Perpetual Disappointments Diary

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Granted, those come with slight personal jabs, but hey, there’s no growth without first realising your weaknesses.

No –only from asburyandasbury.com/shop. I haven’t figured out how distribution works and will happily take advice if there are any experts out there. The National Poetry Library and British Library have copies, so I have some baseline literary credibility. Introverts who are perfectly happy on their own would appreciate the ‘Excuse Generator’, a roadmap to the perfect excuse to get you out of any social situation.

Rather than single pieces, I think of them as fragments of one bigger poem that is essentially novelistic. So you have the big plotlines of Brexit and Trump and the sense of this grand historical sweep, but you also get the granular details of visits to the barber and letting a fly out of the window. And there are themes that echo across the whole story, including meditations on the nature of time and reality, or recurring characters like Dan Hannan. The Perpetual Disappointments Diary describes itself as a “downbeat journal for pessimists, cynics and losers everywhere”. Complete with realistic journaling prompts, boring crosswords, useful phrases and pointless doodles, you can’t find a more relatable book. To truly capture the essence of 2020, Kinokuniya is selling a product that is such a big mood — the Perpetual Disappointments Diary.

All in all, a pretty suitable diary considering everything that's happened in 2020, although we're not sure many will care to ponder on the crap they've had to suffer over the past year. IMAGE: Asbury & Asbury IMAGE: Kinokuniya Malaysia

For those who need gifting ideas, this could be the perfect present for your chronically cynical friends. Be it for Christmas or any time of year, we’re sure they’ll appreciate this amusing journal. First published in 2016, the diary has kept up with new editions every year – you can even buy the 2021 edition right now. But still, the general pessimistic outlook you get from its contents has stayed unchanged. IMAGE: Asbury & Asbury

var et_frontend_scripts = {"builderCssContainerPrefix":"#et-boc","builderCssLayoutPrefix":"#et-boc .et-l"}; And the death poems are always popular, if that’s the right word. There’s something about writing and reading those poems in-the-moment that turns it into a different experience. (Sorry about the bad photos by the way.) After spotting Kinokuniya Malaysia's highly-shared Facebook post highlighting the diary on December 13, 2020, we were naturally intrigued to see what else was inside, especially considering how some of us (especially this author) tend to be self-loathing pessimists at times.Everything depressingly real from weight gained to debt accumulated and public shamings, you can keep count with the Perpetual Disappointments Diary. No – I did a talk at D&AD Manchester and the Off The Shelf Literature Festival in Sheffield and enjoyed both. So I’m looking for other opportunities and open to suggestions. We didn’t really – the covers were curling because of production problems that became an annual headache and eventually led us to seek out a ‘proper’ publisher. It’s now in its third edition with Pan Macmillan and I’m not sure whether it’ll extend beyond that – this could be the last sad hurrah.

So yes, it’s available now and I’ve no idea how long it will be in future, so maybe act now if you’re ever going to. You can’t argue it’s not a timely gift given the state of the world. The diary makes no bones of what it wants to do. The blurb on the cover even describes itself as a "downbeat journal for pessimists, cynics, and losers everywhere," and that you'll "love it." var et_builder_utils_params = {"condition":{"diviTheme":true,"extraTheme":false},"scrollLocations":["app","top"],"builderScrollLocations":{"desktop":"app","tablet":"app","phone":"app"},"onloadScrollLocation":"app","builderType":"fe"}; I don’t know. I’m still writing so I suppose those poems will have to go somewhere. I like doing it and feel like there’s more to do. It started in a random and unplanned way and I suspect it will end similarly. If this Perpetual Disappointments Diary speaks to the pessimist within you, you can head over to Kinokunyi to get a copy.Another section aims to dig out some of your deepest doubts, fears, and insecurities, and asks you piercing questions about them. IMAGE: Asbury & Asbury