Hidden Treasure?

I haven't been having much luck getting my hands on the books I've had on my list lately. I was planning on reading Born To Run over my mini vacation, but it was checked out, so I checked a different one off my list, Resilience. (which was a great read) I also have The Help on my list, but that too was checked out. And then I tried Have a Little Faith, and again, checked out.

So while milling around the library tonight, I decided on The Five Languages of Love. I've never read this book but thought that after 10+ years, I might as well hop on the band wagon and see what all the hype was about.

The Five Languages of Love sits in the Non-Fiction side of the library, tucked away with other books about love and relationships. Could I have possibly stumbled upon the hidden treasure? Was this the pot of gold every single person in America has been searching for? Hardly! I found myself totally entertained and a little appalled with some of the titles of these books:

-How To Make Someone Fall In Love With You Forever! In 90 Minutes or Less
-Why Didn't He Call Back?
-How to Marry a Fabulous Man
-Actually , It Is Your Parents' Fault Why Your Romantic Relationship Isn't Working, and How to Fix It

I couldn't help but laugh at the titles of these books and ask myself, Who are the yahoos writing this crap and how are they getting published? What are their credentials? Some credit themselves with being therapists and psychologists, while others deem themselves as "relationship experts." What makes someone a "relationship expert" anyway, because I want to know where to sign up so I can start a load-of-crap book about love and relationships too.

Call me a cynic, but I'm pretty sure the answers to my love life are not hidden away in, How to Marry a Fabulous Man...and maybe I'm crazy, but I don't think you can force someone to love you in a matter of a mere 90 minutes...and, as much as I would like to hand the blame over to someone else for my failed relationships, I'm thinking the last two people I could ever pin it on would be my parents! Who is buying into this stuff?

I will confess, I did look at one in a little more detail - Deal Breakers, because it reminded me of the game L and I play where we ask each other about a feature/characteristic of a guy and ask if that's a deal breaker (and it's also a topic we both blogged about one evening.) My curiosity got the best of me. Basically, Dr. Bethany Marshall gives her take on when to work on a relationship and when to walk away. I like our version of deal breakers better.

Moral of the story, head over to the "Love and Relationships" aisle of your local bookstore for a few laughs....but if I'm still single 10 years from now, maybe I will give How To Make Someone Fall In Love With You Forever! In 90 Minutes or Less a try. :)