This evening was my once monthly adult book club. We were reading the Imagined London book I talked about earlier. Not really a great turnout, but since I love all the women in my bookclub, I don't really care who all shows up, 'cause I am bound to have a good time.

After a rousing discussion of paint colours (Dana is now on the third colour in her bedroom), we moved into the book. We both agreed that Quindlen's book choice was lacking, and that it was weird that her son's first name is Quindlen. We also agreed that though we might read one of her novels, we would probably not pay full price for it. Dana thought it would be interesting to hear what someone who had read the books Quindlen refers to has to say. Unfortunately, that is neither or us. The only Dickens I have read is A Tale of Two Cities, which I loved as a teenager. Whatevs. I have also never read any Virginia Woolf or Thackeray. Though I saw the movie of Vanity Fair with Reese Witherspoon. Oh philistine, thy name is me!

Last year the bookclub read Reading Lolita in Tehran which I really didn't enjoy, however, it inspired us to read Lolita (so good! Go read it right now!!!). Somehow I don't get the impression that we will be picking up Mrs. Dalloway or Tom Jones (which I was forced to read during my undergrad, and if I never have to look at it again it will be too soon) anytime soon. This paragraph is getting a little parentheses heavy . . .

So, we ended with choosing John LeCarre's Constant Gardener for next month. I've read it before, but ages ago, and now there's a lovely new edition out with pictures from the Major Motion Picture on the cover, so there you go.

Okay, so enough with the grown up stuff! I've been catching up on my newspaper reading this evening, and I came across a NYTimes Books article by Naomi Wolf. She writes about how awful and mysogynistic all those Gossip Girls, Clique, etc. books are. Which I suppose they are. But there also a lot of fun; I mean, they're Jackie Collins for teens, really. I don't want to be plagiarizing here, but I loved the sentiment that I read somewhere recently that teenage girls love trashy novels, and that if they aren't reading trashy teen novels, they will be reading trashy adult novels. So true! I am all about the trashy novels. Sorry Naomi Wolf, they may be misogynistic, but they are way too much fun to give up!

Constant Gardener by John Le Carre
ISBN 1416503900
560 pages

Gossip Girl by Cecily Von Ziegesar
ISBN 0316910333
224 pages