We met to discuss Colm Toibin's The Master, but the stars must not have been aligned for us this month, as less than half had finished the book. So the discussion part was fairly brief. We spent far more time debating our next choice. Because our next meeting is a mere three weeks away, we had decided to choose a lighter book this time around. Our hostess, an avowed chick lit expert, presented the following:
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer -- ok, not technically chick lit, but we thought YA might be a good change, I was so surprised to see how many people were still unaware of the entire phenomenon, teaching me that there are always more people out there to buy a book, no matter how many millions it's already sold
Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani (I hoped this would be the one so I could kill 2 birds with 1 stone, so to speak (see radio show next month)
Anybody Out There by Marian Keyes
The Boy I Loved Before by Jenny Colgan -- this sounds v. appealing in a 13 Going on 30 way
and...Persuasian by Jane Austen -- the original chick lit
Voting was fierce and came down to an Austen vs. Keyes finale. Keyes carried the day, as the plot of Anybody sounded too good to resist: Anna wakes up one day in her mother's house in Ireland, very banged up from an accident and with no memory of what happened. She returns to NYC to try to figure out her life and as her past slowly begins coming back to her, she finds heself on an outrageous quest—involving lilies, psychics, mediums, and anyone who can point her in the right direction. I'm excited because Marian Keyes is one of my favorite authors, personally and professionally! (Plus check out this cover, I may paste it up on my fridge as inspiration in the ongoing lose-the-baby-weight campaign, I long for that flat stomach!)
