How to Stay Human in a F*cked-Up World: Mindfulness Practices for Real Life by Tim Desmond Review

Do you need a good book to remind you to stay positive and meditate, even if you don’t know how to do that? This is the perfect book for that. With easy to follow chapters and even easier to follow instructions, packed full of relatable content, this book is a funny and reaffirming way to keep your life together when it seems like you cant.

 

5/5 Stars 208 pages
Published June 25th 2019 by HarperOne

Let me first say, that I love the title for this book. I think it’s something that really appeals to someone like me, who can’t always keep control in the world when things turn sour. It seems really raw and real. The book begins talking about six days after Donald Trump won the election for the President of the United States, when his wife woke up in the middle of the night and ended up having to go to the ER. The cancer she had been fighting for more than a year had spread, and several hours later she emerged from surgery. That day, he had to teach their three year old son not to touch his mom’s tube that she had in her side.

 

This book taught me that although life is kind of a rollercoaster, the best way to get through it is just to accept that it happens, and you won’t feel this way forever. It gives tips on how to keep your mindfulness and still live your life, and how to meditate if you don’t know how. The sheer magnitude of violence and bad things that happen in the world matter, but you don’t have to let them bring you down in the process of working through them. This book is everyone’s guide to embracing mindfulness and compassion.

 

The book is available here, and here’s a link to the author’s Twitter, if you’d like to follow them.

Thanks for reading!

Waiting for Fitz by Spencer Hyde Review

Waiting for Fitz by Spencer Hyde 5/5 Stars 256 pages
Published March 5th 2019 by Shadow Mountain

Are fictional books about real problems like OCD and Schizophrenia just your type? Do you love heartwarming first love tales about teenagers in an inpatient program? Or are you just looking for something sweet and silly to pass the time that deals with real hardships in life? Than “Waiting for Fitz” is a book you may want to check out next.

 

Following Addie, a seventeen year old girl, it shows her day to day life in first person, with OCD. Though it didn’t used to be this extreme, after her last birthday, she began taking almost four hours to get out of the house, washing her hands over a hundred times a day until they cracked and bled, because of her rituals. Her fears are, that if she doesn’t do everything exactly right, that something horrible will happen to her mom, and dog. It explores her life as she takes a semester off school to join an inpatient program, with other teens battling situations just like hers. That’s where she meets Fitz, a young man trying to work through his Schizophrenia, who seems like a perfect match.

 

I loved how funny this book was, even when they were dealing with serious topics. There were hardships that the characters went through that I couldn’t even imagine dealing with, but they came out stronger on the other side because of them. The characters were really real, and relatable because of it. I feel like I could know these people in real life and not even know it. I couldn’t put this down once I started it, and I couldn’t ask for more from it. It’s everything I hoped for it to be, and more. Of course, my favourite character was Fitz.

 

Overall, I definitely think you should pick up this book if any of this jumps out to you, or if you’re just someone looking for your next book to read. The book is available here, and here’s a link to the author’s Twitter, if you’d like to keep up with them.

Thanks for reading!

The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project by Lenore Appelhans Review

The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project by Lenore Appelhans 5/5 Stars 272 Pages Published March 5th 2019 by Carolrhoda Lab

Where do I even begin with this book? I know it’s early in the year, but this has to be one of my favourite’s that I’ve read this year. It has a good message, it’s completely unique, I loved the characters, and I just felt so good reading it that I spread it out as long as I could, which is something that I don’t often do.

 

Tropetown is a town where fictional cliché and stereotypical characters live when they’re not working in the stories, different from where the main characters live, and a lot different than where the readers live. Following the last remaining Manic Pixie Dream Boy in town, Riley, it shows his life in first person as he goes through the hardest part of this short life so far, first beginning group therapy and then facing retirement because of what he is. I was immediately interested in his character, not because of his stereotype fully, but because he’s such a thoughtful person, and he really tries hard to carve out his own life, to be different and to make himself happy. And I think that’s something that I really needed to learn from someone else. Riley is that someone else.

 

After accidentally bumping into a girl named Zelda, another Manic Pixie but a Dream Girl, he knows she’s someone he wants in his life. Though she does send mixed signals, she’s most of what he thinks aout, and even more once he realizes that they’re in the same Manic Pixie Group Therapy. The characters in the therapy group really grow together, and I loved (almost) every one.

 

I think that this book is really about finding yourself within your stereotype, not being ashamed of it, but making it your own completely. I loved how good this book made me feel, even at the low points, because even though the world and the characters were fictional, they were really relatable and easy to love. The way they acted and the people they were seems like something to strive for, and I would love to take bits of their personality and add it into my own. My favourite character, of course, is Riley for all of those reasons.

 

Overall, I know I loved this book because of how long I stretched out reading it for. Even though I have so many books that I need to read, I made this last all weekend, and I wish there was more I could know about it. It’s something I just need for my bookshelf, and I know it’s something that I would read again. No matter what kind of books you read, I think that you should check this one out.

 

The book is available here, and here’s a link to the author’s Twitter.

Thanks for reading!

Cellies, Vol. 1 by Joe Flood, & Davis Stuart II Review

Cellies, Vol. 1 by Joe Flood, & Davis Stuart II 5/5 Stars 128 pages
Published January 15th 2019 by Lion Forge

If you’re looking for the most laid back graphic novel you’ll probably ever read, then Cellies is the book for you. Following a team of tech support and customer service workers at a local strip mall, it shows their everyday live and what they get up to, as well as the lighter side of working with your friends. It’s mainly centered on six characters, Devin, Christian, Parker, Pete and Rey as well as Elena, the newbie.

 

Beginning with an intricate online video game, Devin is late for work. He forgot about the midnight launch of the newest cell phone on the market, and when he realizes what time it is, he rushes to get ready and get to his job. Outside is a mob of people waiting for their new phones. Unfortunately for them, the phones will have to be delayed for another month, which causes them to break out into a riot out in front of the store.

 

Not only is this book funny and relatable for anyone reading it, the characters really seem like real people that you’d like to work with. They work, skip work, go to school, worry about their relationships with people, and go on adventures just like anyone would. My favourite character probably would be Elena or Rey, because they’re both really sweet but in their own ways.

 

Overall there’s many stories in this book, and they’re broken up with mini stories about retail worker’s true nightmares, which I found hilarious. I’m really hoping that there will be a second volume, and if you’re looking for something completely out of the norm from your usual reading routine, I’d say that this is the book for you.

 

It’s available here, and here’s a link to one of the creator’s Twitter accounts, if you’d like to keep up with him.

Thanks for reading!