i couldn't help myself, part two...

i gobbled up perfect fifths like a person starved! i'm not kidding...

let me tell you about jessica darling and i... she and i met on a trip i was making from nashville back to idaho falls a few years ago. you see, flying into idaho falls isn't very easy because there are just a few flights a day that come into our little airport. so in addition to all of the plane changes from tennessee, i had a 5 hour layover in my least favorite city in the WORLD--salt lake!! luckily, i had thought ahead and packed several books. i saved sloppy firsts for last because i wasn't sure about it. on a last minute whim, i plucked off of the shelving cart as i was walking out of the library the week prior. it had a bright cover, and i thought what the hell... how bad can it be?! all it had to do was distract me from all that is SLC.

um... distract? how about absorb, fascinate, grip, bewitch, captivate, charm, enchant, hypnotize, mesmerize; monopolize... (yes, i can use a thesaurus) whatever, megan mccafferty had me--i was lost in new jersey with jessica. jessica... my kindred literary spirit. i think there are books where people can identify with characters--i'm not an elizabeth bennet, scout finch, or even the female equivalent of holden caulfield. sometimes i feel like anna karenina... and that's another story. jessica is snarky. and we all know that's one of my favorite traits in a person, as long as it's not directed to me!

needless to say, i finished sloppy firsts in the wee hours of that monday morning. i had to. i needed to get to work to get second helpings and charmed thirds... who cares about my real life? i was lost in the teen-angst of jessica as she maneuvered thru high school in new jersey and into college in the city, her family, her friends, her lusts and, whatever it was with marcus. oh, marcus... ever yearn for something that is so so so bad?!

ok, that's marcus!

then i had to WAIT! me, yes, me, wait 6 long months for the release of fourth comings {actually, my least favorite of the series} and maybe because i was let down, i fell off the jessica darling radar! and here i am in the in the local bookstore this summer when i saw this cover taunting me because i had no idea it was coming out! i had to buy it for my very own, then and there--as i actually own the whole of the series.

but you might be asking at this point, so what?!

although, i never, ever want to be in high school again, being with jessica wa kind of like being with me.. we both seemed to feel the pressure of friends, the ridiculous heavy weight of virginity, the want to feel that electrified shock from being in the full rush of first love/lust, of parents and looming future of graduation, college, and then what?! toss in the ins and outs, sometimes silence, cryptic communication of the said object of love/lust... it creates a very confused girl. a very confused girl i think almost any woman can relate to, on some level. and as we "grown ups" have survived our teens, we... i... want to see jessica out of the limbo and at peace, happy with {or without} marcus. in perfect fifths (don't you love these titles?!) jessica has been off marcus for almost 2 years and then she runs into him at the newark airport--literally runs into him as she is about to miss her plane. then in her ever-sharp wit, gut-wrenching reality of the situation and on-top-of-it popular culture ways, mccafferty ends the series...

read this series--you will be disappointed, and then not, and then again and then...

i'm not the only one who thinks this series is a gem:

• “Judy Blume meets Dorothy Parker.”—The Wall Street Journal (this one is my favorite!!)
• “Jessica offers brilliant and cutting insights into the world of the adolescent about-to-be-a-woman.”—Chicago Sun-Times
• “Megan McCafferty’s hilarious coming-of-age novels are getting better as Jess gets older. . . . Acidly funny, imaginatively profane and, above all, a sharp reflection of the what-do-I-do-now, postcollege dilemma.”—Miami Herald

oh, and don't ever forget about the greatest showman of the generation... the soundtrack to the books!

i couldn't help myself!

okay, so i didn't put the castaways aside like i said... i just couldn't!

so here is the thing:

• four sets of couples that are friends.
• one set dies.
• affairs arise.
• infatuations arise.
• hurt and anger arise.
• guilty feelings arise.
• and yet, the six remaining survive... friendships intact.
  

i didn't want to read this book any further than the point where the affair was revealved because we have these 3 couples that we pal around with, and i didn't want to think about what creepiness is lying, laying (whatever) underneath the drunken flirting and innuendos we throw at each other when we're together. there is room for wandering, fighting, jealousy, judgements and hurt because:

• none of our marriages are perfect, there are comparisons among husbands--and wives, if i should/could venture a guess...
• we raise our kids all differently, and we're all critical about each others skill of this to a fault...
• some of us are more secure financially, some are constantly struggling...

but what this book did to me, is show that i'm so blessed with this family of friends that are so entrenched with me, and i with them, that together we can weather any storm that comes our way. it sounds corny, but don't we all want friends like that?!

so thanks, elin, for writing a book that made me uncomfortable, that sucked me in, and showed me that friends are indeed the family we get to choose! oh, and for making nantucket sound even better than i'd ever imagined...

___________________

something else--because i'm feeling extra chatty tonight... as i was over at Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'? today, and she got me thinking too! this just pisses me off: why don't people think the books i read/recommend are as good as i said they were... they didn't love them as much as i did! i mean, come on, i am a book peddler. i think i know my stuff... so to answer her questions:

• Is there a book you don’t understand why others haven’t liked it? yes-- the english patient ... okay, i read this question wrong!! I LOVE THE ENGLISH PATIENT, book and movie... but i can't seem to get into the ever popular harry potters, the lord of the rings trilogy, or the twilight series no matter how people love to tell me i'm wrong!!
• Have you ever tried to convince others about why they should have like a book? no--because i can't begin to understand what's wrong with this person who disagrees... with ME?!
• Has someone ever tried to convince you of a book’s merits? yes-- and i have a few things to say about that. (1) i don't like required reading--don't hound me. (2) i don't like fantasy or sci-fi... sorry, i can't wrap my head around it. maybe i'm not as smart as i thought, but please don't hound me about vampires and house gobblins. (3) diana gabaldon... i'm so sorry i resisted you for so long!

and... i've just cracked into the last in the series of Jessica Darling by megan mccafferty--perfect fifths. and marcus flutie still does it for me : )

happy reading!

ooooky...

i'm sorry...

i have to put the castaways aside for a bit...

elin hilderbrand has cooked up this story about four couples who are the "best" of friends... on the surface. you know, they do a bunch of stuff together: eat, raise their kids, vacation, whatnot... but now that i've read enough to dip bit below the surface, ugly things are coming into light.

so, what's the drama?! the drama for me is i have this same scenario, and all of the sudden, going to have a beer at the {new} idaho brewing company after work with my friend-- who happens to be a guy--makes me feel more than a little oooky. not because there is a reason to feel that way--no guilty feelings, but because ... oh, i don't know... it's weird how these "things" can slowly evolve... eeww...

don't get me wrong--i'm loving the book... but i need to step back and take a refreshing deep breath. have you read this book? am i being as ridiculous as always? most likely...

happy reading!

can you expand on that please...

oh, dear, miss rebecca... i'm afraid that you may have forgotten to add somethings to your new book, the crowing glory of calla lily ponder because altho i finished the book, i'm definitely not finished with this story! i did take liberal "reading breaks" this weekend because i couldn't put this book down--i escaped to "water" a friend's garden for an hour and a half, and locked myself in the tub for two hours. but never-you-mind about that.

now i'm sure you want to know what i think about the book, and of course, i loved it... i loved it so much that i want MORE! i'm going to give you a list of the things i'd like to see more of:

• i'm dying to know the romantic history of calla's parents, and where did m'dear come from rather than mama...
• i want to have a whole, entire book about sweet and calla, from beginning to end and their life in the big N.O... if i had a better glimpse of that, maybe i'd have been more ready to let him, oh, you know...
• i want to know more about sukey and her mom, and what shaped her to be who she was. and i need more information about the whole bunny lifestyle, especially in new orleans...
• i'd also like to get more background about the tuckers, their daughter and and that whole thing...
• what happened to tuck in california...
• and i were to ask for more about calla, sukey and renee (oh, man, i've kinda forgotten the other friend's name) growing up, are we then crossing into ya-ya territory. probably, so i won't ask.
  

now don't for a minute think that i'm going to pull a teddy duchamp {again}, and want to know what happens after the story ends. i'm actually okay with the ending... it's the fact that i had to leave la luna, louisanna when i turned the last page that makes me melancholy. there is something about the south that is so intoxicating to this rocky mountain girl, and the town of la luna has got to have many more stories to sate my selfish reading wants!

okay, miss rebecca, you now know what i want... but because i eat up everything you write, i guess i'll let you write what you want and be satisfied with that. the crowning glory of calla lily ponder is a great story, mayhaps a skeleton to flesh out with more books? maybe? i will be patient...

warmly- jh

PS: but maybe because i'll be recommending this to everyone at the library, maybe you could help me out and give me a little something more about la luna. thanks!

watch miss rebecca talk about the new book...

walking away...

the richest season has similiarities to anne tyler's ladder of years...

on the spur of the moment, almost as a fleeting thought, these women leave their homes and families because they just can't do it anymore...

um, hello...

who hasn't wanted to run-away for a while every now and then?

it sounds like such a freedom to leave behind everything that wasn't working in your life...

starting your life over as someone entirely different, leaving the past and embarking on a better future...

doing things that you weren't able to try because of limits--self-imposed or otherwise...

is it okay to react to the selfishness with more selfishness?

is it the only way to be heard? is it punishment for those left at home?

i don't know.

i chose this book because it was about pawley's island in south carolina, because i love books about the south. it was about the beach, and i love books about the beach... little did i know it would be an cautionary epistle about what happens when there is a loss of communication breaking down relationships.

it's easy to look back in hindsight and see how it happens... but is it as easy to identify the grind when it's gradually eroding everything important around you? when do the important things that we once held so close drift away? are we really so busy that we don't notice when we get caught up in work, in kids' activities, my friends versus your friends...? it's scary.

but then again, do we escape only to save our loved ones from the pain we will unavoidingly inflict? this is one of those books with two characters running away for two different reasons...

happy reading!

(is unavoidingly a word? i need a proofreader)

(photograph of pawley's island was shamelessly swiped from blue sky gallery)

i love the ocean...

that's why i chose the richest season by maryann mcfadden... am i the only one who chooses books by their covers?

or what about books about the ocean... beach music, body surfing, colony, shell seekers, barefoot, the ocean within, an ocean apart, off-season, comig home, summer sisters. the beach house, the sound of waves...

any other good beach books?

shameless plug...

i have been reading other the book blogs in the world, and seeing that they kinda talk about the books, and what the books are about, and have this really nice review about the book... and then i looked here and saw that you all are privy to my deepest, darkest thoughts about what i'm reading! is it a blessing or a curse?! it could be why no one is sending me free books to review!!well, whatever, i'll let you chew on that... (as well as my obvious addiction to ellipsisesssss...)

anyway, about this shameless plug... do you know about NextReads? this is a very cool tool that libraries offer their patrons to help them decide what they want to... um... read next. it's a newsletter thingy that is sent to you via your email--but wait before you think SPAM... it only sends you lists of new and older books that INTEREST YOU!!! fabulous idea, right?! unfortunately, your library has to subscribe to the service... so get on your librarians and tell them this is a great thing and YOU WANT IT!! if you want to see a trial newsletter, let me know and i'll email you a link.

another very cool thing i just learned in library school (only 9 more semesters to go, in case you were wondering!) is randomhouse.com... yeah, these are the publisher/distributor people, but their website has a lot of great tools, like author alerts, book lists for almost everything you can think of and newsletters too! of course, i have signed up for a bunch of author alerts because i don't want my patrons to know about these before i do, because they get their name on the list and i have to WAIT! wait? no. i don't do that.

so here is my question: rosamunde pilcher is almost 86... do you think we'll see another book? in light of all of these deaths, i'm really hating mortality.