- Author: Amanda Palmer
- ISBN: 9781455581085
- Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
- Genre: Non-Fiction/Self-Help
I purchased this book.
I had been wanting to read Amanda Palmer’s book, The Art of Asking, for awhile, but I couldn’t afford it, so when I found out about a deal at Audiobooks.com, I chose it as my freebie. There were so many other books on my wishlist, but Amanda Palmer narrates the book herself, and there’s the “extra” of a few music tracks. So, I figured, if there’s one book I’d likely enjoy as an audiobook, it would be this one. I’m so glad I chose it, instead of something else. This book is beyond amazing!
The entire book felt like a never-boring conversation between life-long friends. I listened to it while commuting to and from school (an hour each way), but also at every point in my day when I had a couple minutes to spare. That meant a book that, clocking in at 11 hours and 30 minutes, should have taken me 6 days to finish, only took 4 days instead. However, If I had been reading the hardcover, instead of listening, I think it would have taken much longer. There are just so many quotes that I would have had to stop and think about and then highlight and write notes in the margins, if not longer “notes” in my journal. There would have been moments when I would need to stop reading so I could let out all the feels this book brought on, and I would have stopped too many times to count in order to dog ear pages. I frequently thought that someone needs to come up with an app to “bookmark” passages in audiobooks, and there were several times when I came close to having to pull over so I could let the tears flow safely. I don’t know how I managed to hold myself together long enough to get to school or home.
I loved The Art of Asking so much that I bought a physical copy. The boyfriend later made it a gift, when I told him that this book was the best non-fiction book I’ve ever read that I HAD to buy it, regardless of the hardcover price tag. His other reason might have been that I wouldn’t shut up about the book, Amanda Palmer, or Neil Gaiman, and maybe paying for the book would finally earn him a subject change. I greatly look forward to rereading it, and I can’t recommend it enough. I somewhat understand why it’s labeled as “Self-Help”, but I think it fits better into the auto-biography or memoir categories. Really, it’s a one-on-one, sit down, with an endless cup of coffee or glass of wine, conversation with a best friend. Unfortunately there’s no category for that in bookstores and libraries.