Boy, go get a book at Target

A month after I read Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis, I was at my big-box store of choice — Target — by the check-out lines. And... holy mackerel!

There was a cardboard cutout of Hollis and a display hyping her book. The fact that this marketing could exist in the modern day gave me some sort of hope for nonfiction books.

Girl, Wash Your Face is in the genre I love and is an excellent book that can help a lot of people. Each chapter is named after a lie she would tell herself, and maybe we share that lie. Then, she would offer truisms and actionable solutions to move forward.

Similar to You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero, I have basically the same two critiques. No. 1: The audience is obviously more for women. No. 2: I couldn't relate to some of the lies, and a few chapters just didn't affect me.

However, some of the chapters did, especially in the beginning of the book. The book kicks off with chapters "Something else will make me happy," "I'll start tomorrow" and "I'm not good enough." To me, these are universal personal-growth basics that everyone should follow. But soon, the book goes into more female-focused growth, and, well, it turns out I'm a total dude.

I am such a dude, in fact, that I made sure to suggest Hollis' 30-day challenge to my wife. Hollis' involved her husband, and perhaps you can infer what it is. We have not embarked on it yet, but that does not mean I won't bring it up time to time.

Overall, I do believe that Hollis is an inspirational figure. However, here is another author in 100 Nonfiction Books I Recommend that is huge in other arenas. She has 1.5 million Instagram followers, a popular Podcast, and I continually wonder how important her books are, compared to her other endeavors.

Because Girl, Wash Your Face has sold 3.5 million copies, I conclude that her books are indeed a big deal. But her path should be a lesson to all would-be authors, that it is foolish to think books just sell themselves. She is busting herself in motivational speaking and other media, and she must have an excellent team in place.

Perhaps another title for one of her chapters named by lies could be "We can go at it alone."