Poe for Your Problems, Catherine BaabMuguira
Poe for Your Problems, Catherine BaabMuguira
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Poe for Your Problems
Uncommon Advice from History's Least Likely Self-Help Guru

Author: Catherine Baab-Muguira

Narrator: Jennifer Jill Araya

Unabridged: 7 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/07/2021

Synopsis

When life’s got you down and things aren’t going your way, who better to turn to than Edgar Allan Poe? Discover how to say "nevermore" to your problems in this darkly comedic and refreshing self-help guide.

Of all the writers anywhere, Poe might be the least likely person you'd ever turn to for advice. His life was a complete dumpster fire: he married his cousin; got fired from one job after another; constantly feuded with friends and rivals; and he was always broke. But that’s also precisely the point. Though Poe failed again and again, he also persevered.

Drawing deeply on his works and life, Catherine Baab-Muguira takes the familiar image of Poe in a new and surprising direction in this darkly inspiring self-help book. Despite what you might think, Edgar Allan Poe is the perfect person to teach you to say "Nevermore, problems!" and show you how to use all the terrible situations, tough breaks, bad luck, and even your darkest emotions in novel and creative ways to make a name for yourself and carve out your own unique, notorious place in the world.

An inspirational tale for black sheep everywhere, Poe for Your Problems will teach you how to overcome life’s biggest challenges to succeed at work, love, and art—despite the odds and no matter your flaws.
 

Reviews

Goodreads review by Brian on July 02, 2021

What a unique take on Poe’s life, and what a unique book! Poe for Your Problems isn’t a biography of EAP, but then it kinda is. And it’s not really a self-help book that uses Poe’s worldview and life approach as a guide to self-actualization, but then it sorta is. Well-researched and informative, ou......more

Goodreads review by Stephenie on April 21, 2021

Way funnier than any other self-help I've seen before. Way more literary, and WAAAY darker. In fact, the darkness is the whole point. No matter how messed up I am, I can look at Poe's life and feel better. This book is sort of a satire of self-help that somehow, strangely, seems to work BETTER than......more

Goodreads review by Doreen on September 15, 2021

9/14/2021 4.5 stars, and one of my best books of the year so far. Quite shockingly good. Full review tk at TheFrumiousConsortium.net. 9/15/2021 I honestly wasn't sure when I started reading this book where Catherine Baab-Muguira was going with it, and to be completely honest, I'm still not sure how t......more

Goodreads review by Jennifer on November 27, 2021

Genius. It’s about time someone figured out that self-help isn’t exactly helpful when it’s coming from someone with perfect hair, glow in the dark veneers, and a ridiculously enormous speaker’s fee. Yes, I already loved Poe - his story and his work - when I started reading. But if I had picked it up......more

Goodreads review by Cheryl on July 27, 2021

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. Thank you Goodreads, Running Press, and Catherine Baab-Muguira. Full disclosure: I’ve read a self-help book or two in my day, but have since distanced myself from the genre to focus more on reading fiction, because, well, there’s only so much you can do... The......more

Quotes

“Books about people’s successes are common. Books where you can learn from someone’s painful demons and failures are rarer—but far more meaningful. Cat's writing on Poe is insightful, funny and important.”—Ryan Holiday, author of THE OBSTACLE IS THE WAY

“Fresh, page-turning, deeply informed and often funny, Catherine Baab-Muguira’s Poe for Your Problems brings us a sorely overdue Poe-meets-modernity perspective that won’t simply make its readers happier but smarter and even saner, too.”—Alan Pell Crawford, author of HOW NOT TO GET RICH: THE FINANCIAL MISADVENTURES OF MARK TWAIN

“I loved this! A book Poe himself might’ve written: fun, dangerous, a little dark, semi-autobiographical, ambitious but not pompous, and funny and outrageous!”—Steve Hely, producer of THE OFFICE, 30 ROCK, and VEEP, author of HOW I BECAME A FAMOUS NOVELIST

“This is more like an anti-self-help book, a guide to accepting yourself for the substance-abusing, sexually suspect fuckup you already are; a how-to for cultivating grudges, nurturing petty jealousies and vendettas, scheming the destruction of your enemies and indulging delusions of grandeur. I endorse this.”—Tim Kreider, author of I WROTE THIS BOOK BECAUSE I LOVE YOU and WE LEARN NOTHING

“Beautifully written, funny, clever, and wise . . . Baab-Muguira not only provides us with invaluable takeaways from Poe’s antisocial behavior, but also implores us to embrace our own madness, or as she calls it, our "own weird-ass, occasionally combative truth.'"—John Reeves, author of A FIRE IN THE WILDERNESS

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