Bookworm: Advice on getting, keeping love
‘Girlhood’ offers optimism and enlightenment
Terri Schlichenmeyer
c. 2021. Artisan
By Nate Klemp, PhD, and Kaley Klemp
c. 2021, Penguin Life
“Single and Forced to Mingle: A Guide for (Nearly) Any Socially Awkward Situation”
By Melissa Croce
$16.99; 176 pages
Your beloved is getting on your last nerve. You can probably blame it on the pandemic: you’re both working from home and that’s a lot of togetherness. Or you’re separated by miles and masks. Or, well, to heck with this Valentine’s Day stuff, anyhow. So why not do something about it with these three books?
Do these new self-help books hold the keys to happy singlehood?
By Christina Tucker Correspondent,Updated February 3, 2021, 3:44 p.m.
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As a teen who was prone to whiling away hours in bookstores, Iâd often wander through the self-help section. I couldnât tell you why I â a relatively well adjusted Black teen â felt drawn to a genre that I associated with recently divorced white women. I donât have any memories of actually reading the books, just running my hand along the spines, taking comfort in the idea that someone had answers.
Now, older (yes) and wiser (sure), I donât think any one person has all the answers, but I do believe we can find helpful takeaways from various perspectives on self-help topics. That is why I immediately said yes when the Globeâs Love Lettersâ columnist Meredith Goldstein asked if Iâd be interested in taking on this new monthly column devoted to self-help books with her. Part of me is still