ashleyholstrom's Reviews (1.38k)

New year, new me, fewer fucks.

The subtitle basically says it all. We give far too many fucks about things that don’t deserve the attention. Figure out what you care about, care about those things, live happier life. Bam.

From Taking Care of Yourself with Books at Book Riot.

A nice little pick-me-up after a no-good week.

I took feverish notes as I listened, as if preparing for an exam. I may not remember the names of her husband or kids, but I've made super specific goals to get started on for my own sort of project.

The most important (and most general) part: Be present. Don't expect to be happy later, in some magical, glowing, faraway idea of later. Figure out what makes you happy and do that. Right now.

Only negative: Some bits felt like she was just droning on in an attempt to reach a word count.

Duff chronicles the year leading up to his 50th birthday with bits of advice he's learned along his wild life. He tells stories that coincide with the advice, showing how far he's come from the drunk madness of his Guns N' Roses days. Career advice, relationship advice, family advice. It's all pretty solid.

Parts of this are a little snooty and eye-rolly and woo-woo, but overall a nice book. The title could have been "How to be a Not-Shitty Person" and done just as well, but dudes need their dude books, I guess.

Sometimes you just need to listen to a book with ‘badass’ in the title. Bonus points when it’s written and read by a sassy woman who figured out she’s got it going on, and wants you to figure out that you, too, have it going on. I know it looks and sounds like a run-of-the-mill self-help book, but this really is a special brand of self-help book. It’s one of the best I’ve found.

From Audiobooks for the Blues at Book Riot.

A little bit morbid, a little bit gross, a whole lot empowering. That’s basically the only way I can describe this book. Caitlin Doughty has been obsessed with death her whole life, so it’s only natural she goes to work at a crematory. In her tales, she busts a lot of myths about the death industry, like, no, crematories don’t dump the day’s worth of bodies in and scoop out bits of ash for the families’ urns afterward. At least, reputable ones don’t. She ends on a philosophical look at life and death, how our culture views death, and how we can change that. It’s just the book I needed this month.

From Riot Round-Up: The Best Books We Read in April.