“Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;--
’Tis the wind and nothing more!”
--Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven,” 1845

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You know that a book has officially surpassed the bestseller range and attained the elusive category of ‘phenomenon’ when everyone from your office IT guy to your crazy cat-lady neighbor has heard of it. In the last decade, few books have been able to accomplish this feat, but once it happens these works are, for better or for worse, forever cemented into our cultural cannon. There have been a handful within recent memory: Harry Potter, Twilight, The Hunger Games, 50 Shades of Gray, and most recently, Gillian Flynn’s psychological thriller GONE GIRL.

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One of my favorite daydreams consists of picturing my future self. These reveries usually feature the same idealized-yet-somewhat-attainable portrait: Me as a 40-year-old high-powered book editor, living a comfortable life in the suburbs with a financially successful spouse, three kids and a dog. I have great friends, a strong relationship with both my parents, and manage to read a new book every week. It’s a portrait of my life that meets every criteria of success that I have ever had for myself, an idealized picture that I fully think would make me quite satisfied.

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I’m a firm believer that books have a way of finding you when you need them the most. Case in point: Three months ago I graduated college with everything I had ever wanted: great school, perfect grades, amazing friends. And to top it all off, I had a boyfriend who was smart, funny, considerate and hot. The day after I graduated college, however, I found myself unemployed, living with my parents, unsure what I was going to do next --- and (here’s the nail in the coffin) single. Not exactly my finest hour. After a few weeks and still in a rather cynical and self-indulgent state of mind, I picked a copy of Kate Bolick’s memoir/biography SPINSTER at my local library, knowing little about it, but thinking that the title rather perfectly described my current state of life. But only two chapters in, that mood had completely disappeared. Not only was I utterly entranced with the messages of female strength conveyed throughout, but I also felt altered in some way. SPINSTER quite literally changed the way I thought of myself.

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