In the May/June Issue of Blueprint magazine, there are recommendations for "For The Bedside Table" books and "For the Beach Weekend" books. Here’s one for the beach weekend – I’ll turn to more serious fare later.
The book is I Love You, Beth Cooper, by Larry Doyle, who has written for "The Simpsons" as well as penned a number of screenplays that have made it to theaters. In it, the main character, a smart but dorky high school valedictorian, confesses his love for a popular cheerleader in his graduation speech. Later, she shows up at his graduation party, and what follows is a coming-of-age story with stock high school characters who turn out to be more complex than they initally seemed.
Blueprint calls it "hilarious, suspenseful and a little good-kind-of-sad," and "a mashup of John Hughes movies, notes on white-bred suburbia, and a plausibly implausible plot." [John Hughes movies? I’m in.]
Larry Doyle has a blog, and you can read a bunch of good reviews of this book here and at the book’s website. You can also read the whole first chapter of the book if you click on "Read an Excerpt" at the bottom of the home page of the website.
The book hits stores on Tuesday so I doubt anyone out there has read it yet. I may request a review copy and will let you you know if I read it.