Menopause – Books to help us navigate and thrive during the process
Books can be a great source of comfort and support when coping with menopause. Among the hundreds of books about menopause and your life after it, there are a handful that are both beautifully written, informative and often amusing.
Here are five of the best to change your mind about “the change”. These highlight the talents of women writing in a profound and positive way about a time we will all experience.
1 The Wisdom of Menopause – Dr. Christiane Northrup
Dr. Northrup’s The Wisdom of Menopause explores menopause from a medical and female perspective in a fresh and enlightening way. As well as current thinking on perimenopause, Northrup also looks at mammograms, sleep, memory and mood as well as hormone therapy (and its options). She addresses weight control and sex – covering the myths and the useful realities.
As she says, “No matter what is happening in your life right now, take heart.” Seeing menopause as a state not to be fixed but rather as a real-life opportunity makes this book a genuine must-read. Want to feel empowered? This is it.
2 The Hot Topic – Christa D’Souza
Touted as “how a Vogue editor deals with the change”, this book is brimming with elegance, a sense of style and ease. Experienced editor Christa D’Souza wrote The Hot Topic as a guide to menopause for the modern woman who isn’t ready to give up her sexuality.
Thorough descriptions of the HRT discussion are only part of the information contained here, all presented in a conversational, easy-to-digest tone. While acknowledging the need to remain presentable, d’Souza also argues for the adoption of grace – something to which we all should aspire as we age. Encouragingly, D’Souza points out that she is fitter now than she ever was: real food for thought.
3 Out Of Time – Miranda Sawyer
Out Of Time, while not being specifically menopausal, is a typically beautifully written ode to moving through life as a woman with awareness. Covering sex, fitness and appearance, Sawyer takes on the morphing process in an adult yet compulsively readable way.
Profound but not boring, witty but not snobby, Out Of Time is an essential read for any woman navigating her way through change. Sawyer may be maturing in years but she is eternally youthful in her writing and that’s a blessing.
4 The Middlepause – Marina Benjamin
The Middlepause is a lyrical take on post-menopause, its meanings and challenges. While the news about menopause is rarely celebratory, Benjamin is uplifting and informative, with a novelist’s style and a journalist’s head.
All in all, a great guide for any woman who thinks 50 and up might be a little too much. Benjamin’s gentle prose will guide you past your fears and into something really quite wonderful. In a way, reading The Middle Pause is like turning your change into a living novella.
5 Hot Flushes Cold Science: A History of the Modern Menopause – Louise Foxcroft
Hot Flushes Cold Science: A History of the Modern Menopause by Louise Foxcroft is a well-researched, informative read about the setting, history and reality of menopause. Menopause, in an evolutionary sense, is still a mystery and Foxcroft isn’t afraid to tell us that it was once called “the gateway to death”. Recognizing that terror of menopause remains no matter how many reassuring books are written on the subject, Foxcroft’s own take is a balanced mix of cheerful, dignified, outrageous and brave.
Instead of succumbing to or pushing away menopause’s vicious taboo, she dismantles it, showing us that menopause is nothing more than a big bad wolf with a worse howl than bite. Witty and pacy, it takes a stance on the sociological pressure of menopause, making it both serious and a book you won’t want to put down.