Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner

Rainy Sunday. Perfect for reading and then posting about it.


Certain Girls is the sequel to Jennifer's big hit Good in Bed. Both of which I've borrowed from women at work and they make good pass around books. Also, they are quick reads and perfect for summer. I read Good in Bed before I started this reviewing books for fun thing. That is too bad because I'd have liked to go back and review what I'd felt about that book. Not really sure how I feel about this one.

Let's start with the story, the story centers around Candace and Joy, 12 years after the ending of the first book. Cannie is a stay at home mom who writes professional fanfic based on a sci-fi/fantasy movie under a pen name. She is super mom extraordinaire. Joy is a typical kid trying to break away from her overprotective mom, trying to fit-in with the popular kids at school, and trying to figure out who she is. In a lot of ways, she is a younger version of Cannie and it makes you wonder if you ever do figure it out. Lots of things happen and everyone learns something by the end.

I really do like these books while I'm reading them. They are so light and fluffy and fun and have a sharp wit, you don't want to see them end. They are not books I'd recommend to everyone but they are great to pass around to the girls at work book club or to anyone who enjoys books about mother/daughter relationships. Unfortunately, I do have a little bit of a guilty feeling afterwards. Like eating french fries instead of ordering the salad that was so helpfully offered as a healthy alternative. Oh well, I'll try to find a salad book next time.

Perhaps this conflicted feeling is because of what happened in the book. I really don't want to give that away but it really made me sad. Sad. Sad is such an odd word, like it only belongs to 4 year olds who don't know how to articulate how they really feel but it is an accurate description. I guess, as one of the centers of Cannie's happiness is taken away, it made me just as unhappy in direct proportion to how happy it made me when she found it in Good in Bed.

Bad things happen to people and life goes on. The book does end on a happy note so no worries if you were planning on taking this one to the beach.

Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult

I really really really shouldn't be posting about a book I just finished. I really really shouldn't be spending my morning finishing a book. I really really should be going to the market to find food for the upcoming week. I really should be at work, working on my evil project that I'd love to be taken off of so that I can find a new project. I really should be working on my photos so I can get my last PEI trip uploaded. That trip was like a month a ago and I still don't have them up... and one of my friends is likely going to kill me because of it.... life is hard but you know what trumps all the angst written in this paragraph? Schlock by Jodi Picoult!


Oh how I love Jodi... let me count the ways... She is awesome at her little formula. Typical Jodi book has two mothers who are best friends and love each other like sisters but because of the big event of the book, that relationship is destroyed for ALL TIME. Also in this little formula are the children, usually of that age when they finally realize that their parents aren't perfect and start keeping secrets from them. The children are usually the "big event" plot point of the book and one is usually neglected over the needs of the other. The husbands are not usually as interesting except they are excellent fathers despite their typical not perfect characters. Actually, Jodi is very adapt at writing imperfect people which make them much more interesting to read. There might be some MarySue qualities going on here but they aren't annoying ones.

Handle With Care is a story about a family who has a child that was born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta. OI is a genetic defect that causes the bones to be extremely brittle and break very easily. They love their daughter Willow no matter how hard life is living with a child with a disability. Problem is, OI is very expensive. Insurance will only over so much, they are very much in debt, and they see the future where Willow will need more and more surgeries, special equipment, and one and on... The mother's gamble on a solution: file a wrongful birth lawsuit against the doctor. Wrongful birth argues that the doctor should have diagnosed the disability in the womb and offered abortion as an option. The big problem, the doctor is her best friend. Bing! Big Event Plot is born.

I know this is coming off as sarcastic but I really do like Picolts books. They are easy reads, usually about controversial subjects that are fun to discuss in a group, and there is something comforting about them. It has been over a year since I've read one but it felt like putting on that warm comfy sweater you keep in the back of the closet for cold winter nights. But in this case, a warm cosy book that you bring out on hot summer days to while away those days that feel too humid to move.

Anyway, iPod is charged and I have no more excuses to prevent the start of my day... too bad that didn't take longer.