SFist Reads
In a shameless bit of self-reference, we will announce that it's our birthday, and we have therefore been the happy recipient of more than one Amazon gift certificate over the course of the day. We're not the kind of a**hole who complains about a gift (shut up, we're not!), but we did have a moment of crisis: how do we reconcile our sincere and public support of our fine local independent bookstores with the use of these GCs? One option is to duck the book issue and treat ourselves to that ice cream maker we've always wanted, but we know ourselves too well -- despite our best intentions it'll end up on the shelf next to our waffle maker and George Foreman grill. Then, we remembered commenter Karen, who reminded us that independent bookstore purchases can be made by choosing the "Used and New" option. Thanks, Karen, for solving our dilemma! SFist commenters are the best!
SFist Rita just finished Queen Bee Moms and Kingpin Dads by Rosalind Wiseman and Elizabeth Rapoport, the sequel to Queen Bees and Wannabes (the basis for the movie Mean Girls, about teenage girl cliques). Dude, this book is HILARIOUS. It's all about dealing with the parents of teenagers! The zippy names for personality types are back, as well as (this is the most excellent) scripts on how you as a parent should confront the parent of a child who's tormenting your darling at school. You know when they say you never really get over seventh grade? Who knew they meant it so literally? SFist Rita is child-free and found this book un-put-downable.
SFist Eve just finished local author Daniel Handler's (AKA Lemony Snicket, but you knew that) new collection of stories, Abverbs. She really liked The Basic Eight (SFist Rain has a good story about that book, ask her) and Watch Your Mouth, his previous grown-up books, but Adverbs seemed to lack the same spark and vigor. Hey, she liked it (and she's not just saying that because she'd kill to get an interview with him on SFist. Hear that, Handler? KILL!), and she loves Handler's writing, but she prefers him in his more substantial moments.