Good Read - The Last Single Woman in America

While sitting in my car (for an HOUR) waiting for my manager to show up, I finished The Last Single Woman in America. It was a good one! I'm not so good at summarizing, so I included the official info from Barnes and Noble at the end of this post. I enjoyed reading the essays that Cindy Guidry presents about life as the last single woman in America. You can probably figure out why I picked this one off the shelf - considering how that's how I feel most days!

Here are some of my favorite quotes/passages. Each resonated with me for some reason:

"My friend Pierre recently felt compelled to warn me that it's going to be difficult for me to find a man because most men are intimidated by independent women. And I guess I'm stuck with that Catch-22; one doesn't really have any option other than independence when there's no man around to depend on." (pg 44)

"It was hard to say exactly what I wanted in a man, but I couldn't shake this lingering romantic notion that I'd know him when I met him, and that the fog of our combined confusion and doubt would then magically dissipate, allowing us to come together, find our places in each other's lives and figure out a way to make it work." (pg 111)

"But maybe I was too picky. Maybe I should just forget chemistry and serendipity and true love. Maybe I needed to get over that. Maybe I need to get out more. Maybe it was time to be practical." (pg 164)

"So I ask you, if everyone's feeling the same things and looking for the same thing, then why is love so hard to find? I know we've put some obstacles in the way, but isn't love supposed to conquer all?" (pg 251)

"Then I wonder if there really is some magic that exists in every moment just waiting to be unleashed, some magic that I've simply chosen to ignore again and again in order to protect my own bruised heart. I wonder if innocence is ever really lost, or if it's something that we simply tuck away once life teaches us that the price we have to pay for it is just too high." (pg 269)

Taken from bn.com

Synopsis
A "sassy" (USA Today), "funny, fast-talking"
(New York Daily News) "great read" (People) that unfolds like a conversation with your bawdy best friend over a glass-or a bottle-of wine. Whether she's being greeted by the news that her brother has thrown her underwear off a Mardi Gras float, desperately trying to kick Dave Matthews out of her car before he discovers that her 6-CD changer contains six Dave Matthews CDs, or hosting a friend's baby shower after learning that her boyfriend has impregnated another woman, Cindy Guidry writes with the ease of a born raconteur. This is the rare book that provokes both belly laughs and tears, as Guidry barrels through the obstacle course of life, refusing to see her grass as anything other than green.

Publishers Weekly
Realizing she is the only single woman during the bouquet toss at her friend's wedding, Guidry, a former Hollywood film executive, deems herself "The Last Single Woman in America." Along with being 40-something and unwed, she had just lost her job and her boyfriend; however, she remains in good humor and believes that with "a handful of Dave Matthews CDs" she'll be okay. Guidry offers her view on men (feminism has encouraged women to be easy, therefore men no longer appreciate the value of women), the perks of knowledge (why take advanced yoga when you know all the moves in the beginning course) and her take on the Internet (the overconnected Web population is limiting face-to-face contact with such tools as Internet dating), all the while hurdling the obstacles facing single women. If 40 is the new 20, Guidry does a good job portraying this by exhibiting the maturity level of someone half her age, making it hard to believe her anecdotes. At one point, she attacks her mother at a dinner party by questioning whether she slept with a leprechaun to produce her son, Guidry's always lucky brother. While amusing,Guidry barely offers deeper insight than thoughts on bikini waxes and acupuncture sessions for her pet.