Quirkyalone: It’s a mindset

So many books, so little time. But here are a few excellent ones to check out.

First up is Single State of the Union: Single Women Speak Out on Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Happiness, edited by Diane Mapes. I’m proud to be part of this collection of single women’s voices on everything from sex to single motherhood to everything in between. My essay is about my absurd journey of auditioning for the most cringe-inducing reality dating show ever, How to Get the Guy (which tanked quickly on ABC last year). Bad show, funny experience trying out for it. My piece is called “How I Dodged a Reality Show Bullet.”

If you’re interested in the social and political context around these issues, don’t miss Bella De Paulo’s Singled Out: How Singles Are Stereotyped, Sigmatized, and Ignored, and Are Still Living Happily Ever After. Bella’s book is a comprehensive look at what she calls “singlism”–institutional and attitudinal discrimination against single people. It gives you a new lens to look at very familiar attitudes and policies in the workplace and society at large. When the quirkyalone movement finally marches on Washington, I’m sure people will bring Bella’s book to quote some of her statistics.

For something completely different, a mesmerizing memoir by founding member of the quirkyalone nation, William Poy Lee, whom I interviewed in the Quirkytogether chapter of Quirkyalone.

William Poy Lee’s The Eighth Promise is a memoir told through two voices–his and his mother’s. It’s the story of his family’s journey from Toisan China to Chinatown, San Francisco. It’s both an immigration story as well as a family story–about how his relationship with his mother and her traditional Toisan values shaped his life through often turbulent times in the U.S. By reading William’s book I learned so much about Toisan China as well as about 1960s social history and radical politics at the time in Chinatown. The book pulls you in and won’t let you go until you finish.

And of course, I MUST mention that my own book To-Do List: From Buying Milk to Finding a Soulmate, What Our Lists Reveal About Us will be out in November, just in time to stuff your own stocking or to give to the listmaker in your life. Even though the exciting moment of publication is still six months away, you can always pre-order now!

Related posts:

1. My New Quirky Book
2. To-Do List Celebrations
3. Note from a Returning Expat (Quirkyalone)
4. Come to a New Year’s List Slam
5. Sixth Annual Quirkyalone Day Party in San Francisco