April 21. 2010

Sunrise was at 6:09 (only the birds knew-it is dark and wet today) and sunset will be at 8:08.

The wind whipped up the lilac bushes last night and in the dark they looked like sheets on a line and smelled like summer. It's been a wet spring (as far as I'm concerned) and although the lilacs came to a full bloom only last week, they are already browning. Bummer. They are so heavy in the rain that the bushes are tipping over and it's too wet to cut any to bring in.

I'm in a dither again about what to read. I started The Historian and it's really good, and long, but I wanted to read something else instead. I spent a couple of days trying to convince myself to read a grown up book and finally gave in and read the YA book I really wanted to read: A Field Guide for Heartbreakers, by Kristen Tracy. I really liked this book. It's got a main character who reminds me of me (I would like to think things have changed with age...) when I was in high school and it has a really engaging first page (and, yes, the rest of the book lives up to the first page).

It's about two girls enrolled in a summer writing program in Prague. Our heroine, Dessy, has just been dumped and her best friend, Veronica, has just dumped her boyfriend, days before the trip abroad. Veronica has all kinds of ideas about what two newly single (high school) girls should be doing in Prague when not working on their stories, most of which have to do with looking for hot men to represent on the man-wall she will be constructing in their room.

Dessy and Veronica have two very different ways of looking at life and how it's used, one often results in chaos and, perhaps, homicide, and one ends up in friendship and, occasionally, romance.

Heartbreak was a lot of fun and filled with craziness. It will definitely appeal to teens who like the Clique series or other books where sarcasm and humor (and some meanness disguised as advice)are in abundance. It may never be a "classic" book but I think there is a place on our shelves for books that are light, funny, and still deal with certain issues.

Veronica leaves wreckage behind her, and Dessy trie to fix it, V. loves fun and is impulsive, D. follows rules. There is much confusion and miscommunication but in this trip to Prague they both find clarity about themselves and that who they are is who they are, and it's fine.

The descriptions of the city are great and it would be a good book to read if you or someone you know may be going to Prague.

I think the author of this book may be coming to the store in June. I'll let you know when I find out for sure. Ages 13 and up. (Hyperion Books, due May 2010.)