Self-Help & Psychology Books - Page 4

Cringe: Teenage Diaries, Journals, Notes, Letters, Poems, and Abandoned Rock Operas

Sarah Brown

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Did you keep a diary during your teen years? Do you have a box of loopy-cursive, never-sent notes to your crush? Or some overwrought poetry about your bleak existence? An unfinished rockopera? Well, you’re not alone, and in Cringe, you’ll find a reason to unearth your adolescent angst and have a good laugh—at yourself.

A compilation of real teenage diary and journal entries, letters,
songs, stories, and lists—along with biting commentary, background, and self-examination from the now so-called grown-ups who wrote them—Cringe offers a voyeuristic glimpse at the roller coaster of youth in all of its navel-gazing, soul-searching, social-skewering glory.


Cringe -worthy excerpts include

Really bad poetry:
I lumber like the sad clown with
the hope that my performance
might make you smile.
Yet I am a flickering star over
a cloudy sky.

Blush-inducing pep talks:
OK. It’s the end of February. No more
kidding around! You have to go out
with someone! You haven’t gone out
with someone since the summer!
At least fool around with someone!
Come on! You’ve got it in ya!

Questionable motivations:
My mom is madly in love with
her boyfriend. . . . Cool! He’s so rich
. . . I could get a lot out of this—
vacations, a car—if he buys my mom
one + she gives me hers—psyche!

And rages against the world at large:
I am living in a dream world.
Wishes are a bunch of crap.
They never come true so what’s
the use of even wasting your
time hoping they’ll come true
when they don’t?

Inspired by the New York–based reading series of the same name, Cringe will help you realize that being a grown-up isn’t all that terrible. At least you don’t have to worry about who’s going to be at the mall anymore.

Everyday Matters

Danny Gregory

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Hyperion Amazon Marketplace: 43 new & used starting at $2.95

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 38 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

loved this book 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

A very enjoyable read and inspirational. I went out purchased a sketch pad and started drawing after finishing the book!

Unexpected Support 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I was not expecting anything when I started this book...frankly, I'm not sure I remember ordering it. In any event, the parallels between this graphic memoir and my own life make this book read more like an answered prayer than merely another memoir.

I take that last part back. It's not just that the author's experiences mirror my own life that makes this book notable. Rather, it's that Gregory manages to capture his own HUMANITY...without resorting to irony or the manufactured self-deprecation that seems to plague the modern memoir that makes this book so notable. I mean, finally!, someone has managed to write an HONEST memoir, one that does not require an attorney's Release of the Facts as a prologue.

"Everyday Matters" reads like a private journal, without the pretention that comes when the author knows other folks'll be reading it. Gregory's sketches are likewise uninhibited and imperfect; together, the text and illustrations create a personal, intimate environment for the reader that is inviting and judgment-free; none of the "You shouldn't have looked (though I knew you would, so I gave you my best side)" business that is the meta-text of so many memoirs, but instead offers a reassuring, "Well, that's me, hair and all...what do you think?"

A thoughtful, generous gift from Gregory to his readers.

Editorial Review:

In the tradition of Persepolis, In the Shadow of No Towers, and Our Cancer Year, an illustrated memoir of remarkable depth, power, and beauty

Danny Gregory and his wife, Patti, hadn’t been married long. Their baby, Jack, was ten months old; life was pretty swell. And then Patti fell under a subway train and was paralyzed from the waist down.

In a world where nothing seemed to have much meaning, Danny decided to teach himself to draw, and what he learned stunned him. Suddenly things had color again, and value. The result is Everyday Matters, his journal of discovery, recovery, and daily life in New York City. It is as funny, insightful, and surprising as life itself.

Crazy Aunt Purl's Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair: The True-Life Misadventures of a 30-Something Who Learned to Knit After He Split

Laurie Perry

Amazon Price: $9.57 List Price: $15.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: HCI Amazon Marketplace: 87 new & used starting at $1.49

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 41 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

If you've ever been dumped, duped, or three minutes from crazy, you'll love Crazy Aunt Purl. Side-splittingly funny and profoundly moving, Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair is the true-life misadventures of Laurie Perry, aka Crazy Aunt Purl, a slightly neurotic, displaced Southerner trying to create a new life after her husband leaves her to 'get his creativity back.' (Whatever that means.) But will she get her groove back in a tiny rented apartment, with a mountain of boxes, visible panty lines, and a slight wine-and-Cheetos problem?

"I was a thirty-something woman living alone with four cats. I was probably going to be divorced. I was on the short bus to crazy. I pictured my grandmother making hoop-skirted yarn cozies for the toilet paper. I pictured myself making doilies for furniture that I did not own. I saw my cats wearing knitted hats with lace appliqués. From my vantage point, knitting seemed like 100 percent of some road I did not want to walk down."

Yet, surprisingly, it's knitting that saves her and emboldens her to become fully engaged in life again--to discover new friends; to take risks, however scary; and to navigate the ins and outs of the modern dating scene.

"Dating has changed in a decade. Now there is a higher chance of meeting someone who has an internet porn addiction than someone who has a job. In Los Angeles, your dinner companion might have served time in Pelican Bay or run a meth lab. Or, worst of all, he might spend all night talking about his agent, his craft, and what it means to grow as an actor. Then he'll ask you to read his screenplay."

And such is life in this quirky, irreverent memoir, a spin-off of the blog phenomenon, www.crazyauntpurl.com, one of the most successful online diaries in history, exploding to an international fan base of enthusiastic readers. But don't worry, you don't have to knit to love Aunt Purl. You just have to know what it feels like to have loved, to have lost, or to have taken a leap of faith. We've all been there: Pass the wine.

The Meaning Of Life

Bradley Trevor Greive

Amazon Price: $9.95 List Price: $9.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Andrews McMeel Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 349 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 39 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

REAL AND REALLY FUNNY 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

THIS BOOK IS SO REAL, AND SO FUNNY, I AM NOW BUYING IT FOR GIFTS, ANYONE WHO READS THE ENTIRE BOOK, WILL WANT ONE. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS BOOK, I WILL BE PASSING IT ALONG THE WAY....

Editorial Review:

It's an age-old question that has stumped the great minds of history; What is the meaning in life? In his hilarious and uplifting style, best-selling author Bradley Trevor Greive (BTG) finally provides the answer: Figure out what you love and do it. Illustrated with playful photographs of animals, BTG's insightful prose again hits his target straight on. He muses about why we're here and our greater purpose in the grand scheme of things. His informal style provides a refreshing counterpoint to what has always been one of life's big debates. For example, when it comes to discovering your passion, BTG writes, "First, no one else will tell you about it - it's just like walking around all day with a sign on your back that says KICK ME." The Meaning Of Life is a witty, thought-provoking book that makes an ideal gift for anyone who's seeking their true purpose - and wants to laugh along the way.

Clarice Bean, Don't Look Now (Clarice Bean)

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Authors & Illustrators, A-Z -> ( C ) -> Child, Lauren

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

I love this book!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

My Review of Clarice Bean, Don't Look Now, by Lauren Child
By MJ age 9

I love this book! It was sooooo hard to put it down! This book is the BEST! (You must read the other books in the Clarice Bean series or this one won't make sense!)
Clarice Bean is miserable because Betty Moody has moved very far away. As her house is repaired, Clarice Bean has been e-mailing Betty Moody because Clarice Bean's phone isn't working. To make matters worse, a new kid comes to school and Clarice thinks she is a bully. Her name is Clem, Clem Hansson. Want to know more? Well, I don't want to ruin surprises, do I? =)

Editorial Review:

Don’t look now, but Lauren Child has outdone herself with a Clarice Bean novel that is the funniest and most poignant yet.

It’s the worry you hadn’t even thought to worry about that should worry you the most. At least that’s how it looks to Clarice Bean, who has been writing her worries in a notebook — things like Worry no. 1: infinity, or Worry no. 3: change. And now that her worst never-imagined worry has happened — her utterly best friend is moving away forever — Clarice doesn’t even care about her tickets to the Ruby Redfort, girl detective, movie premiere. That is, unless something happens to change things again. . . . Lauren Child’s trademark wit combines with spot-on insight in this hugely engaging story about childhood worries, unwanted changes, and finding friendships in the most surprising places.

Dirty Little Secrets from Otherwise Perfect Moms

Trisha Ashworth, Amy Nobile

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Good stuff! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Wife and I got this as a gift for a friend / expecting mother, but admittedly as new parents ourselves, we flipped through it first too. Some of the quips were almost sad and scary, but overall, we laughed our heads off. This was confirmed by the mom-to-be we gave it to. This will go on our list of gifts for expecting-and-new moms. It's good as a source of "relaxation" for anyone unsure of what they've just gotten themselves into and some of the feelings they might be having. Moreso, it's just downright funny.

Editorial Review:

Trisha Ashworth and Amy Nobile conducted interviews with hundreds of mothers while researching their best-selling book I Was a Really Good Mom Before I Had Kids. It didn't take long before these moms began to reveal their Dirty Little Secrets—surprising, thought-provoking, guilty confessions they hadn't told anyone else. Cringe-worthy moments ("I bit my daughter's finger trying to steal a bite of her cookie.") meet real insights ("I love my kids but I didn't always. It took time to fall in love with them."). These are the private thoughts that every mom has—and every mom can relate to.

The Natural Superiority of the Left-Hander

James T. deKay

Amazon Price: $6.95 List Price: $6.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: M. Evans and Company, Inc. Amazon Marketplace: 189 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Welcome to the twilight zone 3 out of 5 stars.
18 of 19 people found this review helpful.

Not what I expected at all. If you are looking for a serious study of the left-hander THIS ISN'T IT. This is a childrens book, however it is a very funny one. The book cracked me up, probably worth what I paid for it. Good to read to children asking about left handers. It even has childrens pictures.

My bible growing up... 4 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

As a lefty child, this book was my bible. I searched high and low for a copy last year after realizing as a grow-up that it was still a book I could enjoy. It does a great job of de-mystifying dominant-handedness while dispensing some interesting biological facts about it (how it's a recessive gene, for example.) It's filled with humorous drawings and fun factoids (did you know that Gerald Ford writes left-handed sitting down, and right-handed standing up?) that anyone -- not just a lefty -- will appreciate. As an added bonus, it succeeds in its goal to provide a good source of self-esteem for lefties who feel left-out.

My son is leftie who LOVES this book 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

My son is 10 and he LOVES this book!! He quotes it all the time and actually is now insistant that he is superior to all of us right handers.. I love that it makes him feel special!

Editorial Review:

Over 400,000 copies in print!

Kiss My Tiara: How to Rule the World as a SmartMouth Goddess

Susan Jane Gilman

Amazon Price: $10.36 List Price: $12.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Grand Central Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 189 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 143 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

How to stay single and lonely : a guide for the unenlightened 1 out of 5 stars.
6 of 12 people found this review helpful.

Every sentence Gilman writes is just another clarification of her prejudices, bigotry and narrow-mindedness. Her understanding of men is nil, to be expected from someone who seems to have learnt everything she knows about them from books. Truly, few men I know fit into her neat categories. Anyone whose intellect is low enough to gain something from this drivel deserves to be misled away on the path to unhappiness. The tragedy is that many young women fall for this garbage, only to reject it too late when they're a single thirty-something, flocking desperately around men at discos in the hope of getting what they tried to reject for so long. Once they've given this up, they'll spend the rest of their lives whining about how there are no good men anymore. A wake-up call for you, Gilman. Spiritual growth is no respecter of the hypocrisy of your brand of feminism, and all who take this bilge seriously are merely stunting their own spiritual evolution, as well as guaranteeing their future unhappiness. The current second-hand selling price of 1 cent for your book is still too high, but is an accurate, free-market reflection of its quality. With so many people still struggling to offload their mistaken purchases for a single cent, I would strongly urge Amazon to consider introducing 'negative pricing' to help them out, as well as negative star rating possibilities so as not to be forced to overrate books such as this one, where even a single star is undeserved. However, so long as it remains cheaper than toilet paper, this book may still serve a function.

Editorial Review:

Irreverent, provocative, hip - and always funny - this guide to power and attitude offers women an intelligent alternative to the negative messages we hear every day from magazines, television and relatives. A Cynthia Heimel for a new generation, Susan Jane Gilman serves up uncommon wisdom and practical advice on everything from sex to politics, from turning shopping skills into a power tool to using man-catching techniques for salary negotiations. Be a Smart Mouth goddess when it comes to...* Beauty: Sure, beauty has the power to excite men. But so does a box of donuts. * Men: After eons of "civilisation" guys still have trouble understanding the word "no." Luckily, there's one word that's guy Kryptonite: "commitment." * Money: Feminists have condemned capitalism as patriachal and exploitative. They obviously never tried to buy tampons in Communist China in 1986. * Politics: Hey, somebody's gotta rule the world. It might as well be us.

Happiness is a Warm Puppy (Peanuts)

Charles M. Schulz

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Wonderful Piece of Childhood 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

It's great to have this book again. I had the first editions of all the small "square hardbacks" in the 60's, but lost them somewhere along the line.

They reflect the simplicity and warmth of PEANUTS in their very format.

Happiness Is a Book By Charles Schulz!

A gem from the past 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I too loved this book as a child. The simple repetetive text helps the reader find simple pleasures in everyday life. I am a teacher now and I have been searching for this book to use with my kindergarteners. I searched in the local libraries to no avail. Of the numerous books I possessed as a child, only two stand out in my memory. One is Happiness is a Warm Puppy and the other, Never Tease a Weasel. For a children's book to make such a lasting impression on so many people is remarkable. It is a shame it can't be put back in print for another generation to enjoy.

Editorial Review:

Happiness is Classic Peanuts!
These collector’s editions perfectly recreate the original look and feel of the best-loved Peanuts books—their paper, their ink, even their lamination. And of course, the heartwarming content that charmed the world, sold millions, and launched the career of Charles M. Schulz remains untouched. On every spread there’s a tiny tidbit of wisdom from one of the gang, along with one of Schulz’s irresistible drawings. It’s a trip down memory lane that every Peanuts fan will cherish.

Mortified: Real Words. Real People. Real Pathetic.

David Nadelberg

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Share the shame.

In the days before blogs, teenagers recorded their lives with a pen in top-secret notebooks, usually emblazoned with an earnest, underlined plea to parents to keep away. Since 2002, David Nadelberg has tapped that vast wellspring of adolescent anguish in the stage show Mortified, in which grown men and women confront their past with firsthand tales of their first kiss, first puff, worst prom, fights with mom, life at bible camp, worst hand job, best mall job, and reasons they deserved to marry Simon LeBon.

Following the same formula that has made the live show a beloved cult hit, Mortified the book takes real childhood journals and documents and edits the entries into captivating, comedic, and cathartic stories, introduced by their now older (and allegedly wiser) authors. From letters begging rescue from a hellish summer camp to catty locker notes about stuck-up classmates to obsessive love that borders on stalking, Mortified gives voice to the real -- and really pathetic -- hopes, fears, desires, and creative urgings that have united adolescents for generations.