Falling for Me by Anna David
October 11, 2011 by Harper
Paperback, 320 pages
Review Copy
Like most women, whether they've chosen the Fortune 500 career path or have had five kids by 35, Anna David wondered if she’d made the right choices. Then she came upon the book Sex and the Single Girl by Helen Gurley Brown,Cosmopolitan’s fearless leader from the mid-sixties to the late nineties. Immediately connecting with Gurley Brown’s unique message of self-empowerment combined with femininity, Anna vowed to use Sex as a lesson plan, venturing out of her comfort zone in the hope of overcoming the fears and insecurities that had haunted her for years. Embarking on a journey both intensely personal and undeniably universal, she becomes adventurous and spontaneous—reviving her wardrobe and apartment, taking French lessons, dashing off to Seville, and whiling nights away with men she never would have considered before. In the process, she ends up meeting the person really worth changing for: herself.
Thoughts
You know that problem you find in many memoirs- the one that says I have a great story but I don't know how to write? Well I can tell you for sure that's not the case in Anna David's well-written take on changing one's life. A funny, quirky fast read that focuses on Anna's recovery from a romance involving a married man. Down in the dumps and questioning life, Anna stumbles upon Helen Gurley Brown's, Sex and the Single Girl and decides to follow its step-by-step process of transforming her life. While Anna doesn't go straight up hippie chick, she does discover the importance of self-worth through cooking lessons, spa-treatments, changing her wardrobe, traveling and a long list of fancy things that doesn't seem to effect her pocket book.
Reading through the authors ups and downs and especially the parts on diet and fashion, erased the feeling of reading a memoir and brought a quality to the book that made Anna seem like a friend and a girl who I would have coffee with. She cracked me up, at times I wanted to make her a button that said "You are Worth It" or give her high fives of motivation. At other times I shook my head, but ultimately I just wanted to give Anna a hug and point her to a rainbow at the end of the journey......
While Im happily married with kids and will never experience the freedom or loneliness of a single woman, I did relate to Anna's struggle finding self-worth and her views on self-esteem. I highly doubt there is a woman out there who hasn't dealt with some form of a self-issue and trying to reinvent oneself. When I was 24 I had two children and felt old, I thought a tattoo and brow piercing would change my life....(HA!) the struggle of finding that one thing is a common denominator among us women, which made Anna's memoir all that more relatable. Now while I wouldn't recommend Brown's novel as a how to guide for the single gal, I would recommend Anna's book for a funny, sometimes mopey memoir of a 30-something gals coming of age story.
Anna David is the author of the novels Party Girl and Bought, and the editor of the anthology Reality Matters. She has written for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Redbook, Details, and many other publications. She was the dating expert on G4’s Attack of the Show and has appeared on national television programs including the Today show, Fox News’s Red Eye and Hannity, and CNN’s Showbiz Tonight.
Connect with Anna on Twitter and Facebook. Visit her blog and website.
Rating
Falling For Me is recommended to adult readers and contains topics on single life, sex, language and self-discovery. Be sure to stop by again this Thursday and see what Anna's up to as she visits TBR's.
4/5- Memoir
Thanks to Harper for review copy
This book has such a cute cover! I'm not one who usually picks up a nonfiction book to read, but I do like the honesty and warmth this book seems to portray. I'm going to add it to my tbr pile. Thanks for the recommendation, Tina!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds great. Awesome review.
ReplyDeleteAwe. I don't read memoirs, but this one sounds like it has some good life lessons.
ReplyDeleteA brow piercing, T? Wow, you are such a rebel! :)
@Missie- well lets see I have the tattoo and always will...a freaky gothy butterfly on my ankle but the brow thing lasted for about one hour. Went home and the hubs freaked....LOL....
ReplyDeleteHaha, I can still remember with my second tattoo my dad took one look and said "now you have dragonflies flying out your butt" hahahaha...Still have the tattoos, and many more. Still love them. But an eyebrow piercing...that I'd love to see a picture of!
ReplyDeleteP.S.
The book sounds really cute. A nice vacation read I think...I'm throwing it in the TBR...
I've been married for 6 years and I still struggle with self-worth and self-esteem. Its kind of ridiculous if I ponder it for any length of time, but I can't seem to make it go away. I think this is a book I'll need to pick up. I'll have to introduce it to the top of my TBR. :D Love this review, Tina!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a funny book that we could all relate to in some way!
ReplyDeleteBEFORE I got married I struggled with all if these things for different reasons than I do now... Lol! Sounds like a good read though!
ReplyDelete"When I was 24 I had two children and felt old, I thought a tattoo and brow piercing would change my life" - I LOVE it! It is so funny what we think is such a big deal in our lives when it is going on, but that we realize wasn't all that important later on.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed this read! Thanks for being on the tour.