Books with Buzz...

First a question for all you girls out there! (sorry again guys... feels like my Twilight/Edward review again, huh?!) How many of you girls still have friends from your childhood? Friends that you not necessarily see all the time, but keep in regular contact? It's hard, especially while we may go away to college, get married, move away from home, become mothers and our lives become busy & complicated as we grow up. The Girls from Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow is the story of 11 girls from Ames, Iowa who share a special 40 year friendship. Jeffrey Zaslow is a journalist with the Wall Street Journal, probably best known for co-authoring The Last Lecture by the Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch, and writes human interest stories in a column for the WSJ called Moving On. After writing a column called The Art (and Science) of Women's Friendship he received hundreds of emails- from women telling him of their long cherished childhood friendships. One such person was Jenny from Ames... Zaslow printed all those emails out and tucked them away in a file cabinet for 3 years. He then began to think there was a story... a story he wanted to tell... about the particular kind of friendship women share. He thought it might help him understand the women in his life.... So here it is, the result of delving into the lives of 11 girls. The good, the bad, the ugly... thru sharing their diaries and scrapbooks and intimate stories, The Girls from Ames is a testament to all of us girls and how the word friendship always has a special meaning for us..... (click on the highlighted titles to read more about the book and the article that started it all.) Leave a comment and share your stories! Us girls are a special bunch!

Another book to take a peek at.. Any aspiring romance writers out there?? Well that's what Laura Rider is in Laura Rider's Masterpiece by Jane Hamilton. Laura Hamilton has been married to Charlie for 12 years- and she's had enough! No she doesn't want a divorce she wants a....'rest'. No one would figure from the looks of him, but one of Charlies only talents is in the bedroom. But Laura & Charlie settle into married life not sharing a bedroom -they share the Prairie Wind Farm Nursery in Hartley, Wisconsin. When Charlie runs into Jenna Farioli, "the host of a popular radio show AND the single most famous person in Hartley" and starts an email correspondence with her, Laura decides she's going to try out her writing skills...using Charlie's identity! "Their project quickly spins out of control with hilarious , poignant, and memorable results" . Sounds like a fun read, I love the retro cover and will write a real review once I take it down from the shelf...

And now a little Dan Brown news... A NEW thriller called The Lost Symbol will be published in the UK and U.S. Sept.15th of this year! It will again feature fictional professor of religious iconology & symbology Robert Langdon. All we hear about the book for now is that the story will take place over a twelve hour period, with the thrill of discovery from the opening page. If you've never read any of Dan Brown's book's Angels and Demons is the first book in the Robert Langdon series- a real page turner that is finally coming out on the big screen due for release in the U.S. on May 15th! The second book and by far the more popular in the series was The DaVinci Code. My recommendation for any new reader's to Dan Brown would be Angel's and Demons.... if you like thrillers this is a great series!

Happy Reading!