Tomorrow I leave for New York to attend BEA. I am very excited. I will be "signing" at the blogger book signing sponsored by Firebrand on Saturday at 4 PM, and will attend BookClubGirl's blogger panel earlier that day. Otherwise, I am just excited to walk around and check out the booths.
I have been very busy with work and a lot of other things going on, and haven't had nearly enough time to read. But I have started The Local News and am so far really enjoying it.
Here's a book I read about in More magazine: The Girls From Ames, by Jeffrey Zaslow. From More:
Jeffrey Zaslow, a Wall Street Journal columnist, took a year off from his job so he could travel around the country to study the 40-year friendship of 11 women from Ames, Iowa. The story is striking in part because a man reports it. He is captivated by the subject both as a journalist and as the father of teenage daughters. He examines the Ames clique from every angle — career, marriage, motherhood — but he also keeps his authorial presence to a minimum. The women, now 45 and 46 years old, open up about coming of age at the height of feminism and the challenges of holding on to friends. The result is richly detailed and undeniably familiar, as if someone narrated your own life story back to you.
Doesn't that sound good? Here's an interview with Jeffrey Zaslow from HuffPo about the book. On why he decided to write the book:
Of all the topics you could possibly have written about, why, as a male, did you decide to write a book about female friendship?
In 2003, I wrote a column on female friendship for The Wall Street Journal, and I knew that it had touched a nerve when I received 300 letters and emails from women. I've seen my daughters (now 13, 17 and 19) struggle with their friendships and I've seen how friendship can lead to great things.
I'm always curious about people and I like to think of myself as a sensitive guy. With a wife, three daughters and no sons, I live in a world of women. So the topic resonates. And if I had written The Boys from Ames, no one would have cared. Men don't want to read books about male friendship.
This book is highly ranked on Amazon – has anyone out there read it yet? It sounds fascinating.