Two Books by Caprice Crane

This week, instead of Carl Hiassen or Patricia Highsmith I ended up reading two books by Caprice Crane. The first one, Forget About It, was recommended by a friend. I read the back cover and wasn't sure I was going to like it. It's about a girl who has a pretty miserable life, and when she gets in an accident, she fakes amnesia so that she can right some wrongs with impunity, reinventing herself. The faking amnesia thing sounded kind of Three's Company to me, but the book was pretty cute, after all. (She says they're making a movie out of it, starring Scarlett Johansson.)

I actually preferred the second Caprice Crane novel that I read. Stupid and Contagious (Crane's debut novel) started out with a sort of ho-hum plot that was just providing a vehicle for jokes. But the humor was smart, and mean, and bizarre, and some of the story was so outlandish that it just made me laugh.

About halfway through the book - page 143, to be exact - she reveals during a poker game scene that the cool guy characters went to Duke, and the sort of lame one went to UNC. At that moment, of course, I decided to love Ms. Crane and took a look at her bio. Her mom is Ginger Grant! For reals! Random. (Er, well, I guess it's not so random for them. I should say I just did not expect to find Tina Louise listed as part of the author's bio. Her father is the handsome Les Crane.) I also learned that the author currently writes for the hideous new 90210. While that's a popular show and I'm sure it's a good gig for a writer, that might be a black mark against her in my book of marks. Of course I totally watch that show.

Anyway, I just finished Stupid and Contagious last night, and it turned out to be pretty darn adorable! Goofy, unrealistic, but cute. I liked the ending.