshit!
- And it will free you to spend your time, energy, and money on the things that really matter. So what are you waiting for? Stop giving a fuck and start living your best life today!
Review:
This book is meant to be a parody of that other Life Changing Magic book. I have to be honest, I think the tidying up book is 90% lunacy. Yes, I started folding my shirts differently, and yes, I like her point about doing all of one thing rather than room by room. Also, I do like the notion of only keeping things that ‘spark joy,’ but I am not going to thank my shoes for carrying me around every day. (That’s the 90% loony part of the book.) And if you want a good book about only surrounding yourself with the things you love, I recommend any of Nate Berkus’ home design books. He says the same thing, except with beautiful pictures.
Anyway, “Not Giving a Fuck” is based on the premise that wasting your time on unimportant things (like, for example, how your t-shirts are folded) will free up your time so you can care very, very deeply about important things. Like, for example, why your neighbor can’t paint her house a normal shade of beige like everyone else. (That was a joke. Calm down. I don’t give a fuck about my neighbor’s house paint. I do give a fuck if my neighbor is a Nazi. See? The book is already working.) Knight breaks it down when you should and should not give a fuck, including at work, with your family, friends and acquaintances, and possessions. Giving a fuck translates into giving your time, energy or money. Once you have decided you don’t want to give those things anymore, you just … don’t. It’s magical.
This is advice we all should know, but often don’t, especially in the era of social media when people are screaming at us all the time to care deeply about stupid things like Unicorn Frappacinos and celebrity Twitter feuds. If we all decided what not to care about – and then really, genuinely stop caring – we’d be a lot better off.
Favorite quote: Knight’s list of the top ten things about which she, personally, does not give a fuck about include: having a bikini body, basketball, calculus, and Google Plus. I also don’t give a fuck about those things. Also, this line: “I cannot overstate the value, to me, of never having another conversation about or eating yogurt ever again.”
Other Books by this Author: Get Your Shit Together, You Do You, How to Not Give a Fuck at Christmas
Title: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck
Author: Mark Manson
Synopsis: In this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger cuts through the crap to show us how to stop trying to be “positive” all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people.
For decades, we’ve been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. “Fuck positivity,” Mark Manson says. “Let’s be honest, shit is fucked and we have to live with it.” In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn’t sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is—a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck is his antidote to the coddling, let’s-all-feel-good mindset that has infected modern society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up.
Manson makes the argument, backed both by academic research and well-timed poop jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better. Human beings are flawed and limited—”not everybody can be extraordinary, there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault.” Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them. Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties, once we stop running and avoiding and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find the courage, perseverance, honesty, responsibility, curiosity, and forgiveness we seek.
Review: I underlined something on almost every page of this book, and I’ve given copies to several friends. With chapter titles like ‘Don’t Try,’ ‘Happiness is a Problem,’ and ‘You Are Not Special,’ you might think this is aggressive, alpha-male bullying behavior. But there is a real depth to this book. Manson gives considerate thought to life, death, and what it all means, and encourages thinking about what really grounds your life. “The only way to be comfortable with death is to understand and see yourself as something bigger than yourself,” he writes, “to choose values that stretch beyond serving yourself, that are simple and immediate and controllable and tolerant of the chaotic world around you.” I particularly liked the chapter called ‘The Value of Suffering,’ because he covers ‘Defining Good and Bad Values.’ (“Good, healthy values are achieved internally … Bad values are generally reliant on external events — flying in a private jet, being told you’re right all the time, owning a house in the Bahamas, eating a cannoli while getting blown by three strippers.”) Like Knight’s book, this one encourages us to stop caring so much about what doesn’t matter and make what does matter a priority of our life.
Favorite Quote: “Because when you give too many fucks — when you give a fuck about everyone and everything — you will feel that you’re perpetually entitled to be comfortable and happy at all times, that everything is supposed to be just exactly the fucking way you want it to be. This is a sickness. And it will eat you alive … You will be confined to your own petty, skull-sized hell, burning with entitlement and bluster, … in constant motion yet arriving nowhere.”
Other Books by this Author: Models: Attract Women Through Honesty
Title: Unfuck Yourself
Author: Gary John Bishop
Synopsis: Are you tired of feeling fucked up? If you are, Gary John Bishop has the answer. In this straightforward handbook, he gives you the tools and advice you need to demolish the slag weighing you down and become the truly unfucked version of yourself. ”Wake up to the miracle you are,” he directs. ”Here’s what you’ve forgotten: You’re a fucking miracle of being.” It isn’t other people that are standing in your way, it isn’t even your circumstances that are blocking your ability to thrive, it’s you and the negative self-talk you keep telling yourself.
Bishop leads you through a series of seven assertions:
I am willing.
I am wired to win.
I got this.
I embrace the uncertainty.
I am not my thoughts; I am what I do.
I am relentless.
I expect nothing and accept everything.
Review: This is a much more head-based book, a little bit more woo-woo than the others. By that I mean Bishop is very clear that we all have the life we have accepted. Change is about mindset. Once we stop saying “Someday I’m going to…” and we start saying, “I am…,” everything is different. How we see the world and how we see ourselves in the world changes the second we reframe our thoughts. I like this book because it is no-nonsense and puts the responsibility right where it belongs – on me. I especially like the chapter called ‘Relentless’ about sticking with the things we want. Progress – in business, health, job, family – is happening, even if we don’t see it. “You don’t have to feel like today is your day,” he writes, “You just have to act like it is.”
Favorite Quote: “When you stop searching for certainty, when you quit trying to make sense of everything, a lot of your stress will simply melt away. There really is nothing to figure out. If you took the time to be with what I’m saying, you’d realize that what causes most of your worry is trying to predict the future and then refusing to accept things when they don’t are aren’t going to go your way.”
Title: Fuck Off, I’m Coloring
Author: Dare You Stamp, Co.
Synopsis: With daily stresses like annoying coworkers, red-faced bosses, endless traffic, and whatever shit you have going on at home, sometimes all you need to tell everyone to “fuck off.” Now you can say it in color! Relieve some stress with easy and beautiful art—that also happens to feature your favorite profanities. Feel the “zen” wash over you as you color in or outside the lines however you damn well please. Take your defiance up a notch with more complex patterns, or take the easy route when you unwind. Do whatever the fuck you want.
Review: In general, I think coloring books are dumb. But there is something enormously satisfying about coloring a pretty picture with the words “I don’t give a shit” emblazoned across the flowers. I’ve managed to smile through several phone conferences while coloring in rude words in this book.
Favorite Quote: “I deserve better.”
Other Books by this Author: Bite Me, I’m Coloring
And, just for kicks, here are some other books with cussin’ in the titles:
Fuck Love by Tarryn Fisher
FU Cancer by Hilaria Alexander – I have read this one and it is awesome, like all of Hilaria’s romances.
Wonder Fuck: A Bad Boy Romantic Comedy by Maggie Marr (Bonus: I know Maggie personally, and she is crazy smart and so, so funny. Her books are AWESOME)
Fuck Feelings: One Shrink’s Practical Advice for Managing All Life’s Impossible Problems, by Sarah Bennet
Go the Fuck to Sleep by Adam Mansbach and Ricardo Cortes (I have given this book away to several pregnant moms. Bonus: the audio version is recorded by Samuel L. Jackson, which is just perfection.) Since this book was such a hit, there are a whole lot of children’s books with curse words in the title, including Fuck You Sun, You Have to Fucking Eat, If You Give Mommy a Glass of Wine, and Nobody Likes a Cockblock. Hey, I’m not saying you should cuss in front of your kids. I’m just acknowledging that sometimes you might want to.
What the Fuck Should I Make For Dinner? The Answer to Life’s Every Day Question in 50 Fucking Recipes by Zach Golden Related: What the Fuck Should I Drink? By Zack Golden
Thug Kitchen: Eat Like You Give a Fuck (My sister has this cookbook and looooves it.) Related: Thug Kitchen 101: Fast as Fuck and Thug Kitchen Party Grub for Social Motherfuckers
Have I missed any? What are your favorite books with curse words in the title?