This Changes Everything | Niki Bezzant #NZnonfiction

A common theme emerges if you search online for 'menopause cartoons'. There's no shortage of offerings - over 7 million results when I Googled recently - and they overwhelmly depict women looking dumpy, dowdy and elderly....My generation - Gen X - don't consider ourselves old, or dowdy, or past it. I read This Changes Everything: … Continue reading This Changes Everything | Niki Bezzant #NZnonfiction

Secrets of Women’s Healthy Ageing | Cassandra Szoeke #AWWnonfiction

The women at the heart of this story come from all walks of life. In 1990 a study of 2000 Australian women, aged between 45 to 55, was undertaken to provide a 'wide-frame snapshot of women's health in this phase of life (menopausal transition)'. It was designed to last for five years. One of the … Continue reading Secrets of Women’s Healthy Ageing | Cassandra Szoeke #AWWnonfiction

The Feel Good Guide to Menopause by Dr Nicola Gates #AWW

I started reading perimenopause/menopause books back in 2015 after noticing changes to the way I was experiencing my body. Five years later, I'm still waiting. Still wondering, and wishing it was all over. Most of my friends seem to be there. Many of my friends didn't even know it was about to happen; it just … Continue reading The Feel Good Guide to Menopause by Dr Nicola Gates #AWW

The World Was Whole by Fiona Wright

The World Was Whole by Fiona Wright is a difficult book to review. It's a personal collection of Wright's essays, anecdotes and snippets. They are revealing and specific, almost like reading someone's private journal. Yet, all these sketches are written with such emotional intelligence and compassion that they become universal, finding their own connection with … Continue reading The World Was Whole by Fiona Wright

The Wonder Down Under by Nina Brochmann & Ellen Stokken Dahl

No, The Wonder Down Under is not a travel guide about Australia. It's full title is The Wonder Down Under: A User's Guide to the Vagina. And it was utterly fascinating and illuminating from start to finish.Nina Brochmann & Ellen Stokken Dahl are medical students (probably fully fledged doctors by now) from Oslo who worked … Continue reading The Wonder Down Under by Nina Brochmann & Ellen Stokken Dahl

The Middlepause: On Turning 50 by Marina Benjamin

The big five-oh is fast approaching and books like this now have a curious appeal.Suddenly finding yourself experiencing perimenopausal symptoms and not knowing what to do with them can be rather startling if not frightening at times.Considering how much medical knowledge we have about pretty much every other aspect of our physical lives, I am … Continue reading The Middlepause: On Turning 50 by Marina Benjamin

Cure: A Journey Into the Science of Mind Over Body by Jo Marchant

I have always been fascinated by the workings of the brain.Not only the physical, measurable stuff about what our brain can do and how, but also the psychology of our minds - the stuff that's harder to measure."It's all in your head" or "you're imagining things" are two of the phrases we dread to hear … Continue reading Cure: A Journey Into the Science of Mind Over Body by Jo Marchant