Table for one A critical reading of singlehood, gender and time is the first book to consider the profound relationship between singlehood and time. Drawing on a wide range of cultural resources - including web columns, blogs, advice columns, popular clichés, advertisements and references from television and cinema, the author challenges the conventional meaning-making processes of singlehood and time. Lahad's analysis gives us the opportunity to explore and theorize singlehood through varied temporal concepts such as waiting, wasting, timeout, age, the life course, linearity and commodification of time. This unique analytical approach enables the fresh consideration of some of our dominant perceptions about collective clocks, schedules, time tables and the temporal organization of social life in general.

An office worker who has no one to eat lunch with enrolls in a course that builds confidence about eating alone. A man with a pathological fear of bedbugs offers up his body to save his building from infestation. A time capsule in Seoul is dug up hundreds of years before it was intended to be unearthed. A vending machine repairman finds himself trapped in a shrinking motel during a never-ending snowstorm. In these and other indelible short stories, contemporary South Korean author Yun Ko-eun conjures up slightly off-kilter worlds tucked away in the corners of everyday life. Her fiction is bursting with images that toe the line between realism and the fantastic. Throughout Table for One, comedy and an element of the surreal are interwoven with the hopelessness and loneliness that pervades the protagonists’ decidedly mundane lives. Yun’s stories focus on solitary city dwellers, and her eccentric, often dreamlike humor highlights their sense of isolation. Mixing quirky and melancholy commentary on densely packed urban life, she calls attention to the toll of rapid industrialization and the displacement of traditional culture. Acquainting the English-speaking audience with one of South Korea’s breakout young writers, Table for One presents a parade of misfortunes that speak to all readers in their unconventional universality.

A Table for One is set in the intimate Jerusalem cafes of the 1950's and 1960's where the scent of fresh roasted coffee and cigarette smoke wafted in with the elan of a lost European culture. The writer's son, Meir Appelfeld, paints cityscapes, vistas of the city, where he himself lives.

I am a woman in my late-20s and have a voice that needs to be heard. The voice of all women out there who feel they aren't good enough and struggle by being seen purely for their status, "single", in that they are viewed as an imperfection rather than something to be valued. With all my heart, soul and everything I have and beyond, I decided to write down all my experiences of my dating life for the past 6 years as a way for me to vent and find some sort of closure from all the pain and disappointment. Although I obtained a far greater gift from this process than I could have ever imagined. Through all of this, I created this book, which is my greatest accomplishment. I want to be able to impact at least one person, that is all it would take, to give them this same gift that I have given to myself. To be able to wake up everyday knowing that they aren't a failure because they are still single, and to not be ashamed of their past as those items are what have shaped them to become the person they are today. …I am just a woman from Long Island and I know I could help change the world with my voice. So this book is my mic and it’s my time to speak to the world, so listen…

Taara Maheshwari, a single woman in her thirties and a successful lawyer, is tough from outside but a die heart fan of romantic movies from inside.She grew up seeking her "happily ever after' but amid various heartbreaks and culture of modern age short term relationships, her believe in "true connections" got replaced by the comfort of being "emotionally disconnected."After she turned 31, her parents persuaded her into meeting a guy for marriage who sounded just perfect for her. Acting on impulse, she told her parents that she would meet him only if they let her go on a trip to Europe.As Taara went on to explore the world, she experienced what actually happens when a single Indian girl travels to Europe all by herself. Is it only about dancing, singing or falling in love? What happens after you fall in love? Does love conquer all? Only her story would tell.

A happy, successful, God-pleasing life comes in a variety of packages. "And contrary to what our churches, married friends, society, and nosy Aunt Marge may tell us, that includes singleness." In this up-front book packed with girl talk and plenty of pep, Camerin Courtney reveals how she transformed from a self-conscious single girl to an I-am-single-hear-me-roar woman. While she admits that she still has "singleness stinks" days, Courtney doesn't indulge in pity parties or offer readers a guide on finding Mr. Right. Table for One is, instead, an optimistic, up-beat look at the many emotions, expectations, joys, frustrations, and privileges of singleness. It shows how to dive into God's plan and purposes for this phase of life--whether it lasts for four years or forever. Fun and encouraging sidebars sprinkle the text, covering everything from must-see movies to a list of great things about singleness (i.e., "If we buy floral sheets, no one complains.") This savvy, girlfriend-to-girlfriend guide to singleness will delight and inspire single women. It offers great insight for friends, families, and church leaders who want to encourage them as well.