KissinBlueKaren

Ever go a bit psycho for someone? Every stalked an ex or called their phone a billion times just to hear their answering machine? (Yes, facebook stalking counts). Are you still reading your ex’s horoscope…..just because, well why exactly do we still do that? This book tries to explain why we do the sort of things we do when we are in love. This book breaks down the complicated chemical processes that makes us go crazy. Liz Langley writes in a fluid manner, conversation like, conquering subjects like: the brain structures, chemical processes, reasons for incest and divine will after a breakup. I had a hard time putting this book down and started more than one conversation with “So I just read ……….”.

To say I enjoyed this book is putting it mildly. I wanna give every one of my friends this book. “Here, you are not mad for feeling like you do!” I wish I could have read this about 3.5 years ago when I was in the pit of despair after a break-up. Liz starts us out by learning with us about chemical make-up of the brain, neurotransmitters, and hormones. She did alot of research for this book and she shares all her knowledge in a witty way. She takes us on, what I guess, was a personal journey to understand why and how a person could feel/act this way while in love. The writing is so engaging, like hearing a story told from a friend.

This book has 10 chapters. I would love to lay the chapters out for you, but the reason for the title is usually somewhere in the chapter. It just won’t make sense. This book isn’t set up so you can skip to the part that pertains to your situation. It is a non-stop ride of understanding. Once you get started you see how the knowledge she lends, leads the reader to understand what comes next. She breaks up each chapter into easy to digest stories, these stories are the backbone of her book. The stories include myths like Oephedius and GA to Nikki Reynolds (famous for her story on the biography Snapped). They include the heartbreak of Edgar Allan Poe and the make-up of Burt and Linda (of Crazy Love). I enjoyed these stories and they led right into the scientific aspects with quotes from experts in the field of the mind and the heart.

An exert from the Preface of Crazy Little Thing:

This book isn’t a how-to. It’s more of a “guess-what!” I have included some pearls of wisdom from interview subjects, and I hope this book will be a rich narrative journey and a source of increased perspective on some of the ways your brain might be screwing with your emotional GPS, setting your destination for Crazy Town when you meant to go home and get a good night’s sleep. The brain is so complex, and research on it is so massive, I don’t expect
to be comprehensive just by offering some ideas for why you’re not the only one who’s lost it in love. I interviewed 23 people, some of them specialists in various fields of study who provided depth of understanding in the ways of love and our universal predicaments in it. Others gave me their personal stories about loves they have known or survived. I chose them because their stories were vari- ously amazing, affecting, amusing, or appalling—often a combination. Some stories are pretty dark, but I hope you are able to empathize with all of them at least partially. “Nothing human is alien to me,” Terence said, and while I’m not quite that elastic, it’s an admirable statement. To understand is not necessarily to condone, and to condemn anyone’s actions without attempting to understand their feelings and motives is unfair. We all have a dark side, and we understand more than we let on; pretending that we don’t is like ignoring a bill we don’t want to pay. The problem is just going to get bigger.

Finally, I wanted to write a book a person could read on a cross-country flight without getting bored and picking up the Sky Mall catalog. That’s only happened to me once. The author was mystery writer M.C. Beaton and my grati- tude was immense. If I can get you from, say, Orlando to Vancouver without buying a pair of night-vision goggles or an automatic cat feeder—and in the process make you feel better about the love you’re in, were in, or will be in—then we’ll both be in good shape. That’s enough to wish for today.

Liz Langley

I really loved this book. I realize that the writing style is definitely a personal preference thing and for some people conversational writing is an acquired taste. As a regular blogger, her style is right up my alley! I loved her witty stories and the feeling that we were taking this journey together. Liz Langley is a contributor to Eden Fantays online magazine SexIs and her column is called SexCult: Sex Realtionships and Love in Our Culture.

This book was published by Cleis Press. It has 256 pages and Preface and an Epilogue by Liz Langley. It was a Naked Reader Book Club selection for December 2011. EdenFantasys – The Sex Toy Shop You Can Trust sells this book for $15.95.

Review Summary
Readability
easy to put down and easy to pick up
Writing Style
engaging and inspiring
Overall
I would recommend this to a friend

$15.95Crazy Little Thing Book by Liz Langley Format: Flexi Cover Publisher: Cleis Press Inc. Buy from EdenFantasys

This product was provided free of charge to the reviewer.