Women's Nook
What Makes Women Happy
It seems so natural for the title to be a question that even my computer programme is telling me to put a question mark after ‘happy’. Everyone asks the question but nobody has the answer, right?
But there’s no mistake. Author, Fay Weldon is not asking, she’s telling. Such assuredness draws you in. So my question is - does she really know what makes women happy?
Many of us seem to fossick around for a lifetime trying to ‘find’ happiness by looking in all sorts of places. Fay Weldon is prepared to put her thoughts on the table, in an entertaining blend of philosophy, storytelling and self-help hints based on her observations about how it is to be a modern woman trying to ‘be’ happy. She’s adamant that women should stop obsessing and feeling bad about themselves.
Have you read Eat Pray Love?. It’s subtitle - One woman’s search for everything - hints at finding happiness and so millions - mainly women I suspect - followed Elizabeth Gilbert’s search with great interest. We love to read about other women regardless of whether they’re trying to find happiness or just trying to be happy.
In What Makes Women Happy Weldon discusses with wit and wisdom some sources of happiness - sex, food, friends and chocolate to name a few - before proceeding in Part Two to talk about the four enemies of happiness: despair, depression, isolation and self-doubt that can each and all inhibit our ability to be happy, if we let them.
What Makes Women Happy is full of bold ideas. As to whether Weldon really knows … well, I’m yet to decide but it’s really got me thinking. It’s a good choice for bookclub. There’s certainly lots to discuss …
Read Fay’s interview, in the Guardian, at the time this book was published.
You can buy What Makes Women Happy here.
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