I'm pretty sure my friend Diqui loaned me this book, so it isn't one that I chose myself. However, it was a good read, and I'd recommend it to someone looking for a thoughtful ChickLit selection--perfect for the beach or airplane in particular. The cover of the book quotes Booklist as saying, "A novel about friendship and sisterhood for readers who like Fannie Flagg and Adriana Tragiani," and I'd say that's quite accurate.
The book is set in the early 1970s, when two childhood friends are reunited. Despite the different directions they have taken--hometown, responsible girl versus free-spirited hippie--in the nine years since they last saw each other, Button and Winnalee instantly rekindle a deep friendship. With a cast of other strong women models, and a few men in the background, they forge a partnership to redefine who they are and where they are headed. There are the expected ups and down, with ups winning overall, making this is a slightly sentimental but well-written summer book.
If the first book I read this year demonstrated the fact that good books sit on my shelves for years before I get around to them, this second book provides an alternative lesson: some of the books are neglected for good reason. They stink.
Why, with all the good books available, do I end up purchasing bad ones, you might wonder. In the case of The Bitch Goddess Notebook it was due to limited choice. You'll note in the header of this entry that TBGN was published in Great Britain (although written by an American author), but it was purchased (as the stamp inside the front cover shows) at the Universal Bookshop in Portals Nous. The Universal is a primarily English-language used bookstore in Mallorca, Spain, which I often end up frequenting when I visit Eddie's family. Until recently, when she moved inland to the village Eddie's mother lives in, Nonna Neda lived in Portals Nous, and she always lets us stay in her seaside studio apartment for a few days when we visit the island. With nothing much to do but laze on the beach and wander the few businesses on the main drag, I always get plenty of reading time in and run short of books--especially pre-Kindle and iPad. So, I drop in to Universal Bookshop, sell my already-read books, and pick up a couple more to see me home.
Perhaps it won't surprise you to hear that the types of books available in a bookstore frequented by British tourists soaking in sun by day and sangria and disco by night aren't of the highest caliber. Suffice it to say that you can cross this book of your to-be-read list and move on to something else. How I even managed to make it through to the end is somewhat of a mystery. It might be that, like the three women in the book, I too went to high school in the Midwest in the 1980s. And, compared to their current train-wreck lives, mine is a paradise of stability and happiness. Their outcome, of course, differs because of a horrific shared experience they had as seniors.
Usually I would only hint at outcomes here, but since I strongly advise against your reading of this book, I'll just tell you: they escalated from alcohol, drugs, sex, and cutting to killing the drama teacher one of them was having an affair with. I won't call this a spoiler alert because nothing can really spoil the book. At least now I can dump it at the nearest used book store soon--freeing up the shelf space it has been holding for at least two and a half years (or longer if I didn't buy it on my most recent trip to Mallorca).
In the world of ChickLit, I'd say that Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series comes out near the top of the pack. It's Bridget Jones meets Kinsey Milhone (a la Sue Grafton's alphabet series), set in Jersey to a sitcom laugh track.
Oh, wait. That's me laughing.
There are few books that make me laugh out loud--Adams's Hitchhiker series and Gaiman and Pratchett's Good Omens are the only others that come to mind right now--but these books set me off regularly. It's certainly not highbrow humor, either, as the laughs usually come from the least sophisticated characters in a completely unsophisticated cast, and the funny situations involve accidental shootings, sex, exploding cars, funeral homes, and rolling in food. And, not infrequently, all of these at once.
Stehanie Plum is a Jersey girl, raised in the Italian neighborhood called the Burg. Having failed in her first mariage and her first post-college job, she becomes a bond enforcement agent for her cousin Vinnie. She's the least-likely bounty hunter you could imagine, and it's almost accidental when she manages to bring someone who's skipped bail in for rebooking. The two funniest characters in the series are Stephanie's Grandma Mazur--a gun-toting, funeral-attending outspoken senior citizen--and her sidekick Lula--an ex 'ho who crams her size-16 African American body into size-10 leopard-print lycra. Add two sexy men (a cop and a bounty hunter/security company owner), her parents and her sister's family (including a ten-year old niece who thinks she is a horse), and a number of other eccentric characters, and I laugh my way through the books.
