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    Falling for Me: How I Learned French, Hung Curtains, Traveled to Seville, and Fell in Love…
    Unavailable
    Falling for Me: How I Learned French, Hung Curtains, Traveled to Seville, and Fell in Love…
    Unavailable
    Falling for Me: How I Learned French, Hung Curtains, Traveled to Seville, and Fell in Love…
    Ebook309 pages4 hours

    Falling for Me: How I Learned French, Hung Curtains, Traveled to Seville, and Fell in Love…

    By Anna David

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Like most women, whether they’ve chosen the Fortune 500 career path or have had five kids by 35, Anna David wondered if she’d made the right choices. Then she came upon the book Sex and the Single Girl by Helen Gurley Brown, Cosmopolitan’s fearless leader from the mid-sixties to the late nineties. Immediately connecting with Gurley Brown’s unique message of self-empowerment combined with femininity, Anna vowed to use Sex as a lesson plan, venturing out of her comfort zone in the hope of overcoming the fears and insecurities that had haunted her for years. Embarking on a journey both intensely personal and undeniably universal, she becomes adventurous and spontaneous—reviving her wardrobe and apartment, taking French lessons, dashing off to Seville, and whiling nights away with men she never would have considered before. In the process, she ends up meeting the person really worth changing for: herself.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 11, 2011
    ISBN9780062098764
    Unavailable
    Falling for Me: How I Learned French, Hung Curtains, Traveled to Seville, and Fell in Love…
    Author

    Anna David

    Anna David is the author of the novels Party Girl and Bought, and the editor of the anthology Reality Matters. She has written for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Redbook, Details, and many other publications. She has appeared on national television programs including Today, Hannity, and CNN’s Showbiz Tonight.

    Read more from Anna David

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    Reviews for Falling for Me

    3.5/5

    39 ratings12 reviews

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    • 5/5
      So she decides to live by Helen Gurley Brown's rules in Sex and the Single Girl...so outdated, right? But is it? As she learns to live for herself, she grows as a person and all under the guise of how to catch a man. Honestly reminded me of Down with Love (the movie) for some reason.
    • 3/5
      I loved this author's fiction book "Bought" but her real-life memoir did not grab me. Using Helen Gurley Brown as her mentor, David traveled both literally and figuratively to enrich her life.
    • 4/5
      I liked this book. I thought it was very interesting how Anna David went on this year long journey to find herself. I thought some of the stories were pretty funny. I definitely identified with her in many ways and yet, thought it was interested how different we all are and how we all have our own insecurities. A fast read, cute and interesting. Something light hearted and upbeat. I wouldnt buy it, but check it out from the library or borrow it from a friend, you wont be disappointed!
    • 3/5
      The book is okay but dull. Anna David finds a book written in the 1960s - Sex and the Single Girl - after a failed emotional relationship with a married man. She decides to pattern her life after the book, hoping that it will lead her to Mr. Right. Along the way, she takes some risks and learns some stuff. Yeah, really, it's that cliche.I never connected with Anna; she seemed rather self-absorbed and superficial, and sometimes over-the-top. As I read the book, I just wanted to shake some sense in her. She's unhappy because she doesn't have everything she wants in her life (in this case, a man) - but who really has EVERYTHING they want in life? I know that I certainly don't, but I'm happy, and I'm not flying to LA or Spain or Morocco. I really forced myself to finish this book, because the more of it I read, the less I found myself interested in what happened. I bought this book because of the high reviews on Amazon; I guess I should have looked at the reviews here before completing my purchase.
    • 3/5
      Thank you to Book Club Girl Jen for providing me with a copy of this book. Jen will be hosting a radio show with the author of this book Anna David on her blog talk radio show in November for anyone who would care to join in. I love a good memoir, if you lived with sheep for a year or ate only red foods for a year or tried to walk backwards for a year I probably read about your journey of self discovery. I kid of course but there does seem to be a plethora of books out there by people who choose to do "something" for a year and then chronicles their adventures in a book. Which brings me to Anna David's book where she attempts to improve herself over the course of a year in hopes of finally attaining that relationship with the opposite sex that she decides she has been missing out on. This is a perfectly fine goal. If what you are doing is not working out then try something else. Right off the bat I found that I really didn't like Anna. She apparently spent her 20's as a drug addict, which was probably the reason she missed hooking up for life in her twenties. Not only that but when we are first introduced to her she admits that she has an obsession with a married man and her relationship with him is extremely inappropriate. I didn't know anything about Anna before reading this book. She apparently has written other novels and is a sort of Carrie Bradshaw/ Sex in the City styled relationship expert. When you don't know anything about a person and are first confronted with the fact that they were a self absorbed, spoiled drug addict hooked on a married man, they don't come off as too sympathetic. I almost stopped reading there but since the book was given to me in exchange for agreeing to participate in the radio show I thought I would be fair and read the whole book. As soon as Anna got off the Will/ married man kick the book got a lot better (although she does revisit the unhealthy obsession several more times throughout the book). I found her attempts at self improvement entertaining to read. The apartment fix up, closet overhaul, and attempts at cooking are things all women can relate to married or not. All of this self discovery is set against Helen Gurley Brown's book Sex and the Single Girl written in the 60's. Some of her sixties advice is still applicable today and some of it is not. I have never read the book and a familiarity of it may have enhance the reading of this memoir. Along with the self improvement, Anna attempts to meet men through match.com, speed dating, friends, and whatever way she can think of. I probably felt the most empathy for her while reading these passages. She delves into a discussion which I think all women have with themselves at some point, especially if they are in their thirties and unmarried. Is Mr. Perfect for me out there or is it okay to settle for Mr. Pretty Good? Of course Anna has her share of dates with Mr. Totally Wrong as well. As amusing as her dating adventures were to read, I lost all patience with her when she became rude to the gorgeous, humanitarian doctor because he dared to eat a bowl of cereal in her apartment. I suggest that if you are that easily annoyed, marriage may in fact not be for you. I found myself disliking Anna again and I found it difficult to finish the book. Fortunately for me I found myself near the end. One trip to Spain and Morocco and I quick reflection on her experience and we were finished. Anna did not find love with a man but instead learned to love herself. That pretty much sums up everything. This book gave me some things to think about but over all I personally found the author off putting as did apparently many of her dates.
    • 4/5
      "Falling for Me" by Anna David is the story of a single thirty-something who looks to the classic book "Sex and the Single Girl" to help her re-evaluate her life as a single girl. After reading the first chapter, I knew I would enjoy this book. As a single thirty-something, I saw that David was able to express feelings in words that I also felt. It was like I had written the book. Her anectdotes are entertaining, as she undertakes cooking and travels to Seville. What I most enjoyed about this book, though, was how David was able to shine a light on being single in this modern world. This was a great study in self-exploration, ultimately helping David and the reader come to the realization that how one feels about being single isn't always pressure from outside sources, but more likely pressure coming from within.
    • 4/5
      Very well-written, searingly honest, kept me reading till the end, where I was relieved to find that Falling for Me didn't refer to some man she met through her Sex and the Single Girl peregrinations.The first chapter was my favorite - a very psychologically acute portrayal of what it's like to be a 30-something single woman in our couples culture, woven together with the very sad story of the perfect (married) man she met and had to give up.David's decision to take Helen Gurley Brown's dated advice felt gimmicky to me - it gave the book a structure to hang itself on that didn't totally work, and that I don't think it really needed. But all in all, I really enjoyed this light, but satisfying, read. I marvel at her honesty (especially in the sex scenes!), but that's what makes a good memoir work.
    • 4/5
      I received this as an advance read, and I liked it. It wasn't the type of book I couldn't put down, but it was interesting enough that it kept me reading to the end. The author decided to follow some life changes based on a 1960s book by Helen Gurley Brown (then the editor of Cosmopolitan). It's humorous, an easy read, but somewhat predictable.I liked it, and I would recommend it as a quick, easy read when you don't want a book that taxes you too much ; )
    • 4/5
      Writer Anna David, at a difficult crossroads in her life, decides to take the advice offered in 'Sex and the Single Girl.' This is not an immediately obvious choice, I have to say, but she interprets Helen Gurley Brown's 1960s how-to-catch-a-man advice through a particularly 21st century sensibility. What She Learns is that she doesn't have to wait for a man to start living her life. It's OK to decorate your apartment, cook a decent meal, and travel, just for your own pleasure.I enjoyed the book although I didn't quite buy it. I suspect that David transformed her life and then went looking for a gimmick with which to write about it. No matter; her voice is engaging, she did NOT end it by finding Javier Bardem on a beach in Bali, or any of the other expected endings, and I enjoyed my time with her.
    • 3/5
      One of my favorite recent new genres I’ve discovered is a genre I call Challenge Books. In this genre, authors set a goal to do a difficult task and then write a book about their attempt to achieve the goal.Falling for Me is one of these books. Anna David is nearing forty and is dismayed to find that she is child-less and husband-less. After yet another hopeless and doomed love affair, David decides to use a book from 1962, Helen Gurley Brown’s Sex and the Single Girl, as her template to finding a new life. David does. She learns to cook, seeks out advice on wearing makeup, redecorates her apartment, and initiates a fitness program. She doesn’t find a husband and she doesn’t have a child by the end of the book, but she is in a saner, happier place. Though I must say that my fifty-four-year-old self spent most of the book shocked by the casual way David threw herself in quick and obviously doomed relationships, it was a good read. Thank you to the publisher for sending me this advanced reader copy.
    • 4/5
      At a depressing crossroads in her life, author, editor and talk show dating expert, Anna David stumbles upon Helen Gurley Brown's, Sex and the Single Girl, and decides to use it to find a man. Throughout the course of a year, Anna takes Helen's advice on fashion, cooking, hobbies, travel, sex, and relationships to often a funny, but significant, result. I immediately loved this book within the first paragraph. Anna's writing is clear and the situations were relatable. At times, she could be a bit maudlin and self pitying, but would soon write through the negative in her life and the story would steam ahead. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more of Anna David's work.
    • 3/5
      I have written before about what I term the stunt memoir. The author, usually an already well established writer, comes up with some sort of stunt to try for a year, and then writes about it. I have read memoirs about giving up electricity, not buying things, not buying things from China, and making amends with all the people you have alienated. All these stunts generally take one year. After reading so many of them they start to feel really contrived. All you need is an agent to pitch it to, a publisher, and a great book advance and voila, paperback memoir and a big book tour. None of them has given me terribly great insights.Enter a variation on the theme: established contemporary writer reads a long forgotten tome by some famous person and lives a life in response that work and writes about it. The best example of this is Julie and Julia about the woman who blogs her way to fame by cooking all of the dishes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, also made into a movie starring Amy Adams and Meryl Streep.Falling for Me falls under this catagory as Anna David comes across a copy of Sex and the Single Girl by Helen Gurley Brown written in 1962. Ms. Brown is an early feminist who talks about having a career and attracting men. She posits the idea that you don't have to be dowdy to be powerful. It is okay to be sexy and wear make-up and be a modern woman.Anna David is thiry something and sadly single and decides she will follow Gurley Brown's advice for-- guess what?--one year and see where that takes her. Perhaps a bit of the 1960's Cosmo editor's advice is all she needs to perk up her languishing love life. Ms David takes up new hobbies, redecorates her apartment, makes herself very available to dating all kinds of men through on-line sites, speed dating, volunteering and going to the beach. She redoes her wardrobe and her voice and in the last chapter spends a lovely summer in Spain.She does fall in love, but in the end, she falls in love with herself, and the last chapter is really the best written and most interesting as she details how she really has become a whole person because of her ability to re-do herself. The rest of the work feels a little tired and worn out, and she somes across as really pretty shallow. Most of the men she meets never pass her sexy meter or looks meter, so even though she vows to give more men a try, it really felt pretty low brow. Though I love the ending and the realization that one can love oneself, I also think that in many ways it felt like one 300 page singles ad.