Some books make you laugh. Others make you cry. Still others make you feel as if they tell the story of your life and leave you. The really great books have all three effects.

I’m a devoted bookworm. One of my favorite activities is roaming a bookstore or library, whether it’s a glossy corporate big box like Barnes and Noble or Borders or my beloved indies and used bookstores like the apple box filled Gray Wolf in my hometown or Berkeley’s gems Cody’s and Moe’s or even the quaint little Book Shop on B Street in Hayward. I love the dusty smell of old books, the feel of old binding, the sheer joy of pages and pages of words upon words. I love all sorts of books and list them happily on MySpace or when meeting potential dates. This morning I was introduced to a really great book.

As a former high school English teacher, I am usually partial to the classics or by edgy, daring new fiction. He’s Just Not That Into You is a nonfiction cosmopolitan of a bestseller, a sassy funny self-help book for fabulous singletons, lauded by Oprah, borne by Sex and the City writers Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo. Like the cosmo Carrie prefers, it is cute and chic but substantial. I was impressed by its impact on me though I only read the abridged Your Daily Wake-Up Call paperback version. I laughed. I cried. I could relate. I’m going to go and buy the full-length hardcover today.

What He’s Just Not That Into You does through snappy witticisms and keeping-it-real honesty is tell truths most single women know yet struggle to accept. It reminds us how amazing we truly are and how a man who will treat us as such is out there. Even though I only glimpsed it in small chunks, its message was hopeful.

Before I left for Peru, I was ready to implode. The days spent in the warm cocoon of my family and culture, of living in a world where I am the standard of beauty and where dating comes fifteen place after survival shifted me back into reality. Upon my return, The Bride’s lovely wedding was a balm, a reminder that love is possible. Love with a man who appreciates a real woman is possible. The Groom said it best when he declared at the end of the reception, “I am so glad I found her and have her in my life.” I deserve some variation of that statement. We all do. I/we won’t find it dating/hanging out with/exchanging emails with men who are merely more writing/girltalk/gossip material. So I go out into my first Monday back stateside with a mission: to not bother with those not into me.