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DARE TO DO NOTHING

Name: DARE TO DO NOTHING
Author: Amy Minty
ISBN: 978-1-943401-88-8

by Amy Minty ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 15, 2021

An often amusing, if sometimes uneven, argument for doing less in life.

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A collection of essays celebrates the art of indolence.

In this humor book, Minty pays tribute to her favorite pursuit: doing as little as possible. In chapters that function largely as stand-alone essays, she describes her strategies for avoiding work in her job as a cocktail waitress, in her marriage, and throughout her social life. In the author’s world, there are exceptions to her preference for inertia (eating, drinking alcohol, having sex, and sleeping should be pursued with enthusiasm), but decision making should be shunned aggressively. Minty addresses her fellow lovers of slacking throughout the volume, advising them on how to find the most undemanding jobs, which people are most likely to interfere with the pleasure of doing nothing, and how to build relationships that thrive on inactivity. The book explores the question of nature versus nurture as it relates to laziness, and praises the virtues of taking up short-term residence in a coffee shop. Although the author makes clear in the volume’s introduction that her advocacy for doing nothing should be taken as satire, her repeated stories about skipping out on work, shrugging off responsibilities, and sulking through family vacations can be grating to those who appreciate diligence. They also suggest a level of privilege that is not dealt with in the text. But even curmudgeons will find humor—mostly of the variety delivered by the author Jenny Lawson—in the book, especially in the chapters where Minty contrasts vacations (the epitome of doing nothing) with trips, which are anathema to her. Her tales of her parents and their differing work ethics are also enjoyable. The collection’s strongest and most insightful chapter is the last one, written during the pandemic, in which the author compares the enjoyable kind of doing nothing with the enforced inaction she confronted when the world was locked down. While the volume’s tone, particularly in the early chapters, may not appeal to all readers, those who appreciate slacker humor—or have a touch of idleness themselves—will connect with it.

An often amusing, if sometimes uneven, argument for doing less in life.

Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-943401-88-8

Page Count: 254

Publisher: Trimark Press

Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

HEALTH & FITNESS | PSYCHOLOGY | SELF-HELP

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F*CK IT, I'LL START TOMORROW

by Action Bronson ; photographed by Bonnie Stephens ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 20, 2021

The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.

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The chef, rapper, and TV host serves up a blustery memoir with lashings of self-help.

“I’ve always had a sick confidence,” writes Bronson, ne Ariyan Arslani. The confidence, he adds, comes from numerous sources: being a New Yorker, and more specifically a New Yorker from Queens; being “short and fucking husky” and still game for a standoff on the basketball court; having strength, stamina, and seemingly no fear. All these things serve him well in the rough-and-tumble youth he describes, all stickball and steroids. Yet another confidence-builder: In the big city, you’ve got to sink or swim. “No one is just accepted—you have to fucking show that you’re able to roll,” he writes. In a narrative steeped in language that would make Lenny Bruce blush, Bronson recounts his sentimental education, schooled by immigrant Italian and Albanian family members and the mean streets, building habits good and bad. The virtue of those habits will depend on your take on modern mores. Bronson writes, for example, of “getting my dick pierced” down in the West Village, then grabbing a pizza and smoking weed. “I always smoke weed freely, always have and always will,” he writes. “I’ll just light a blunt anywhere.” Though he’s gone through the classic experiences of the latter-day stoner, flunking out and getting arrested numerous times, Bronson is a hard charger who’s not afraid to face nearly any challenge—especially, given his physique and genes, the necessity of losing weight: “If you’re husky, you’re always dieting in your mind,” he writes. Though vulgar and boastful, Bronson serves up a model that has plenty of good points, including his growing interest in nature, creativity, and the desire to “leave a legacy for everybody.”

The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.

Pub Date: April 20, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-4197-4478-5

Page Count: 184

Publisher: Abrams

Review Posted Online: May 5, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021

Categories:

BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | ENTERTAINMENT, SPORTS & CELEBRITY | GENERAL BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | HEALTH & FITNESS

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POEMS & PRAYERS

by Matthew McConaughey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 16, 2025

It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.

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A noted actor turns to verse: “Poems are a Saturday in the middle of the week.”

McConaughey, author of the gracefully written memoir Greenlights, has been writing poems since his teens, closing with one “written in an Australian bathtub” that reads just as a poem by an 18-year-old (Rimbaud excepted) should read: “Ignorant minds of the fortunate man / Blind of the fate shaping every land.” McConaughey is fearless in his commitment to the rhyme, no matter how slight the result (“Oops, took a quick peek at the sky before I got my glasses, / now I can’t see shit, sure hope this passes”). And, sad to say, the slight is what is most on display throughout, punctuated by some odd koanlike aperçus: “Eating all we can / at the all-we-can-eat buffet, / gives us a 3.8 education / and a 4.2 GPA.” “Never give up your right to do the next right thing. This is how we find our way home.” “Memory never forgets. Even though we do.” The prayer portion of the program is deeply felt, but it’s just as sentimental; only when he writes of life-changing events—a court appearance to file a restraining order against a stalker, his decision to quit smoking weed—do we catch a glimpse of the effortlessly fluent, effortlessly charming McConaughey as exemplified by the David Wooderson (“alright, alright, alright”) of Dazed and Confused. The rest is mostly a soufflé in verse. McConaughey’s heart is very clearly in the right place, but on the whole the book suggests an old saw: Don’t give up your day job.

It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.