Nanny Returns

So, book #3 was Nanny Returns, by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus. I was sort of prepared not to like this book. I am not sure why - I liked The Nanny Diaries well enough. But I did like it!

The story takes place years after Nanny left her charge, Grayer X. She and her husband have just moved back to New York after being abroad, and Grayer shows up drunk on their doorstep wanting some explanations. And thus she becomes embroiled in the X family troubles all over again, while dealing with her own marriage and life decisions.

Lots of of-the-moment (hate that phrase) pop culture references, which normally bug me - but I immediately, if reluctantly, related to all of them (Trish McEvoy mini makeup brushes, lululemon yoga wear), so I can't complain. I guess that just means I am the authors' target audience.

Also proving that I am their target demographic was Nan's running concern about whether or not to have children. And if yes, then when? She struggles with the question, saying to her mother:

"I want to hear it's all going to be okay."
"Well, of course it's going to be okay. It just might not include
children."

Further, I feel like in the first book, Nan was such a do-gooder and firmly on the right side of things (which I guess she was, if you're comparing her to Mr. and Mrs. X) and in this book, people call her out on her righteous indignation. I liked that. She comes off as a know-it-all but doesn't always get away with it. (Maybe I'm mis-remembering the first book but the point remains.)

I am intrigued by the whole co-authoring process. I went to a talk by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson a couple of years ago... they co-author a series of Peter Pan adventure books for kids (the first book is Peter and the Starcatchers - a prequel to Barrie's original Peter Pan). I wrote about this before. They explained that Barry, being a humorist, would focus on the funny characters, and he would write their chapters. Pearson, an author of thrillers, was assigned the darker, scarier characters - pirates and such. So they wrote their drafts, and then they would "ping-pong" the chapters back and forth to each other via e-mail, and each of them would have the chance to edit and contribute to each chapter. I don't know how Ms. McLaughlin and Ms. Kraus did it, but I think about those things when I read a co-authored book. I wonder if it's difficult.

So in the end I found the book to be more interesting than I had anticipated. A nice surprise.

easy breezy

Girly-girl books this week: The Real Real by Nicola Kraus and Emma McLaughlin (authors of The Nanny Diaries) and Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner.

The Real Real: What is it with me and YA books? I might be immature. Never said I wasn't. So the premise of this book is this: A music TV channel ("XTV") sets its sights on a high school in the Hamptons as the focus of a reality series called The Real Hampton Beach - a la Laguna Beach, The Hills, etc. Shows I love, so this is why I was drawn to this book. Our heroine, Jesse, is not part of the in crowd, but is chosen to be a focus character nonetheless. How she deals with the popularity, the jealousy of her her best friend, the powers that be at the TV station - this makes up our story. It's cute - a nice summer read for a teenage girl. Or a nice holiday week read for a 40-year old.

P.S. Did you know that Kraus and McLaughlin's Nanny Returns just came out this month?

Best Friends Forever: I'm a fan of Jennifer Weiner. I think I've read all of her books at this point -- enjoying some more than others, naturally, but I am always willing to pick up something she's written. This one is a little bit Thelma and Louise -- two childhood friends who were torn apart but who reconnect at their high school reunion and set off to wreak revenge on someone who wronged them. It's more complicated than that -- messed-up families play a part in the story -- but I don't want to retall the whole story here...

Which brings me to this realization: I am pretty much just logging what I read these days. I don't know if I'm tired, or just don't have time or what, but I am at a point where I am not spending the effort to dissect what I'm reading. Which is fine with me. But it makes me think maybe it's time for another 50 Book Challenge! I think that's what I'll do, beginning in 2010 - since I'm spending more time reading than writing about the books, I might as well just go with it - and spend more time reading and just log what I've read.

50 Book Challenge is back!

My Top Nine Chick Lit Novels

All right, then. Since we’ve established that I cannot resist the siren call of the girly novel, no matter how much I pretend to disdain them, then I might as well face up to facts and just sing their praises already. (More analysis/defense after the list.) Here, then, are my ten favorite chick lit novels (not including books by Jane Austen, George Eliot or the Brontes, which are, when you get down to it, entertaining books about single women and social mores …). In no particular order:

1. Bridget Jones’s Diary, by Helen Fielding. This isn’t necessarily my favorite on this list, but I liked it, and as it is widely (though, some will argue, erroneously) considered to be the seminal work of the chick lit genre as it exists today, it stands to reason that it should occupy #1 on this list.
   


2. Watermelon, by Marian Keyes. Watermelon actually came out a year before Bridget, so maybe this should be tied for #1, actually... This is, I believe, the first chick lit book to which I succumbed. Claire, our heroine, gets dumped by her husband as she lies in the hospital, giving birth to their first daughter.
   
   
   
3. 3. Something Borrowed, by Emily Giffin. Despite the author's tendency to malign Blue Devils and pump it up for Wake Forest... ad nauseum... in every book she writes... she gets my vote. I can't say I wouldn't do the same thing, really.
   



4. Good In Bed, by Jennifer Weiner. I already wrote about this book... just this week. But this one makes the list because it made me cry.
   
   
5. Welcome to My Planet: Where English is Sometimes Spoken, by Shannon Olson. I already wrote about this one, too, about a hundred years ago.
   


6. The entire Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. Evanovich has scads of dedicated fans. Our girl Stephanie is an unlikely bounty hunter with big hair and a pet hamster. She juggles a couple of hot men while conducting her bounty-hunting activities, which are more often than not slapsticky antics involving a host of goofball characters. These books are actually really fun. Light, funny, silly. Ms. Evanovich is perhaps the godmother of what has come to be known as the “tart noir” genre (chick lit mysteries). Start with One for the Money.
   


7. As long as we’re including entire series, then let’s add the Gossip Girl series by Cecily Von Ziegesar. I know these are ostensibly for teenagers, but they are hard to put down. I have only read a couple of them, and I might just have Gossip Girl on the brain due to my love for the TV show (the pretty, pretty people! the bright and shiny clothes!), but I think these books are fun and pop-culturally significant, so they make my list.



8. The Nanny Diaries, by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus. This book was so commercially successful that the first-time authors were given a heady $3 million advance for their second book, Citizen Girl. Which they reportedly had to return, when Citizen Girl turned out to be a dud.
   


9. The Devil Wears Prada, by Lauren Weisberger. Being an assistant is hard.

Coming up with a Top Ten list is also hard (which is why I stopped at nine.)

So, I’ve been thinking. What I like about these books, I think, is that the authors put their characters through (mostly) realistic situations, situations that a lot of women can relate to. I think this is what draws women in. Stories about dating, weight loss/gain, pregnancy issues, family pressures, embarrassing moments, laughing with friends – these are all things I easily identify with. And these are not necessarily frivolous things: Many traumatic issues (infidelity, family, anxiety, loss of jobs/boyfriends/family members) are handled in the stories, but handled with some humor. They are, in general, upbeat – not altogether emotionally draining. It’s not that the characters are silly, really. Just because there’s a hole in the ozone layer, doesn’t mean a woman can’t also be sad about - say - breaking off her engagement, you know? I can be excited about a new president and new shoes.

Let’s consider the demographic. The past decade or so has shown that there are more single women, making more money, living on their own, than ever before. So it stands to reason that there would be a genre of literature reflecting that trend. Look at Friends, Seinfeld, Sex and The City (the latter of which, of course, was a book to begin with). All wildly popular during this era, and all exhibit chick lit characteristics: Single people in urban settings, often relying on a tribe of friends rather than family members, dealing with real life issues with humor.

So I have decided I stand in defense of the genre. Books don’t have to be depressing to be good. Why am I being so defensive?

Any other candidates?