True Confession: I find great pleasure in watching the Today Show on NBC in the morning. Watching Al, Matt, Tamron, and Savannah chat and deliver the ‘news ‘ is on my list of personal self-soothing remedies, a list which also includes wine drinking while reading Real Simple magazine and taking long baths while listening to the sound of the tub filling up.

So, this morning, I am watching the Today Show, trying to get my butt out the door to make it to class on time, and I see a very pretty woman in her 30s talking about her new book, Spinster. The Today Show has hooked me; I had to sit down and listen to her interview. It turns out this woman is the  39 year old author of the book, Kate Bolick. (Just a note: did I have to mention she’s very pretty? No. But it definitely helps her argument, as she’s a single, not married, but has a boyfriend, beauty in her late 30s which we don’t often seen portrayed.)

The book explores the question “Can I spend my life alone and be happy?” from a woman’s perspective. Bolick got a reported high six-figure deal for the book. Aside from the fact that I’m a teeny weensy bit jealous and also have a bit of a platonic girl crush on her…I’m desperately excited to read this book. Mainly because I’m so sick of this idea that women can’t have fully, complete and satisfied lives on their own.

Image by Willy Somma

Bolick’s book explores the lives of five female writers in the past century who’ve actively chosen to live their lives on their own terms and not marry. As I haven’t read it, I can’t really give a 100% recommendation but my hunch is, it’s going to be a fascinating read, if for no other reason than this line about her eating a Big Mac on her sidewalk after a drunken night out:

“I chomped and strolled as slowly as I could, prolonging the delectable realization that waiting for me at home was nothing but an empty bed into which I’d crawl naked and drunk and stinking of fast food, disgusting nobody but myself.”

Can’t wait to read this.