I still think that Jennifer Weiner writes the best chick lit, but this is fun.

Tara, Katherine, and Fintan have been best friends since their small town Ireland days, and are now trying to make their way in London. Fintan and his partner Sandro are happy as clams in love. Katherine is the Ice Queen at work, and Tara has a dreadful boyfriend whom she is convinced she loves. None of them want to change anything. But of course, that's not up to them.

Surprise! Hope you enjoy, m'dear!

Dang -- all these fun books! I need a beach vacation in which to enjoy them :)

Thanks for the treats -- I'm excited to dig into them all!

This is the first book I finished in 2006! Yes, I'm starting the year off with a bit of junk food, and I like it :)

I liked this one much better than Sushi for Beginners, and I liked that one!

I have more to write, but it will have to wait till later this evening.

I'm a disaster at remembering to write journal entries while I can still remember the book! Sheesh! And the only reason I'm going to write a journal entry on this one is because it's getting in a box with some magazines to go to an American in Japan. I was told by another 'murrican in Asia that an American magazine there was like gold, but she doesn't live there anymore, so I checked with SKingList, and sure enough, they're still hard to get :) So she gets the ones I was saving for that BCer who is now back in the states.

Now here's the cool thing (pay attention): I was thinking about asking BlueAmazon if she knew SkingList, because of the Japan connection, but I got sidetracked, and it didn't happen. Now today as I was packing the box, it wasn't totally full, so I was looking for "filler". Knowing that I didn't have any of SKing's wishlist books already, I wasn't sure what to send. Then I checked out her list of previous reads, and it *looks* like she's a fan of Marian Keyes! I had Sushi for Beginners and this one in my hand, but then I checked and, well, she's already read SfB. But it doesn't appear that she has this one, so it will help fill up the box, AND get to travel a bit more :)

Back to the journal entry on this book -- I have several spots marked, so let's see if I can remember what I marked!

I don't know why I marked page 70, but I hated Thomas from the beginning. The conversation on this page did make me chuckle, though:
I don't know. Maybe it's his brown jeans.
Brown is the new black.
But they're horrible. And look! His shirt is brown, too.
"Don't be brownist," Fintan advised. "And he's probably a dead nice person."

I found this part profound (perhaps it has to be experiential):
So Tara went shopping and tried to pretend that she wasn't starving. She had high hopes that looking at clothes would take her mind off things, but found she couldn't wrap her head around the idea of being size sixteen.. . .The only consolation lay in looking at sexy, funky shoes. Shoes were the fat woman's friend. Shoes still looked beautiful when all else had gone to hell in a handbasket.

I did like this book, and found the dialog very entertaining. The relationships between the friends were enjoyable to read, too.

Thanks for sharing, Blue, and now this needs to get in a box!

Updated to add: I re-used a BookCrossing box! I think it was originally from Greyflank, as it's from a store in his part of the country (I've shopped there!). Just thought I'd add that fun fact :)

Arrived as part of the best box ever! You're right Ant, I do like Marian Keyes. I squealed when I saw this, and I'm puzzled as to how I never knew it existed because I haven't read it. Will soon be remedying that and I think it will then g on to totoroandmei if she hasn't read it as she also adores MK. And nothing in BlueAmazon's profile triggers that I know them, but it's a possibility. The world keeps shrinking on me!

Before I read this book though, one of the magazines is going with me under my pillows to ensure SWEET DREAMS.

Thanks again, Ant!

Slight change of plans with this book. Totoroandmei already has a copy and I'm overloaded with work at the moment so have lent this to iAteAbreakfast who majored in Irish Studies/Lit and has lived in Ireland, but has never read a Marian Keyes book. Shock and horror!

I picked this book up from my roomie collection. Honestly for the first third of the book I didn't really like it. I'm not much of a big chick lit fan, but in the end I feel like it pulled through. Not a new fav but not the worst thing I've read.

RELEASE NOTES:

Mailing it to my grandmother