My double life

Dunno who's noticed, but when I'm not devouring chick-lit, I'm pretending to be a research psychologist. Being an academic suits my binge-reading streak; I read everything and when my colleagues aren't looking, I delve into the world of pop-psychology.

The academic world is (harshly) snobby about pop-psych and self help - probably because they wouldn't be caught dead reading it and therefore know zilch about it. This is a shame, as there are plenty of great ideas to latch onto in this genre and the minds influence on the body is well documented in academic research (e.g. there are strong links between depression and heart disease, stress and colds and we all know an emotionally stressed chronic over-eater)

Like anything, there's good and bad in this genre but the pick of the bunch is 'Heal Your Body' by Louise L Hay The book is a handy compact handbag size and offers advice on how you can improve your health through changing certain thoughts. I referred to my copy today; I can barely speak thanks to these painful mouth ulcers and metaphysicist Louise suggests this is due to an inability to deal with fear. So true - the research project I'm working on has run into problems and I'm finding so fearful of how the team will get through and have become a stress junkie. Louise names the emotional cause of most common ailments, such as fever (anger), and chronic illness such as cancer (resentment). There's an A-z guide to the causes of nearly every illness, as well as advice on the kind of thoughts you should adopt to overcome the illness.

From my psychology training, I know that the brain will believe anything you tell it - whether it's true or not.

Anywhoo, just thought this book tip was worth sharing (:

The glamorous (Double) life of Isabel Bookbinder By Holly McQueen

Picked up this little gem at lunchtime and it too much inner strength to put it down and calmly return to work.
Isabel is everything a debut novellist shouldn't be...
1) She has a pristine Smythsons notebook in which she's hesistant to write in for fear of spoiling it
2) Her main reason for writing a book is so her dad will stop giving her a hard time about wasting her life
3) She's confused being an author as being a celeb, complete with champagne lifestyle and red carpet affairs.
4)...she doesn't have a title, or even an idea for a novel.

and yet the book is so much fun - and not in a smug way! Holly McQueen has penned some of my inner most fears of being an author ( such as, am I dreaming too much, or worse, is life as an author going to be the stark opposite of Isabel's fantasies i.e. a career of rejections, writer's cramp and caffeine overload, with only the postman as a colleague).

read all about real author Holly and Isabel B at this gorgeous website http://www.isabelbookbinder.co.uk/ have fun with the outifit designer - perfect if you have a quiet moment or are in need of some procrastination!

Review: Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner

This is the first time I've read a Jennifer Weiner book. She's the queen of US Chick lit thanks to Good in Bed and In Her Shoes, which was made into a film, staring cameron Diaz, no less.

Certain Girls is the tale of a mother from a conservative Jewish family who writes a racy bonkbuster. She makes the fatal mistake of semi-basing the novel on her own life, naming and shaming her drug taking sister and cad of an ex. Even more cringe-worthy, she writes about her utter shock at getting pregnant, how it's the end of her life as she knows it and had never planned for it....and then her 12 year old daughter reads the novel 12 years later (and so have the rest of her class at school!). Cue fireworks between mother and daughter. The soul searching and impact on the relationship is touching, realistic and gripping.

As ever, I won't give away too much as this is a fab book! Now, I'm off to blockbusters to rent a copy of In her shoes! Long reign the US Queen of Chick Lit.

Update of my (Sick) Bedtime Reading

It's good to be back, having been out of action and away from a computer for the last 2 weeks, thanks to a chest infection. Perhaps the worst piece of news is that I missed Adele Parks, presenting just a few mere metres away from my work place on 5th http://www.adeleparks.com/meet-adele.htm I've made do with reading her novel, Still Thinking of you (published 2004). So far, so slow...I'm not warming to the middle-classed Guardian reading trendies that parade as characters in this one. Having said that, I love Adele and will persevere.

I've begun a new literary love affair with Katy Regan, columnist of Marie Clare, who's just brough out One thing led to Another, a tale about 28 year old Tess who ends up knocked up by her best friend and struggles to cope not only with the demands of pregnancy, but the demands of her friends that have decided this is the perfect opportunity for her to officially get together with her best mate, Jim, after years of bed hopping. If only things were that simple...

Absolutely loved this read and will be passing it around my friends for its humour (falling on a soft toy with the voice of Prince Charles whilst in flagrante with a French hottie) and emotional intelligence.

The book is a fictionalised version of events that have actually happened to Katy, who happened to pregnant thanks to her male best friend (still just friends). She keeps a blog about how life is panning out for her with her son. I'll be adding her blog to my "follow" list asap!