He said, more or less, that all the non-fiction I read is freaking and stressing me out and that maybe I ought to give fiction a try for a change. I was telling him about my latest book, What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About PreMenopause, telling him about how I am convinced I am "estrogen-dominant" and how I'm SURE this is the reason for all my various ailments and he basically told me to put the book down and back away slowly. And as I was reading down the alphabetical list of estrogen dominant symptoms to George he's like "You skipped "H". And I said "No I didn't! Hairloss!" And he says "You skipped hypocondriac."
I will admit I am a bit of a hypochondriac, and I definitely tend to be anxiety-ridden. But I never thought that reading could have been playing a part in it. And it's true: I never read fiction. The last novel I read that I loved was probably "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" in 11th grade. My bookshelf is definitely not a collection of feel-good beach-y reads: 102 Minutes, Perilous Times, Free Culture, etc. etc. I have this compulsion to just learn and absorb stuff, not to just kick back with a plain old good story.
But, being the dutiful patient that I am, I decided to give it a shot, to put down the self-diagnosing tomes and pick up some chick lit. I know, I can't really believe it either. Where do I start? I decided the best course of action was to simply pop into my local library and pick out the stuff with pink spines, and I ended up with this:
Up and Out by Ariella Papa, from none other than Harlequin's venerable chick-lit imprint Red Dress Ink. Although after looking through the Harlequin website I really wish I'd gone with Seduced by the Wealthy Playboy or The Billionaire's Baby Negotiation. At least you know exactly what the book is about - no guessing with these!
So, we'll see if chick-lit is the answer to my problems. But I'm still convinced I'm estrogen-dominant, dammit!
2 comments:
Funny, my therapist said the same thing to me. First she told me to give up all fashion magazines so I would stop worrying about my weight (it worked! Now I'm a fat couch potato!)I told her that I now only read magazines about food and she seemed satisfied with that (?????). I have a hard time reading any Fiction as well. I figure if I’m going to spend time reading something I might as well be learning something. I think that last Non-Fic book I read was Payton’s Place because my friend is doing her PhD on it and it was a gift from her! I'm currently reading 'Money CAN Buy Happiness' by MP Dunleavey. I admit to having an addiction to books about finding happiness without increasing wealth, and living with less and becoming a hermit (a la 'Your Money or Your Life'). My biggest fear is losing my job and ending up a bag lady. Wait-a-minute that’s a disease as well! I read it in the times last year! It's called “Bag Lady” syndrome. And my therapist keeps saying I’m perfectly normal…..
I get yelled at by my sister for watching depressing documentaries. Two nights ago I watched CrazySexyCancer. Shh! Don't tell her!
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