#18: See Jane Write, Sarah Mlynowki and Farrin Jacobs

In other words, "A Girl's Guide to Writing Chick Lit." I picked this one up on a whim at the library after flipping through it at Borders. Despite the egregious title, I have to say it's one of the better "how to write" books I've read. It covers both the basics and also gets into nitpicky detail, and while I already knew a lot of the points, it got my brain churning and made me realize a couple of things about pacing and character development. It also reads incredibly quickly. And, probably most important, it avoided my biggest pet peeve in books with sidebars: The sidebars fall naturally within the text, at breaks. I seriously hate it when you have to flip back and forth between the pages, or stop in the middle of the main text to take in the sidebar...so annoying. So I highly recommend this one.

I did have to laugh though in reading the Grammar and Punctuation chapter. The authors spend a couple pages detailing the differences between words like "effect" and "affect" and "bear" and "bare." Now, I'm not generally a snob about these things, but I'm thinking if you don't already know the difference between these words, a novel isn't in your future. Dentistry or astrophysics, maybe. I'm not sure that I even remember how to figure out the volume of a cube (length times width times height?), but I also realized early on that the sciences were not my calling. You know what I mean?

Next up: I've started reading Brideshead Revisited but it's slow-going. I'm not sure I'm going to make it through. I just found out that The Zoo on the Road to Nablus is waiting for me at the library (finally!), and I might be tempted to switch over. The only problem is, when I drop a book, I rarely go back. So we'll see if Brideshead and I can tough it out...maybe I'll just go see the movie. :)

#17: Slammerkin, Emma Donoghue

I've just finished Slammerkin today and I really enjoyed it. I had it on my to-read list for years but never seemed to get around to it until I suddenly found about two weeks ago that I wasn't terribly thrilled with anything on my bookshelf. So I picked it up at the library, and glad I did.

It's certainly an interesting book. Young Mary Saunders grows up poor, the daughter of a London seamstress, but hankers for the finer things in life. Her biggest desire is to own a red ribbon that she's seen one of the prostitutes wearing. She tries to get one from the peddler by giving him a kiss, but instead he rapes her; when her mother discovers Mary's pregnant, she throws her out of the house and Mary ends up becoming a prostitute to survive. Light reading, huh? The weirdest thing, though, is that I never particularly liked Mary and yet I still really liked the book. She's intelligent and unlike most of the girls she keeps company with, she gets multiple chances to escape prostitution and have a chance at a "normal" life -- but instead, she throws the opportunities away, and for no real discernible reason besides momentary whims. I didn't particularly like Wuthering Heights because I thought the characters were silly, so I'm not sure why the same thing works here, but it does.

Next up: I'm not sure what book I shall pick up next, although I have the two about polygamy and Mormons that recently came out (Escape and Stolen Innocence, I think). I also have some Chick Lit book that I read a good review of in People, though can't remember the title. The Olympics has been throwing me off, so time will tell I suppose!

#16: The Heretic's Daughter, Kathleen Kent

The Heretic's Daughter comes out next month, and I had an advance reading copy that I decided to actually, er, read. In short, Kathleen Kent reimagines the true story of her ancestor Martha Carrier, hanged as a witch in Salem, and her daughter Sarah. When the family moves to Andover in 1690, they bring with them smallpox; it sets them off on the wrong foot with the townspeople and once the witch frenzy begins, sharp-tongued Martha and her children stand accused and are thrown into jail.

I thought the book was okay. It reminded me a lot of Geraldine Brook's Year of Wonders in both topic (a community tries to survive after a tailor brings the plague to town) and tone. Both are written in a style of the past, to make it seem like you are reading something from the 17th century, but I don't think that device totally works in either book, or in, say, The Crucible. These writing styles have simply fallen out of favor -- as tedious, restrained, and boring. The Heretic's Daughter also relies much too heavily on simile and metaphor for description (there must be one per page, at least; now I know why English teachers were always trying to make us stop!), as well as one-dimensional characterizations of people as either good or bad, with little in-between.

Well, after all that, it sounds like the book was terrible, but it's not. It's just simply okay. It's obviously not the best book I've read, but it's certainly not the worst. So, moving on...

#15: Basic Black, Cathie Black

I interviewed Cathie Black, president of Hearst Magazines, for a story a couple of weeks ago and read her book, which came out in hardcover last year, in preparation. Although I'm generally not one for the business books, I liked Basic Black. Her writing style is friendly and straightforward, and it's as much a memoir as a how-to. But even more, her anecdotes about mistakes she witnessed and learned from jived pretty well with things that had been happening at my now-former workplace. And honestly, it felt gratifying to see these situations basically replicated and have Black say, no that was wrong, we should have done x or y instead. Because no one actually wants to work in an office like The Office, you know? But I'm getting off topic.

I'd recommend Basic Black and plan to give my copy to one of my former co-workers. So two thumbs up.

#13 and #14: Double Love and Secrets, Francine Pascal

In case you don't immediately recognize the titles (whaaa?), Double Love and Secrets were the first two Sweet Valley High Books, published in 1983. Random House began rereleasing updated versions of the series earlier this year (I thik #4's just about to come out) and a friend and I started reminiscing about reading them way back when, which led me to track down some used paperbacks on Amazon...and here we are.

Sadly, the books aren't great, mostly because the characters are stereotypes and the writing is pretty bland (breaking Composition 101 rule #1: Show, don't tell). At age 12, of course, I didn't realize this; I just wanted to be a blond, move to California, have a twin magically appear beside me, and just get to high school already! I don't remember how far I got into the series before I grew out of it, although I'm guessing likely into the 70s, at least. But seriously, these books pretty much taught me everything my tender mind thought it knew about boys and s-e-x in the 6th grade. They were so influential, in fact, that I can still remember being given the first copy: I was at a sleepover at my best friend Alison's house, and I can still totally picture standing there in the bedroom when she gave me the hand-me-down from her older sister.

So I won't criticize the writing style or the plots; Francine Pascal and her team of ghostwriters likely never intended for the books to be read by adults. So I'll just smile and remember what it was like to be 12. Ah, 12...how fast it all goes.

But, should you want to be an adult and live (or re-live) the magic of Sweet Valley High, but don't want to go it alone, check out this blog: http://thedairiburger.wordpress.com/category/sweet-valley-high/ There you'll find one dedicated blogger and many fans wanting to do the same thing!