MWF Seeking BFF by Rachel Bertsche

Rachel Bertsche, a lifelong New Yorker, relocates to Chicago with her husband and, missing the two childhood friends she left behind, spends a great deal of time contemplating her Chicago friendships or lack thereof.  So she starts a year-long project to go on girl dates, first getting set up with friends of friends, to meeting girls at book clubs and cooking clubs, to chatting up anyone anywhere.  Bertsche even tries to rent a friend.  It’s a very funny and thought-provoking girl-meets-girl-and-tries-to-make-her-a-best-friend tale.  I appreciate that Bertsche expresses the difficulty of her task, especially for someone who is socially shy, and provides ideas to help others, such as say yes to everything. 

Dear Photograph by Taylor Jones

Dear Photograph is a compilation of photos from the original website Dear Photograph created by Taylor Jones.  It’s a photograph from the past held up in front of the same scene in the present and captured again, often accompanied with a message from the photographer.  Jones came up with the idea when he was sitting at his parent’s dinner table with his family looking through old photographs.  He found a photo of his brother when he was younger with a birthday cake displayed on the table in front of him.  Jones looked up across the table and there was his adult brother still sitting in the exact same spot.  So Jones lined up the old photo with the table and cabinets and snapped a new photo and posted it on his blog and an idea was born.  So I decided to go through some of my old photos and found one of my younger brother when he was around 2 sitting inside my parent's kitchen cabinet.  He is now 20 and in the Army. 

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

When her parents have to move to England for work, Louisiana native Rory, gets to choose where she wants to go for her senior year.  Her choice: Wexford, a boarding school in London.  At the same time, a Jack the Ripper copy-cat killer begins to recreate the gruesome murders from 1888.  Around the dates of the past murders, the school and much of London goes on lockdown.  On one of these nights, Rory and her roommate sneak out of their dorm and unfortunately, Rory ends up being the only witness to the killer.  She's not sure how her roommate never saw this eerie man.  And now Rory has become his newest target.   This was an awesome page-turning mystery. 

Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer

Since the moment I heard about Between the Lines, I’ve been itching to read it and, yes, I was jealous of the 13 year old at Jodi’s book talk (the one I went to back in March) who got an advanced reader’s copy, for free, from Jodi.  But I waited like a proper adult until it came out and then read it within two days.  It’s a story about a loner, Delilah, who reads and rereads a children's fairy tale memorizing every word until one day the story changes.  The main character, Prince Oliver, comes to life and explains that he and the rest of the characters are actually real people stuck within the book, having to play their roles over and over again.  Oliver so desperately wants to escape his routine life and Delilah, having fallen for his character many readings ago, really wants to help him get out.  It’s an adorable and charming story and any fan of Jodi's with children should be excited to read this with them. 

Maggie Shipstead's Seating Arrangements

In this cleverly written social satire, we are given a three day glimpse into the world of an East Coast blue blood dysfunctional family.  It’s Thursday and Winn Van Meter is on his way to his New England summer home for his eldest daughter’s wedding.   The house is filled with too many women including his drunken sister-in-law, her daughter's "bombshell" bridesmaids and his overwhelmingly depressed youngest daughter.   Not a good combination for Winn who is so full of self-pity, because his oldest rival seemingly has kept him out of the island's prestigious golf club for three years, that he starts to consider fulfilling some unfulfilled desires.  Thankfully the author provides different perspectives from several characters and we don't just witness Winn’s cringe-worthy behavior.  In all honesty, I thought this book would be much funnier and it’s not necessarily a compelling storyline however I really enjoyed the way Shipstead writes.  She writes in a descriptive and almost poetic way that you get lost in the book even if you don't like any of the characters. 

You Can't Steal a Free Book

While browsing through Etsy tonight I found an awesome article on mini hand-built libraries.  The article, Little Free Libraries: “You Can’t Steal a Free Book” is posted on the Etsy Blog and talks about these community libraries that resemble large birdhouses with hinged glass doors.  There are over 1,500 Little Free Libraries with more popping up all across the country.  You can even find a Google map of each library's location.  It has me seriously considering my craftsmanship skills because it desperately looks like my neighborhood needs a Little Free Library!