Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Things I Want to Punch in the Face

Rate this book
"Anger is like an essential vitamin, and Jen has given me even more reasons to be angry. I couldn't be happier or healthier."—Lewis Black, stand-up comedian, actor, author, and regular on The Daily Show The second edition of Things I Want to Punch in the Face brings humor writer Jennifer Worick's newest and most popular diatribes about the most annoying things in everyday life and modern American society, Cold-Pressed Coffee TED Talks Evites Cosplay Polar Bear Clubs Family Car Stickers Mixologists Scrabble Yoga Pants #blessed And there's more, so much more. From nail art to Hobbits, passwords to auto-tune, Worick takes aim at the copious bounty of annoyances that irk her shit. And ours.

136 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2012

18 people are currently reading
1349 people want to read

About the author

Jennifer Worick

42 books34 followers
I write. That’s rather obvious. Mostly I write about things that blow my skirt up. Humor is a big—huge—part of everything I do. But then there’s that soft, squishy sentimental part of me that can’t help but rear its heartfelt head. And since I like to tell people what to do every chance I get, I write a lot of how-to books, blogs, and articles.

Humorous. Heartfelt. How-to. Three great tastes that taste great together, at least in my cereal bowl.

So let’s get down to it. I know you don’t have all day to ogle my bio, as much as a girl can dream. Here’s what you should know off the bat: I’m the New York Times best-selling author of more than 25 books and, per Reader’s Digest, one of the four funniest bloggers in the US. Pretty cool, eh?

I’ve written on everything under the sun for national magazines and websites like The Huffington Post, Allure, and Salon, and I currently write a books column for today.com. In addition to bookshelves, newsstands, and your favorite websites, you can also find me online at Things I Want to Punch in the Face.

Along with fellow author and publishing pro Kerry Colburn, I deliver publishing talks, workshops, and webinars to help burgeoning authors get published through The Business of Books. You can also catch me in university auditoriums, where I offer up side-splitting but informative slide-show presentations based on my popular books.

Originally from Southwestern Michigan, I currently live in Seattle, where I eschew fleece while eating more fish and chips than is good for me.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
54 (12%)
4 stars
72 (16%)
3 stars
125 (28%)
2 stars
113 (26%)
1 star
69 (15%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews
Profile Image for jv poore.
687 reviews256 followers
October 28, 2021
As quirky and funny as the title would have you believe, there were also couple of pleasant surprises as well. I felt that if the "things" lived up to the title, this would be a groovy little 3-star book. I would enjoy it, maybe have a laugh, then move on.

But, wait.....There's more!

First, with each annoyance, there is a quick, simple fact. What?!?! Laughing AND learning? Good times.

Next, the title becomes a mind-set, a mantra, if you will. When my 8-year old son saw this book, he cracked up at the title. From that moment on, we made a pact that we would no longer go through our days getting aggravated with people. Instead, we'd simply compile a mental list of things that we "Want to Punch in the Face". No longer do I internally curse when I am cut off in traffic. I simply say, well, there's one thing I'd like to "punch in the face". Try it. You'll like it.

We have had so many laughs over this that my son recently said, "I hope she writes another book. She can call it Things I Want To Kick in the Ding-Ding." You're welcome, Ms. Worick.
Profile Image for Chris.
758 reviews15 followers
January 22, 2019
My curiousity got the best of me and I grabbed this book off the library display table. I also got a very strange look from the librarian as he checked this book out for me.

Okay, everyone has different levels of patience, tolerance and pain. This book is written in a style of someone who appears to have low levels in these areas and has written them in a harsh, bitter and aggressive fashion, which I was very taken aback on by threats of a punch in the face (or other body part).

We all have things that annoy us and tick us off. We all have irritations and pet peeves. This book was written with the intent of being comical but included a lot of anger and aggression, which was supposed to be funny, but....it really was not.

By no means am I proud to have chosen and to have read this awful book. What a disaster!
Profile Image for Ryan.
8 reviews
December 11, 2012
For starters, I received this book as a First Reads giveaway.

Wow, let's just say that had I not received this book for free, I would have been seriously disappointed, and wanted my money back. Priced at $11.95, for something that took me an hour to read, because it starts on page 13 and is only 125 pages long, this book is overpriced at just over $0.09 a page. As it turns out, the ebook versions are only a few dollars cheaper, which is even more of a ripoff. My recommendation is don't waste your money and instead just look through the author's blog, which is free and has all the contents of the book.

As you can probably tell, I found myself more annoyed than entertained with the author's rants. Yes, some were good, but more often than not I found myself wanting to punch Ms. Worick in the face. On the plus side, the books ends with her wanting to punch herself, which is why I gave it two stars instead of one.
Profile Image for Colleen.
Author 22 books26 followers
August 28, 2012
True confessions: I'm the publisher. So of course I love this book. I was a fan of Jennifer Worick's blog first, and it made me laugh so consistently that I had to find her and publish a book. It's smart and opinionated and colorful and funny, and it's a great gift for just $12. I don't agree with every Punch-- I happen to like New Yorker cartoons, for instance-- but I love that she calls such a diverse array of annoyances on the carpet. Great therapy.
Profile Image for Tif.
156 reviews5 followers
March 18, 2013
Too bad Jennifer Worick doesn't want to punch the over-use of puns in the face. Also, it turns out that I don't really like reading books about what other people hate. I don't share the author's bitterness over most of the things in the book and she came off sounding like an unpleasant, self-absorbed person.
Profile Image for Ingrid.
237 reviews3 followers
June 6, 2017
Things *I* want to punch in the face: publishers who think Jennifer Worick would make a good author.

I wanted to like this book but honestly it was aggressively awful.
Profile Image for Judy.
719 reviews2 followers
November 3, 2014
When this book first came out someone recommended it to me and I wish I could remember who that was so I could go punch him/her in the face. I like a good rant with comedic value but this was just one bitchy whine after another over piddly little BS things. If I wanted that I'd go visit relatives.
Profile Image for Sarah .
439 reviews82 followers
January 18, 2016

This review was originally posted on One Curvy Blogger

A couple of weeks ago, I was having a bad day. I can’t remember why but probably because of something insignificant that irritated me until I was steaming – yeah, I can be a bitch sometimes. I was about to start doing the dishes and decided I needed an audiobook to keep me company. I browsed through my public library’s online audiobooks and came across Things I Want to Punch in the Face. It sounded perfect for my mood. I downloaded it and ten minutes later, I was too busy laughing my ass off to be annoyed!

Things I Want to Punch in the Face is compiled of 101 things that annoy the shit out of Jennifer Worick. Everything she lists, from Man Caves to Bucket Lists, she gives each a punch rating (from 1-5 punches) and an explanation and factoid about each thing that drives her bat-shit crazy.This is not a book to take seriously, it is humor after all. However, it is the perfect book to relieve some stress and to shake you out of a bad mood.

Not only was the book fun, but so was the narrator! It was obvious Rebecca Gibel put 100% effort into the narration, she really sold it. I would love to hear her narrate a book with characters. Her performance seemed made for Things I Want to Punch in the Face. This is my first audiobook narration from Gibel, but I will definitely be looking out or more of her works!

In conclusion, I recommend this book to anyone looking for a good time and a few chuckles! If you’re in need of a good laugh, I suggest you pick up Things I Want to Punch in the Face.
Profile Image for Chris.
10 reviews8 followers
October 2, 2012
I have enjoyed Jennifer Worick's site of the same name for years, now. She's taken the art of the pet peeve to a cosmic level. Now, there's a portable collection of Worick's rants. Encompassing a variety of peeves which can only be considered epic in their scope, from 'Molly Ringwald's Prom Dress in Pretty In Pink', to, 'Prolific Dead People', to, 'Naked Pregnancy Portraits', this companionable tome will not only remind you of how detestable things like the 'IKEA Habitrail', or, 'Mercury In Retrograde' are, but Worick describes them in such a way that you will delight in finding new reasons for wrath. I love the 1- to 5-punch rating scale, and the insets, where Worick gives us factoids about the subject at hand. She feels our pain...and vents it.
Profile Image for Lisa Koch.
1 review8 followers
November 10, 2012
While reading Jennifer Worick's "Things I Want to Punch in the Face", I made the mistake of taking a drink of coffee. While in mid-slurp, I snorted and ended up with a most of my morning joe on my shirt. Funny, clever, cranky. Except now I want to punch my book in the face...
Profile Image for Marjorie.
314 reviews
August 8, 2013
first - bitch stole my idea....that chaps my hide. second - now I know there is an audience for rants and maybe I'll start my own blog and write my own book and make hundreds of hundreds of dollars. and some cents.


I want to punch her in the face for writing MY book.

dammit.
Profile Image for Chad.
4 reviews1 follower
January 21, 2019
Things I want to punch in the face: this terrible book, myself (for buying this terrible book) and myself again (for reading half of this terrible book before deciding to stop reading it).

Things I don’t want to punch in the face: Amazon for allowing me to return this terrible book for a refund. I only paid $1.99 for it but that was about $10 too much.

Sample chapter: Whine, whine, whine, bitch ,bitch, bitch. You like something I don’t like so, therefore you are a loser. Now stand there while I make a stupid sexual innuendo and give you a knuckle sandwich.
Profile Image for April.
719 reviews11 followers
January 14, 2021
3.5 rounded down

I enjoyed the audiobook version, which I suspect is more entertaining. I expected the book to be longer and more detailed. Yesterday was a bad day, so I think the book helped because there were a lot of things I wanted to punch in the face.
Author 2 books9 followers
December 30, 2015
Unlike Meghan Rowland's hilarious "It Seemed Like a Good Idea ..." this book was a huge disappointment.
It was very obvious it was blog-based. Being blog-based is not by itself a bad thing, but being obvious about it most certainly is.
Worick presents a long, alphabetized list of things she loathes so much she wants to punch them, from the orange crud that Cheetos leave on your fingers and clothes to chai to so-called comfort shoes to stupid celebrity baby names. Fair enough. (Though I happen to have a serious weakness for Cafe Escapes Chai Latte K-cups; the Cafe Escapes people are welcome to send a check for my ringing endorsement.) But whereas Meghan Rowland tells her exaggerated hard-luck stories with just the right blend of snarkiness, total plausibility and smarts, Worick just writes like a puffed-up blogger too lazy to use a thesaurus.
At one point she describes herself as a "thirty-something lady" but her writing is littered with enough "asshats" and "jackwipes" and "nutbars" to make a pimply fourteen-year-old boy say "Enough, dude."
Worick also relentlessly skewers pretentious, self-absorbed hipsters, which is just fine by me, except that she herself comes across as, you guessed it, a pretentious, self-absorbed hipster. There were a few mildly funny comments, but they were few and far between and forgettable.
Two thumbs down. I want to punch Jennifer Worick and this book in the face.
Profile Image for Allie.
674 reviews
October 10, 2012
First things first: I received this book as a goodreads First Read.
Good, that's out of the way.

That being said, I was pretty freaking excited when this lil' gem appeared in my mailbox! There are multiple people/places/things I would like to punch in the face, so I figured that Jennifer and I would connect on that "very disgruntled female" level.

Connect we did. Many of the things that Jennifer wants to punch in the face are also things that I also believe deserve a good beating (like business speak....who the hell likes business speak?).

I highly recommend this book as a supplement to whatever else you happen to be reading. For example--I've been on a zombie novel kick, so when I get too scared I pick up Jennifer's book and read an entry or two, laugh my behind off, then go back to zombies.
Perfect situation!

Profile Image for Cole McCade.
Author 65 books1,532 followers
Read
February 1, 2014
DNF. The ebook really doesn't display well for Nook HD, with the graphical elements not really aligning properly and often completely messing up the format and layout, with the text scrunched into 1/4 of the page, odd hyphen breaks inappropriately placed in words, and the footers often splitting the text into three pages.
Profile Image for Wild1.
56 reviews36 followers
April 16, 2015
Good for a few giggles in agreement - made up business words, duck face selfies, parking space hogs (grrrr) & tantards is definitely a new entry to my vocabulary - people wearing full make up & jewellery on the beach (should also be applied to those in the gym).
Although biggest chuckle was at an American getting annoyed at people who mispronounce words - erm...aluminium, basil, oregano....lol
Profile Image for Heather.
5 reviews
September 15, 2012
I'm already a fan of the blog and am loving the number of fists rating system for how many punches in the face any one thing deserves. Ms. Worick's irreverent sense of humor makes me belly laugh. As an added bonus you get to learn fun facts while you're chuckling! Do yourself a favor and read it!
Profile Image for Yoly.
715 reviews49 followers
November 6, 2013
Ranting with style. She's funny :)
Profile Image for Leah.
15 reviews
November 12, 2016
Worst book. I listened to the audio book and it was excruciating. Hours of constant griping. Not funny. Don't waste your time.
Profile Image for Bunny .
2,396 reviews116 followers
August 1, 2019
Read for Book Roast's Magical Readathon: NEWTs Exams. Subject: Herbology, A Level. (Audiobook)

reminder: being negative about everything is not a quirky personality trait

— Samantha 🔮 (@thoughtsontomes) August 1, 2019


Normally I like to start reviews with a quote from the book, but Samantha's well timed tweet fit the situation entirely too well.

This book is dreadful. Dread. ful.

You know how Dennis Leary's shtick is just going on long rants about things he really doesn't like? I really enjoy those rants. They're not good for reading, but listening to him go off is positively delightful. I recommend his monologue from the movie Demolition Man, personally.

Well, this is in the same vein, though the trouble is, Jennifer Worick is simply not funny.

There's no humor here. The only thing you're dealing with is someone complaining about literally everything. From the petty to the mundane to the ridiculous, this is 3 hours of non-stop whining about things. And the worst part is, because this book was published 6 years ago, a lot of this doesn't even exist anymore.

This book doesn't age well. And I doubt it was particularly remarkable when she originally wrote it.

This is a blogger who was told one too many times, "OMG You're so funny!" and decided to run with it. Also, she apparently used to work for a publisher, which explains everything.

36 books in 31 days: Book 1
Profile Image for Janalyn, the blind reviewer.
4,645 reviews141 followers
January 8, 2025
Things I Want To Punch In The Face by Jennifer, Warick, I bought this book years ago and kept wanting to get to it and haven’t and when I started finishing my currently reading bookshelf on Goodreads, this one came up. I can appreciate that this book was written years ago, but things I can’t agree with is her wanting to punch people at the genius bar in the face for treating her as if she too, is a genius, people who get up early and make it to the coffee shop before her, and those born with food allergies. I also don’t like the way she not name drops but position drops such as her saying that she was in Paris for free, she learned she was a genius in the fifth grade etc so whatever that’s called she did it a lot in this book. I’m not going to say I totally dislike and/or disagreed with some of the things she said, but these were just quick one page opinion pieces that were not all thought through and not all of them were even a page long. I do want to say I love people who criticize the book for its violent nature and then say they want to punch it in the face… See how easy it is it becomes contagious.
Profile Image for Madeline Wright.
220 reviews6 followers
January 28, 2019
I wanted to read this book based on the title alone, and so I listened to the audiobook version. I felt that it was so smarmy and did not age well. The author takes things that can be annoying and applies threats of violence to them, hence the title. My issue was when the annoying things were specific PEOPLE's appearance or style choices. Those potshots weren't actually funny and even mean-spirited to me.

I winced mostly when she called out evidence of specific people having had facelifts or other cosmetic procedures they may or may not have actually wanted before / or liked the after results themselves.
What also didn't help my enjoyment were the f-bombs and swears she dropped all through her 'pun'ch lines. It just made it even less humorous and sound more angry and threatening. The only humor I found in it was imagining that the narrator who was saying these things is a voiceover actress who is all of 5'0" and 105 lbs soaking wet. I'd say skip this one.
Profile Image for Heidi.
79 reviews
July 9, 2020
We opted for the audible book to entertain us on a leg our road trip. It was easy enough to listen to, though I wish the voice had been more varied. I also wish it had been the author reading as it might have given more audible context.

The format was consistent, I enjoyed the "fact of the matter" with each item. And I was able to chuckle with most of the situations. I felt that the author was very creative with her language... the most memorable being "Nirvana seeking sultans of swill" when speaking about chai drinkers.

Listening straight through all 102 items, did get a little much. Broken up into 2 or 3 different times might have been more enjoyable... mainly because of the chosen reader's voice.

This is a light humorous read. Expecting anything more will leave you very unsatisfied. It's not about violence or anger. It's simply a vent session with a comedic and colourfully written lens.

If the audible voice had been more interesting, I would have rated it 3 stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Ashley Tovar.
812 reviews
May 22, 2017
Upsides: quick & good for a laugh or two.

Downsides: this book started off on the wrong foot with me by insulting the song Ironic. This is an all time favorite of mine & the author clearly misses the face that the examples of "Irony" in the song are not actually irony... which in itself makes the song ironic! Things didn't improve much after that. This woman comes off as insecure & paranoid. The book often reads like " I don't like _____ because people who enjoy it are snobby/judging me/ stuck up...." you get the point. And sure maybe some are but really? Most people just like what they like, no need to make it personal!

Like I said, a few laughs but overall the book was just frustrating.
Profile Image for David.
1,085 reviews7 followers
November 26, 2024
I ground my way through the whole thing and barely cracked a smile. The only thing I remember is when she cites “retrograde Mercury” as a thing she wants to punch in the face, ascribing all manner of outcomes to the apparent motion of Mercury in the firmament. The apparent motion of Mercury has been explained by the Copernican model of the solar system for what, 500 years now? And the idea that planetary motions influence human affairs has minus a trillion percent basis in reproducible observation?

Astrology. Now that is something I would be very happy to punch in the face.
Profile Image for Karin Mika.
736 reviews6 followers
December 6, 2019
This book didn’t get great reviews, but I was intrigued because, don’t we all want reaffirmation of the bubbles we live in? I thought this might be one of those books.

It wasn’t.

The book was terrible and I couldn’t finish it. It was trite and focused on trite, selfish wishes about the world around us and the people around us. It was very juvenile, which, unfortunately is the way many in the adult world act.
Profile Image for Emily.
401 reviews3 followers
January 17, 2018
Wanted something light & funny but was disappointed. Too much. Just too much. Anger, pettiness, profanity/vulgarity, etc. Would've stopped listening to the audiobook but it was short enough that I just endured. Some things were occasionally funny, but often spoiled by the repetitiveness of her punchlines (no pun intended). Don't bother.
93 reviews
June 2, 2017
Things I Want to Punch in the Face. This book. It was cute for the first 50 pages or so, but the language and content became quite tedious afterwards. P.S. Mr. Darcy is practically perfect in every way.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.