Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
How to Ruin Everything
How to Ruin Everything: Essays | George Watsky
"Funny, subversive, and able to excavate such brutally honest sentences that you find yourself nodding your head in wonder and recognition." Lin-Manuel Miranda, composer and lyricist of In the Heights and Hamilton: An American Musical Are you a sensible, universally competent individual? Are you tired of the crushing monotony of leaping gracefully from one lily pad of success to the next? Are you sick of doing everything right? In this brutally honest and humorous debut, musician and artist George Watsky chronicles the small triumphs over humiliation that make life bearable and how he has come to accept defeat as necessary to personal progress. The essays in How to Ruin Everything range from the absurd (how he became an international ivory smuggler) to the comical (his middle-school rap battle dominance) to the revelatory (his experiences with epilepsy), yet all are delivered with the type of linguistic dexterity and self-awareness that has won Watsky more than 765,000 YouTube subscribers. Alternately ribald and emotionally resonant, How to Ruin Everything announces a versatile writer with a promising career ahead. From the Trade Paperback edition.
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
quote
saraegreen
post image

review
Monpetitoiseau
Pickpick

Lovable. Hard to believe it‘s an NYT bestseller? But sweet nonetheless. Perfect easy read between dense texts.

quote
Monpetitoiseau
post image

“....and a lump rises in my throat like the one my mom can‘t hide when she talks about her high school boyfriend—emotion that 40 short years can‘t dull, a tremor that makes me love my mother more because I understand her in those moments, relate to an ache that takes nothing away from our family but illuminates the million different lives each of us could have led if we‘d washed up on different shores.” ♥️

blurb
blondie
post image

#libraryhaul #bookhaul
So excited for these!
And I bought two from the library. Now I'll be able to do a giveaway for my Year One ARC. :)

TheFunkyBookworm I‘m really looking forward to reading The Chalk Man! 7y
49 likes1 comment
blurb
EvieBee
post image

I remember buying this book last year and still haven't read it! I should jump on that. I feel like since reading THE GLASS CASTLE many years ago, I've been looking for something close to it and haven't succeeded.

[DELETED] 3803335244 Speaking of The Glass Castle! I just put that on my reading list. Thinking of listening to the audio. The author is the narrator, which I love! My sister in law has been telling me how good it is for years! Glad to know you loved it!!!! 7y
EvieBee @ForeverNerdy I'm so excited for you. I can honestly guarantee that this book will consume you. It's that good! Can't wait to hear what you think! (edited) 7y
70 likes1 stack add2 comments
blurb
Eri1
post image

Right??? Who hasn't thought this at least fifty times? #hardtruths #essays

blurb
SubwayBookReview
post image

Julian: "This book reads like a conversation between me and the author. George and I are around the same age. He talks about being thirteen in San Francisco. I grew up in Buffalo, but we still both watched the Power Rangers in the 90s. George is a slam poet and a rapper. And he doesn't actually ruin things. It's more about things not working out. I think George and I are both cynical enough that we don't expect things to go smoothly."

88 likes16 stack adds1 comment
review
cursetine
post image
Mehso-so

pic of the book featuring one of my fave bookmarks, from borderlands in San Francisco! This was a fun read, though I enjoyed certain essays a lot more than others. Watsky is funny, and tells some neat stories about his life. There were also some pretty gross stories about college living/hygiene... Overall, quick & entertaining read.

blurb
cursetine
post image

still no power. reading and making notes, for a letter to send to a friend. going to be away for a while, so we're planning to send letters back and forth, detailing our thoughts on the books we recommend to each other. so far, watsky's essays are charming and funny.

BookishFeminist Sucks you don't have power yet but this looks comfy at least. Love that you & your friend will be corresponding by snail mail! 8y
cursetine @BookishFeminist I don't even mind the power outage (yet) - writing by candlelight makes me feel like a gothic heroine. and yes, I'm really excited to write actual letters! 8y
5 likes2 comments
blurb
Ejmellow
post image

Stopped into Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn, NY and had to hold this one. Kinda super obsessed with this title and cover design💞!

review
oblongirl
post image
Pickpick

Read this because of Lin's blurb on the cover & it didn't disappoint. The elephant tusk smuggling story is pure comic gold.

17 likes3 stack adds
blurb
TheLondonBookworm
post image

Some interesting thoughts for my camper van trip through Europe 😊😊

Laura317 Camper trip through Europe?!? That sounds fantastic. 8y
TheLondonBookworm Thanks! It's pretty good leaves lots of time for reading while others drive 😂 8y
6 likes2 stack adds2 comments
review
peekabooradley
post image
Pickpick

George Watsky is killing it with these essays 😂

2 likes1 stack add
blurb
Rlweasley
post image

I went to the launch of #HowToRuinEverything last night and it was great! Watsky read two of the essays in the book and it made me really look forward to reading this!