Review: BrokenTitle: Broken (in the best possible way)
Author: Jenny Lawson
Genre(s): Humor, Non-Fiction
Pages: 285
Source: Library
For: Play Book Tag, Trim Your TBR Challenge
Rating:
Sexual Content: 0 Flames

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There's a trigger warning for this book. See Trigger Warning section at end of review for more details.
Goodreads Synopsis

As Jenny Lawson’s hundreds of thousands of fans know, she suffers from depression. In BROKEN, Jenny brings readers along on her mental and physical health journey, offering heartbreaking and hilarious anecdotes along the way. With people experiencing anxiety and depression now more than ever, Jenny humanizes what we all face in an all-too-real way, reassuring us that we’re not alone and making us laugh while doing it. BROKEN is a beacon of hope and a wellspring of laughter when we all need it most.

My Thoughts

Back in 2017, I read Jenny Lawson’s FURIOUSLY HAPPY and loved it. It actually kind of changed my life. I realized in a very profound way that I’m not alone. And, even when I’m in the depths of depression, it’s okay to laugh and enjoy life. Because I loved FURIOUSLY HAPPY so much, I’ve wanted to read more of her books. I finally got the chance by reading BROKEN (IN THE BEST POSSIBLE WAY) for a couple of reading challenges.

BROKEN didn’t have as profound of an effect on me as FURIOUSLY HAPPY did. And, I still appreciated Lawson’s candor and openness with her struggles with mental and chronic illness. I find the way she describes things to be a very raw, honest, unique look at how someone deals with their pain. At times, I felt like she was stealing parts from my own life as she described hers. I feel like she and I are kindred spirits.

I didn’t fail in responding to past treatments … those treatments failed to work for me.

Lawson’s humor and writing are definitely not for everyone. In fact, if you’re easily offended, then I wouldn’t even attempt to read her books. I’m glad I found her, though, and I’ll keep reading more from her. I also think that if we knew each other IRL, we could be friends.

Have you read BROKEN (IN THE BEST POSSIBLE WAY)? If so, what did you think?

P.S. I used the paperback cover in my post because it has a llama on it. I couldn’t pass that up, even though I read the hardcover edition.

Trigger Warning

There is a trigger warning for suicidal ideation.

Review: How ToTitle: How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems
Author: Randall Munroe
Genre(s): Humor, Illustrated, Non-Fiction
Pages: 308
Source: Own
For: Play Book Tag
Rating:
Sexual Content: 0 Flames

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Goodreads Synopsis

For any task you might want to do, there's a right way, a wrong way, and a way so monumentally complex, excessive, and inadvisable that no one would ever try it. HOW TO is a guide to the third kind of approach. It's full of highly impractical advice for everything from landing a plane to digging a hole.

My Thoughts

My husband turned me onto the xkcd webcomic about a decade ago. I’m not the most religious follower, but I do like his humor. I found out about HOW TO through my library’s “Best in Books 2019” event and actually won a copy of the book while I was there. I was really excited that out of all the books I could’ve won, I won Randall Munroe’s.

I loved HOW TO. I loved all the crazy things Munroe thought of doing using absurd, over-the-top scientific methods accompanied by his typical stylistic stick figure drawings made HOW TO a delight to read. I also loved that since I was in a physics class last semester, a lot of the physics he used and talked about were things I had just learned, albeit on a much simpler level.

Physics doesn’t care if your question is weird. It just gives you the answer, without judging.

One of my favorite chapters was “How to Throw Things” because he has an interactive element on his website with the physics built in. I think it’s hilarious that Thor AND Chris Hemsworth are available throwers. I recommend playing around with it because it’s fun, even if you haven’t read the chapter.

Anyway, I’m glad my Goodreads group’s tag this month was science and prompted me to finally read HOW TO. It was 9 hours well spent (thanks, Bookly, for the stats).

Have you read HOW TO? If so, what did you think about it?