come home

busy weekend.

but still had the time to purchase and read this:
Nice to Come Home To - Rebecca Flowers
(yes, even I am suseptible to chick lit)

here's Penny's guide to purchasing a book. Pick up something that appeals to you. Title, author, whatever. Open to a random page. Read a sentence or a paragraph. If that paragraph makes you want to read more, open to another completely random page. Repeat. If you are fascinated every time, then it's time to get a copy.

“Beautifully written, with wit and heart to spare, NICE TO COME HOME TO tells the story of two sisters as they wrestle their way through relationships, one with too much sense, the other with too much sensibility. Prudence is fully alive, and so fresh and funny and warm that I heard the echoes of her interior voice long after I had closed the back cover. Rebecca Flowers is Jane Austen gone mod, and I can’t recommend this hopeful and endearing tale strongly enough.”

How interesting to find that Flowers meant her book to be an updated intepretation of the Austen classic, 'Sense and Sensibility' - thinking back on the novelization, I can definitely see the modern translation and have to admit that Flowers does a good job. When I picked up this book at West Portal Bookshop the other day (support your local brick and mortars!) I didn't want to like it. But everything about its packaging called out to the essential girl in me that spends hours twirling around sweet smelling Anthropologie in outfits that I can't afford. The soft peach accents, the appealing clothes in varying shades of green, the swirly text...I don't why I can't admit my own proclivities towards stereotypically cliche "girl" things. Why being an "intellectual" means I only drink black coffee, wear pilled sweaters and eschew anything specifically marketed towards my preferences. That saying that you like reading, "Bridget Jones", "Running in Heels" and the like means that you're somehow weak or silly.

But without a doubt, "Nice to Come Home To" hit every requirement of the book selection checklist. I went back to the book three times, thought about it as I kept perusing the store. Every time I opened it up, I wanted to finish the chapter. It's also been the first time in a while where I nearly rushed home to try to finish this book. Every chapter, written from Prudence/Elinore's point of view was like a piece of really good pizza. Completely satisfying, not overdone or too cheesy, just perfect. I think it helps that Prudence is the sensible one; playing the part that so many of us "good" girls find ourselves fufilling. The clean-up crew, the shoulder to cry on, the sensible, the practical, the reliable - and yet with all of our own needs, yearnings and dreams.

And that was the biggest appeal of the book. So often, the manic pixie is that dream girl that everyone wants; but deep down - it's the good girl that the dream man has been waiting for. She is tenacious, kind, caring and soulful. And she has a goodly amount to teach everyone, if only people would just listen. But it was Flowers' descriptions of Pru that made me connect fairly deeply with the character. The one who is afraid to let go, will and can get sucked into relationships that are nurturing and lightgiving one moment and completely dangerous and foolish the next. So Pru learns to make her own choices and in the end, won't deny her emotions of love but also allows admitting them to bring their own consequences.

"For a long time, she'd thought the whole problem was about finding love. She'd thought that, once she'd found it, she'd basically be done. Set. Good to go. Funny, how until just now, she hadn't put it all together. All love ended, somehow. One way, or another."

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on another note, i got a new job! i'm working at a 4-yr old startup. it's SOO nice to be back in an office and not only that, for quite possibly the first time in my life, an office where nearly everyone is my age and less than 1/3 of the employees have kids. dot com yuppies! so excited. i may end up causing more trouble than help, since i love to chat, but i'm going to try to keep it to a minimum and may bring in my ipod or something to help that situation out.

In other news: I have to pay my parking ticket now. Thanks Obaministration.