01 January 2020

Review: Fucking Good Manners by Simon Griffin

Fucking Good Manners by Simon Griffin cover
RRP $19.99 AUD
Published November 2019
* Copy courtesy of Allen & Unwin *

After the demonstrably successful Fucking Apostrophes in 2016, Simon Griffin is back with Fucking Good Manners. December is the perfect time of year for a laugh. Everyone is busy, it's hot and hectic and there's quite a bit of argy bargy when it comes to Christmas shopping and being considerate of others. Griffin acknowledges that we can ALL do better when it comes to our manners and sets out to demonstrate.

Chapter headings like public transport, driving, public toilets, queuing, the workplace and social media give the reader an accurate picture of what will follow.

Griffin quickly identifies many of our pet hates when it comes to dealing with others (family, friends, workmates and strangers) and in doing so, inspires us to do better. The author uses his sense of humour to shed light on every day issues and just like Fucking Apostrophes, he frequently makes me laugh in doing so.

In fact, I was reading this book in a hospital waiting room and cracked up when I got to this part:
"The business world is full of ugly acronyms, obscure abbreviations and bullshitty jargon, generally designed to make people feel more intelligent than they are. It started with thinking outside the box, putting ducks in rows and hitting the ground running, but each workplace has its own unique set of bullshit buzzwords. Forget about running things up the flagpole and touching base and getting the ball rolling and peeling back the fucking onion. Stop wasting people's time with this gibberish and start using some plain fucking English." Pages 135 & 136
It was the classic cliche of laughing while reading in a public space, but this really did happen! A few old people were sitting across from me and were glowering but too bad, their loss.

However, the best part of the book came at the end while reading the Acknowledgements when I recognised my name mentioned in the thanks section. This immediately elevated this to a 5 star reading experience, but I need to stay true to the rating I'd already settled on in my mind before I lost my shit seeing my name printed in another book.

Fucking Good Manners by Simon Griffin is a funny book with instant appeal for readers of all ages. It does contain the 'f' word on every page though, so use your discretion. Highly recommended.

Carpe Librum!


My Rating:

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  1. Congrats on the acknowledgment!
    This is on my wishlist :)

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    1. Thanks Shelleyrae, it's a real buzz isn't it? I hope you get your wish :-)

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  2. Congrats on the mention and this sounds like a good read!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Theresa, I was on such a high when I saw it :-)

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