Self help and advice books aren’t always the top of the list when you are thinking of Christmas gifts because you do have to wonder how the gift will be received, what will the recipient think you are trying to tell them.
If the self-help and advice books you choose are light hearted or tongue in cheek you may just find that you make someone’s day by giving the best gift there is…. LAUGHTER.
We have a couple of great selections that will do exactly that.
A Sticky Note Guide To Life is not actually offering any advice on how to get through life. It’s a collection of amusing drawings on sticky notes that amount to procrastination on the part of the author which in turn equates to hours of procrastination on the part of the reader. I swear this book was written just for me.
If you were to pick up the book looking for bite sized answers to life then author Chaz Hutton would let you in on the secret in the introduction, the first page in the book to make me giggle, as I realised that this was yet another book I wouldn’t just be able to flick through… I was definitely going to find myself invested in the pages.
Doodling on little yellow sticky notes, or any handy piece of paper, is an activity I’m sure many of us have undertaken at times; especially on long afternoons at work, in meetings or on the phone. But can you imagine releasing those doodles out into the world, the web and then finally in print and essentially making a living out of the procrastination tools you used to get through a long afternoon. I love this idea! And I love that I got to productively procrastinate to write this post while looking at the amusing products of Huttons creativity, and read the witty commentary that goes along with them.
A Sticky Note Guide to Life is published by HarperCollins Australia and is available now where all good books are sold.
RRP: $18.99
Dear Coquette is a hugely successful blog written by an enigmatically anonymous author who fiercely guards her true identity, all that has been established is that she began with writing about LA party life and holds down a high-ranking job. The blog is read by thousands daily and has been praised by media outlets, The Coquette has also written pop culture and advice columns for a number of publications.
The Best of Dear Coquette is a collection of the best advice taken from the blog. If you want calm, quiet and supportive advice from an understanding elder then I suggest you don’t look here. On the other hand if you want razor-sharp, blunt, brutal, profane yet still helpful and sometimes witty advice then this might just be the book for you.
The book brings together a wealth of advice on health, dating, relationships, sex, drugs and pretty much anything else you can think of. You can sit back and read her advice to anonymous people from all over the world.
If you want to ask The Coquette for advice that’s something you will need to go to the blog for, along with thousands of other readers every month from across the world.
Every time I try to get some words down about this book I end up diving back into the pages for inspiration, and getting lost there, and coming up for air no more inspired than I started.
The Coquette gives the advice that I’m sure many of us would like to give our friends and family at times if we weren’t concerned about their emotions and how they would take it. She is not qualified to be giving advice on any of these matters, but the world asks and she answers in her frank, brutal, no holds barred style. If you want it go get it, if you think it’s going to destroy friendships think about why you want it and if it’s worth it, but one of the recurring themes I have noticed a lot of is take a look at yourself and how you feel about yourself to make sure you’re not projecting that onto other people and the situations you are in.
I think much of the advice in the book has merit, it is good advice wrapped in profane language without an ounce of pussyfooting around feelings. There are times I cringed at how brutal the advice was, though I could still see the merit and there were times I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
The sent in questions have not been edited, proofread or otherwise changed so they were sometimes a grammatical nightmare, but that’s my own personal issue. I’m sure there will be situations within the book that everyone can relate to and advice that everyone can take something away from.
The Best of Dear Coquette is published by Allen & Unwin and available now where all good books are sold.
RRP: $29.99
I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!