Book Shelf: Top 5 Books for Single Women

By Leah Furman

Q. I used to be a big reader in college, but with work and a busy social life I haven’t had much time for reading. I want to start again. What are some of the latest books you can recommend?

A. If passé, depressing titles like The Rules and Men Who Hate Women and the Women Who Love Them are crowding your shelf or you only got 30 pages into The World Is Flat – three months after you first picked it up, it sounds like you need to revamp your reading list. Here are some titles that should get you turning pages in no time.

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1. Single State of the Union: Single Women Speak Out on Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Happiness by Diane Mapes (http://www NULL.amazon NULL.com/gp/product/1580052029?ie=UTF8&tag=sinminwom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1580052029">Single State of the Union: Single Women Speak Out on Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Happiness</a><img src=)

Diane Mapes’s has compiled a collection of essays by, you guessed it, single women that will speak to any woman trying to navigate the world of dating, careers, relationships and single motherhood. By turns funny, touching and always relatable, the essays in this book will bring a smile to your face and remind you that while you may be single, you are most certainly not alone.

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2. Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert (http://www NULL.amazon NULL.com/gp/product/0143038419?ie=UTF8&tag=sinminwom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0143038419">Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman)

You’ll have to look far and wide to find a woman who hasn’t read Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir and loved every word of it. Finding herself at loose ends after a bitter divorce, the disheartened heroine decides to make a drastic change in her life. At 34, she sets out to conquer the world and experience, well, everything. From the sensual life in Rome to the spiritual existence in India, Gilbert bares her soul to the very end, when she hits discovers the golden mean in Bali.

pic3 (http://www NULL.amazon NULL.com/gp/product/B000WMOHSW?ie=UTF8&tag=sinminwom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000WMOHSW%22%3EKiss%20and%20Run:%20The%20Single,%20Picky,%20and%20Indecisive%20Girl%27s%20Guide%20to%20Overcoming%20Fear%20of%20Commitment%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=)3. Kiss and Run: The Single, Picky, Indecisive Girl’s Guide to Overcoming Fear of Commitment by Elina Furman (http://www NULL.amazon NULL.com/gp/product/B000WMOHSW?ie=UTF8&tag=sinminwom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000WMOHSW">Kiss and Run: The Single, Picky, and Indecisive Girl)

Gone are the days when we could point our fingers at our boyfriends and call them out as commitmentphobic @#$!. According to Elina Furman, dating a commitmentphobe is just a sign that you’re afraid of commitment yourself. So is keeping a long list of “must haves” for your ideal mate. Ditto for always thinking you could do better. So read this book and check yourself before you launch into another round of the “all the good ones are taken” blues.

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4. Smart Women Finish Rich: 9 Steps to Achieving Financial Security and Funding Your Dreams by Dabid Bach (http://www NULL.amazon NULL.com/gp/product/076791029X?ie=UTF8&tag=sinminwom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=076791029X">Smart Women Finish Rich: 9 Steps to Achieving Financial Security and Funding Your Dreams (Revised Edition)</a><img src=)

Personal finance guru David Bach tells it like it is in this no-nonsense guide for women who are more interested in turning that extra $500 into $50,000 than into a pair of Jimmy Choos. Covering all the bases of money management, this book even offers inspirational stories of women who have followed the steps to become millionaires.

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5. Quirkyalone: A Manifesto for Uncompromising Romantics by Sasha Cagen (http://www NULL.amazon NULL.com/gp/product/006057898X?ie=UTF8&tag=sinminwom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=006057898X">Quirkyalone: A Manifesto for Uncompromising Romantics</a><img src=)
Author Sasha Cagen inspires readers to celebrate their single life. If you’ve ever called yourself a hopeless romantic, this book will certainly give you plenty to smile about. Cagen advocates “romance, friendship and independent spirit” and encourages readers to revel in the greatest love of all – your love for you. Amen to that!

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