Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Please don't read this – a book review

by kbxmas






I was reading the other day somewhere, I don't know where, about a new book called Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough. It's written by a woman who was bright and successful and dated a lot of men she wasn't crazy about so she held out for someone who really made her heart sing, but woke up one day and realized she was forty and not married and had a big old insecurity seizure. She decided the solution to her loneliness problem was to write a book exhorting other women to shelve their dreams of emotional and intellectual companionship and hook up with someone, anyone, because fuck it, what good are dreams anyway. At least I think that's what the book's about. I haven't actually read it. I wouldn't waste my time on that drivel.

Books like this (think The Rules or any of the why-oh-why-am-I-still-single genre) make me batty. They feed right into the psychic vortex of sexual insecurity that our gender seems to possess that tells us we're not complete unless we've glommed onto the right man, or any man. And who better to wax forth on relationships that me, considering my breadth of experience (four engagements and two marriages, thank you very much).

If I had the audacity to tell other people how to live, I would say this: the hell with good enough. Give yourself more credit than that. Ignore the voices all around you shouting about doom and gloom and scarcity and time running out. Let them settle for each other while you listen to your own voice and find your own way in the world. Water has a way of seeking its own level.

So no, I can't recommend Marry Him. It's the worst book I've never read. If you're going to spend your hard-earned money on a book, buy mine. Don't let the fact that it hasn't yet been published stop you.*


* or, for that matter, written.
 
This has also been posted at Wanderlust

7 comments:

Marla said...

"It's the worst book I've never read."

What a great line!

Unknown said...

I just bought yours and it was awesome. Best book I've never read. :)

Wanderlust said...

Alex - cool!! I'm so motivated to start it now.

Wanderlust said...

Well. Way to not have a blog Alex. How am I supposed to check out your writing if you don't blog? Oh. I get it. It's the best blog you've never written. Hope you're enjoying Queensland. I was *just* there....

Now I'm going to go check out Marla's blog.

Katherine Jenkins said...

Kristin-Alex DID have a very wonderful blog! Marla has a great one!

Marcie J said...

I really hope you write that book and soon....most of the relationship books out there are based on faulty logic or premises - like the Mars Venus books - books you don't have to read to know they are based on an old dichotomy of male v.s female - as if humans are as uncomplicated as black and white and as if all women, all men act and think alike -

Wanderlust said...

Good points M. Methinks the author wasn't wearing her internal bikini.