Miss Harper Can Do It by Jane Berentson

Elementary school teacher Annie Harper's boyfriend David is deployed to Iraq in 2003, and she begins a journal for herself, envisioning a blockbuster memoir. Instead of a sappy romantic tell-all, however, she ends up using the journal to vent, fantasize, clear her head, and figure out what she wants from her relationship.  She alternates between missing David deeply and being angry with him for leaving; she has plenty of arguments (on paper) with George W. Bush as well. Static-y phone calls and occasional emails aren’t enough to keep her satisfied.To quell her loneliness, she adopts a pet chicken and volunteers at a nursing home, becoming friends with a woman whose husband may have been a World War II hero.Meanwhile, her best friend Gus becomes more and more attractive, and Annie has to determine whether or not this is a symptom of missing David.

Berentson peppers her realistic tale with funny situations and dialogue.  Although Annie is decidedly anti-war, readers of any political persuasion can sympathize with her complex emotions, and her story rings true.

copyright 2009 Library Journal/Rebecca Vnuk


 

Review: Mermaids in the Basement by Michael Lee West

Mermaids in the Basement by Michael Lee West. 

Screenwriter Renata comes from a true Southern family, complete with a formidable grand dame grandmother.  When Renata’s actor boyfriend is written up in the tabloids for an alleged affair, she runs away to grandmother’s estate, Point Clear, in Alabama.  Still mourning her mother’s untimely death, she is looking for solace and rest.  Unfortunately, she finds life getting more dramatic as the days go on.  At her father’s engagement party, his new fiancée is found unconscious in a pool and Renata is the prime suspect.  She can’t seem to get in touch with her boyfriend to get the straight story from him.  And she discovers that her parents led secret lives she was never privy to, until now.  Grandmother Honora and pals have decided it’s time to let all of the skeletons out of the family closets.

West has a knack for realistic and engaging characters.  This is a charming tale that will keep readers wanting to know more about the characters inhabiting Point Clear. 

copyright 2008, Library Journal/Rebecca Vnuk

 

Is it weird to blog about an article you wrote for another blog?

Probably, but I'm going to anyway.

Here is a brief article I wrote for The Readers Advisor, on the appeal of books to female vs male readers.

"So, if women will read just about anything, what's the special appeal of Women's Fiction?"

http://lu.com/ranews/sep2009/vnuk.cfm

Really, I would love to know what you think. Do women read anything? What (if anything) makes something "men's" fiction??

Interesting...

So this journalist is going to do an experiment, where she writes an entire chick lit novel in "real time". Having read some chick lit that sure felt like it was written in a month, I'm pretty sure it can be done, if not very well. : )

Saving Face? Or Losing My Mind by Dahlia Lithwick
http://www.slate.com/id/2227430/pagenum/all/#p2

What I really liked about her explanation article is this paragraph:
"One of the things I want to probe in this month of writing is the question of why we see chick lit as an escape. What is it about women who are overscheduled, underappreciated, and who at some point become invariably compromised by an undergarment, that appeals to us?"

In the introductory material to my 2 books, I explain the appeal factors of Women's Fiction. In a nutshell, it's that women like to read these novels because we love that aha! moment - where you say, "I know that girl!", "I AM that woman", "That just happened to me", or, "Dang, I'm glad that DIDN'T happen to me!". We love to recognize friends on the page.

NYT Talks Chick Lit

More Gumption, Less Gucci
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/fashion/13CHICK.html?pagewanted=1&ref=books

"And yet, even the most lurid accounts of conspicuous consumption have never been entirely escapist, said Mallory Young, the editor, with Suzanne Ferriss, of “Chick Lit: The New Woman’s Fiction” (Routledge, 2005). “Chick lit usually responds through comedy to real situations confronting real women,”Ms. Young maintains. Unlike romance novels, chick lit “recognizes and responds to the world outside,” she said. "