This week: a self help book titled 'Grow the F*ck Up'; and advice on how to buy a home

This week there’s just one work of fiction and it’s for the chisellers, a story about gender identity and how it affects a close-knit family. There’s another self-help book from Sarah Knight, author of the hugely popular No F*cks Given series, entitled Grow the F*ck Up. There’s advice from the man behind the social media sensation Crazy House Prices, on how to buy a home in this country without resorting to magic spells, murder or special novenas to St Jude. And there’s an interesting look at how our hormones affect all aspects of our physical and mental health, with guidance on how we can take care of our hormones to take care of ourselves.

The Lonely Book, Meg Grehan, Little Island, €8.99

This book for the eight to 12 years market is written entirely in (non-rhyming) verse and tells the story of Annie, cocooned in her loving family, with two mothers who run a bookshop and allow Annie to help out. The family unit is made up of both mothers, who are a couple, and Annie and her older sister Charlotte. Something’s been wrong with Charlotte (Charlie) for a while now and Annie is worried but can’t seem to find the words to express her anxiety. The girls’ mothers are a tad worried too.

Everyone takes consolation in the bookshop, which – like every bookshop, I think – has a magic all its own and is treated in the story like a character rather than a backdrop. The shop has the ability to match books with readers, but one book doesn’t find its reader and the bookshop gets very worried! It’s a charming feat of imagination in a book that explores non-binary and gender identity themes, reminding the reader that, with love and support, our kids (and our bookshops) can survive just about anything.

How to Buy a Home in Ireland, Ciarán Mulqueen, Hachette, €14.99

Subtitled ‘A Guide to Navigating the Irish Property Market’, this book is an account of the author’s struggle to get on the property ladder, along with lots of tips and what he calls ‘tricks’ to assist the reader who’s out of hope. In the opening pages he writes: "I was 34 when we managed to buy our home; my parents had four children and were on their third home by then." This is the reality of contemporary Ireland. We have a population that’s bursting at the seams and there’s hardly a house between the lot of us.

The first ‘trick’ is to write a letter and post it in the letterbox of every house in the area you’d like to live in. It worked for Mulqueen and he insists it can work for anyone. Having been outbid dozens of times for every house he’d expressed an interest in, he and his partner decided to write to everyone in the neighbourhood and his next-door neighbours sold him their home off-market. Happy days. But that’s only the beginning, and I’m not going to spoil. Let’s just say there are ways, and if you’ve got a reasonable deposit and mortgage approval, you’ll find lots of practical help in this useful book.

It’s Probably Your Hormones, Dr Mary Ryan, Gill, €18.99

A topical book, this, seeing as one can hardly turn on the TV or radio without being presented with someone-or-other rattling on about the menopause. But endocrinologist Mary Ryan says it’s not just about those tricky years of hot flushes and sleeplessness. Hormone health is something we should be aware of throughout our lives and things like insomnia, weight gain, acne and libido loss are all signs that our hormones are out of whack, no matter what age we are. This book is extremely readable and informative and answers a lot of questions we ask (only ourselves, probably) time and time again, questions like do I have early dementia? Why am I putting on weight? Am I diabetic? Why am I so exhausted?

She lists these questions and others at the outset, in a chapter titled Why We Need This Book and in distinct sections (so the reader can rush to the part that’s bugging them!) she explains what’s wrong and how to fix it.

Both natural solutions and drugs are discussed here, so the reader can make up their own mind on what avenue they should pursue. There are more general discussions, too, on taking the time and making the effort to mind ourselves and our health, as well as advice on how to create boundaries, how to empower ourselves and others, and a lot more besides.

Grow the F*ck Up, Sarah Knight, Quercus, €15.99

Sarah Knight has by now sold more than two million copies of her self-help ‘No Fucks Given’ guides on how to live a relatively peaceful life. Although there are overlaps in some of them, it seems her fans can’t get enough of her. While dressing her books up in language that appears to be the antithesis of more traditional self-help parlance, her content is the same as anything by Dr Phil, Oprah Winfrey, or your local psychologist/ clergyman/ practising Buddhist/ wise woman. It is, I think, Knight’s method of delivery that keeps her selling at a rate of knots, for there’s nothing new in here. That said, she does like to dispense with the bullshit and get straight to the point.

This latest book is perfect for the person in your life who needs to grow up a bit. There’s a surprising number of adults out there with the mental age of under-developed toddlers. America even voted one into presidential office not so long ago. Immature people are a pain to deal with and tend to make the lives of those around them much harder than they should be. This book is big on responsibility and accountability and has no time for shirkers. It’s busy, breezy and sensible, although I really have a problem with making verbs out of nouns, like ‘adulting’ for instance, one of Knight’s favourites. That’s grammatical nit-picking, I admit, and if it doesn’t bother her fans then it shouldn’t bother me. Grammar (and colourful language) aside, it’s a solid, level-headed self-help book.

FOOTNOTES

The Bealtaine Festival runs from May 1 to 31, a nationwide celebration of age and opportunity. Some of the bigger events are listed on the website bealtaine.ie, but keep checking, as local events are being updated constantly.

The Birr Festival of Music runs from April 27 to May 1: it is a classical music festival with concerts, workshops, street performances and pop-up events.

It’s well worth a visit over the long weekend. See birrfestivalofmusic.com.