Five Things I Can't Live Without

Five Things I Can't Live Without is one of those books that has been languishing unread on my shelves for a really long time. When I heard that Holly Shumas has a second book coming out in 2009, I decided it was time to pick it up and read it.

The first thing I have to say about Five Things I Can't Live Without is that you can tell the author has a day job as a therapist. The amount of analyzing that Nora puts herself through is exhausting - I couldn't live every day doubting myself to that extent. And that is why Nora is on the edge throughout the book. She is so consumed by the prospect of failure that she can't just live her life.

I think that the leap Nora takes in her life (quitting her job to focus on writing) is brave, but a bit show more irresponsible. I feel like she could have explored writing while still working (her boss offered her a cut in hours, but she quit instead). I am a person who needs security, so it would have made more sense to me if she had tried to figure out what she wanted to do at nights while working during the day. But the whole point of the book is that Nora took a leap of faith in order to stop her own psychoanalysis - if she had continued at her day job, she most likely would have been paralyzed by fear and insecurity.

I really liked the portrayal of online dating in this novel. I think that generally, a lot of people still see meeting people through online personals as a last resort for the pathetic. But I have more than a few great, attractive, wonderful friends who have met (normal) people through sites such as match.com because they weren't satisfied with the people they were meeting at the office or at bars. One such couple is getting married in the spring. I very much appreciated Shumas' effort to show that online match sites are not a world for the weird; they're just another way to try and meet people.

Five Things I Can't Live Without is a quick, light read that chick lit lovers will probably enjoy. If you're one of those people who has a nasty voice doing a running commentary in the back of your head, this is definitely a book for you.

From S. Krishna's Books show less

I just couldn't put it down. It's not the most compelling story or even the most well written, but it's the hope it has, the realness to it and the way it made me think about my own life that I just loved. Who wouldn't want to quit their job and freelance for a living? It's a book about confusion, about all those unanswered questions and especially about just being happy. Loved it.

The Review

I reviewed Holly Shumas’ latest book, Love and Other Natural Disasters earlier this year. When I received that book for review, I was fortunate enough to also get a copy of Five Things I Can’t Live Without. Needing some good Chick Lit and wanting to meet my “Just For The Love Of It” Reading Challenge, I decided April would be a great time to read this one.

This is a story of Nora… who, like many of us women, over-think things. She over-thinks her job, her love life, and her family life. She sometimes gets trapped in this thinking and it is definitely her Achilles heel. I understand this. I’ve definitely been that way before. There have been many times that it has just been nearly impossible to “live in the show more moment.” As women, I think it is naturally harder for us. Men, they seem to have an easier time at “just coasting” (as the book says). But, being on the outside looking in at Nora, I wanted to slap her into sanity… STOP MAKING THINGS MORE DIFFICULT THAN THEY NEED BE! But, then I thought… WAIT, EASIER SAID THAN DONE!

Nora’s new job as a “Profiler” (aka someone for hire who writes internet dating profiles) brings the reader many characters to enjoy. Her job was one of my favorite parts of the book. I also loved the character of Dan, her boyfriend. Every woman deserves a Dan!

The book was a quick read and overall enjoyable. The thing I learned the most from reading it was for me to take my head out of the equation more often!

On Sher’s “Out of Ten Scale:”

I’ve been SUPER pampered this year with FUNNY Chick Lit. Because of that, I think I’m tending towards that genre a bit more than the “standard” Chick Lit. Although, Chick Lit is my favorite genre and the “non-funny” books are just as important and as the others. Both of Shumas’ books are well-written and I can easily recall both stories in my mind vividly. That’s always the sign of a good writer! But, on the honest side of my review, I have to say that for the genre Fiction:ChickLit, I am going to rate this book a 7 OUT OF 10. show less