| A Moment of Jen | |||
 Click here to read an excerpt from Best Friends Forever To watch me read from Best Friends Forever, click here. posted by Jen at 9/30/2009 02:23:00 PM Good lord! It's been months -- months! -- since I updated here. And this is just going to be a teensy little update, prompted mostly by the fact that I'm pretty sure my Nanna thinks I'm dead. Which I'm not! I've been keeping up over on Twitter (@jenniferweiner), and on my Facebook fan page, newly revitalized because I maxed out my friend limit on my personal page (so if you're waiting to be approved as a friend, it's not that I don't want you as a friend, it's that Facebook says I can't have you, so please check out the fan page, where I'm trying to post the same stuff). What else? I'm finishing the first draft of a new book, tentatively titled HOME BY THE SEA and tentatively scheduled for publication next summer. What's it about? Three very different women -- a fifty-four-year-old political wife, a thirty-six-year-old married working mother and an eighteen-year-old teenager with a secret, who are all coping with relationships in crisis, and who find each other, in a home. By the sea. Where they learn lessons, tell jokes, discover their own strengths, and possibly commit a crime. Not telling yet! Anyhow, there is humor and heartbreak and romance and sex scenes both tender and inadvertently hilarious, plus a passage in which one of the women says that she hates the shape of her husband's head, and observes that once you hate the shape of someone's head, the relationship's in trouble. I'm reading my way through Harlan Coben's entire ouevre. There's nothing as much fun as finding a new author you like, and realizing there's a dozen books you can enjoy without having to wait for the next one. And I'm getting ready for some welcome fall weather, and Halloween. The big girl wants to be a computer. She says the baby can be a cable. "Not a mouse?" I asked. No, she said. "Maybe just a cable." More soon... | # Thursday, August 06, 2009 posted by Jen at 8/06/2009 05:58:00 PM For the last two weeks I've been trying to form an opinion about "More to Love" -- it seems like the kind of thing I should have an opinion about, right? -- but I cannot find my place on the impressed-horrified continuum. Yes, the ladies seem kind of needy and pathetic...but aren't all of the contestants on every reality dating show needy and pathetic? Yes, they're drunk, but why should big girls in bathing suits be any different from the skinny girls in theirs? Clearly, I need to keep thinking about it. Meanwhile, here is Maureen Corrigan on BEST FRIENDS FOREVER, on NPR. Is my mother kvelling? Why, yes, she is! (My personal favorite part of the review -- writing a book deemed good enough to sit on a shelf with Susan Isaac's SHINING THROUGH, which is one of my favorite books of all time. If you haven't read it, do yourself a favor and take it to the beach). Finally, today I was talking with a reporter from the Cape Cod Times, and the topic turned, as it often does, to Richard Russo, who I will not accuse of style-biting, even though I really think only one writer per summer should be allowed a girlie beach scene on the cover, and Cape Cod-set epiphanies inside. I was confessing that I've never actually read a Richard Russo book...but I have a good reason. The summer GOOD IN BED came out was also the summer that EMPIRE FALLS was published. That summer, I spent many kid-free weeks traipsing from one book store to another, where I would often read for crowds whose numbers could be counted on one hand, with fingers left over, and I'd sign copies of the book, in hopes that the store could foist them off on unsuspecting readers. My mother would accompany me to some of these visits and, being a friendly sort, would frequently strike up conversations with patrons, who would sometimes ask what she was reading. "Oh, I just read the best book," my mother would say. "It was funny, and sad, and true to life...it had everything!" Here it comes, I'd think, readying myself for the maternal endorsement. Then my mother would pick up a paperback and press it into her new friend's hands. "EMPIRE FALLS!" she'd say. "It's soooo good!" After the fifth or sixth time this happened, I pulled Fran aside and explained that I doubted that Mrs. Russo was endorsing my book, so she needed to quit pimping Richard Russo's work. Which I still haven't read, but probably should. So now it's back to work...but if you want more of me, I find that I'm posting on Twitter (@jenniferweiner) and on Facebook a lot more than the old blog these days. Come find me there...I give books away to people stuck on their library waiting lists! | # Sunday, July 26, 2009 posted by Jen at 7/26/2009 07:56:00 PM The BEST FRIENDS FOREVER book tour is mostly over – although I’ll be in West Dennis on the Cape tomorrow, and in Chatham on August 20, and in Toronto at some point soon. Meanwhile, this seemed like a good time to round up some of the best questions I got asked on the road. Thanks to everyone who came to see me – it was a real pleasure meeting so many of you as I made my increasingly bleary way across the country. Feel free to keep in touch on Facebook – the all-new, frequently-updated fan page is right here...and if you've got a book-related question I didn't answer, post it on the fan page and I will try to comment. I'm also on Twitter (I’m @jenniferweiner). “What are you reading these days?” I loved Julie Klam’s memoir PLEASE EXCUSE MY DAUGHTER, Jean Hanff Korelitz’s ADMISSION, Kathryn Stockett’s THE HELP and I’m currently reading Steve Hely’s HOW I BECAME A FAMOUS NOVELIST, which is snort-out-loud funny, even if his fake-o best seller list has a book entitled HOW EVA GOT RICH, GOT THIN, AND GOT OVER HIM, which I am pretty sure I wrote. And if I didn’t, I’m going to. “How is BEST FRIENDS FOREVER different than your other books?” For one thing, it has has a male main character, which was very interesting to write. After the first draft, I read a review of a book called something like HOW NOT TO WRITE YOUR NOVEL, which warned about introducing a male character by having him masturbate. Of course, that had been Jordan’s first scene, so I had to quickly write a new introduction, where he’s much more heroic and his hands aren’t down his pants. “Why is your hair so straight?” Asked by: my Nanna. Last summer, I got that Brazilian straightening treatment, and it has changed my life, which I know sounds ridiculous, but is nevertheless true. After a lifetime of struggling with my wavy, fine hair, which lies on top of my head like an undercooked pancake with poor self-esteem, I can now blow it out in five minutes, zip over it with a flatiron, and it actually looks as if it’s been styled by someone who knows what he or she is doing. It’s expensive, but it lasts for three months, and I cannot imagine ever having un-straightened hair again. “What do you think about ‘More to Love?’” Asked in: Atlanta Short answer: I haven’t seen it yet, so I’m withholding judgment. Longer answer: I always worry about the fat-people minstrel show aspect – the close-ups of parts that jiggle and wobble, the teary confessions of misery and loneliness…and it looks a little cheesy and exploitative. Then again, all TV dating shows are cheesy and exploitative, and have teary confessions of misery and loneliness, so why shouldn’t big girls have a chance to be cheesily exploited, and weep through their makeup in the back of a limousine after the bachelor sends them packing? Also: Emme is hosting. Emme is good people, so that eases my mind. I’ll report back after I’ve actually seen the show. “How’s Jake?” Asked in: San Francisco, by my Uncle Freddie, in a question that totally confounded the audience, whose members demanded to know who Jake was. Jake, who is my brother, is fantastic. So are Joe and Molly, my other sibs, but Uncle Freddie didn’t ask about them. “What are you working on now?” Honestly, figuring out what time zone I’m in, and whether Delta will ever recover the Kindle I left on the Atlanta-to-St. Louis flight (it’s not looking good, particularly since the not-terrifically-helpful Delta lady seemed perplexed as to why I was so upset about a lost "candle"). Beyond that, I’m putting the pieces in place for the next novel, which I think will include a betrayed political wife in the Silda Spitzer model….I’m fascinated by those women who stand at press conferences as their politician spouses confess the most outrageous wrongdoings, and very curious about what happens when the cameras are off. God willing, it'll be published same time next year...and I'll be back on the road! | # Thursday, July 23, 2009 posted by Jen at 7/23/2009 12:51:00 AM The BEST FRIENDS FOREVER book tour is OVER...and it ended with a bang! At five o'clock, I got The Call. My editor was on the line. My publisher was, too. BEST FRIENDS FOREVER is a number one New York Times best seller. I think I screamed so loud that they could hear me in New York. And I'm in San Francisco! Eight hours later, I'm still thrilled, and amazed, and humbled, and so, so grateful to everyone who bought the book, which I hope you're enjoying. Thanks, especially, to everyone who's friended me on Facebook and followed me on Twitter who came out to say hi, snap a picture, drink Champagne (you're damn right I had Champagne at the reading tonight!) and ask me to sign their book READ THIS BITCHES. I loved meeting you all. So now I get to go home again, hang up the dresses, put away the heels, and go back to the family, and the work in progress. It's a little bittersweet -- as hard as the travel is, it's fun to be on the road, meeting everyone, wearing the grownup clothes, zipping through the airports unencumbered by stroller and sippie cups and Ziplock'd snacks and diaper bag, and the kids who require all of the above. It's fun to drink grownup beverages, use grownup words, and stay in fancy hotels where sometimes the pastry chef will whip up a dark-chocolate replica of your book, just because. But it's back to life, back to reality. I'm sure I'll have some funny tales from the road when I'm home and rested, but meanwile, if you're looking for another book, let me recommend Lizzie Skurnick's ode to the young adult fiction of our (okay, my) youth, SHELF DISCOVERY. I've got an essay in there about, natch, Judy Blume's BLUBBER. Enjoy, and again, thanks to EVERYONE who bought the book. I truly hope you enjoy reading it as much as I loved writing it, and I'm very grateful to you all. | # Friday, July 17, 2009 posted by Jen at 7/17/2009 03:29:00 PM Greetings from Atlanta! Lovely, cool, temperate Atlanta, with its cozy, intimate airport! I hope you've all picked up your copies of BEST FRIENDS FOREVER, and I hope to see lots of you on the road -- I'm in Atlanta tonight, St. Louis on Saturday, Framingham, MA on Sunday, Lincolnshire, IL, on Monday, El Cerrito on Tuesday and San Francisco on Wednesday. All of the times and places are here...but meanwhile, a special treat (heh) for those who can't join me...the Free Library podcast of my Wednesday-night reading! Warning: it is filthy. Seriously filthy. I don't know what's gotten into me this book tour, but I seem to be saying "cock" a lot. Enjoy! And enjoy BEST FRIENDS FOREVER! | # Tuesday, July 14, 2009 posted by Jen at 7/14/2009 01:41:00 PM BEST FRIENDS FOREVER is in stores today! You can read about the book in USA Today, today...and you can see me on the road. Today, July 14: New York City, 7:30 p.m., Lincoln Triangle Barnes & Noble Wednesday, July 15: Princeton, Eno Terra Restaurant, noon Wednesday, July 15: Philadelphia: Free Library Central Branch, 7:30 p.m Thursday, July 16: Washington, DC, Borders Bailey's Crossroads, 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 17: Atlanta, East Cobb Borders, 7 p.m. Saturday, July 18: St. Louis: The Ethical Society, 9001 Clayton Road, 8 p.m. (please note: there WILL be books for sale if you want to buy one) Sunday, July 19: Boston, Barnes & Noble, Framingham, 3 p.m. Monday, July 20: Lincolnshire, IL, Stevenson High School Performing Arts Center, 7 p.m. (there WILL be books for sale!) Tuesday, July 21: San Francisco, Barnes & Noble El Cerrito, 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 22, San Francisco, Book Passage in the Ferry Building, 8 p.m. Hope to see lots of you on the road...and I hope you enjoy BEST FRIENDS FOREVER! | # Friday, July 10, 2009 posted by Jen at 7/10/2009 11:04:00 AM BEST FRIENDS FOREVER comes out Tuesday (but you knew that already, right?) In the meantime, three more events in St. Louis AND San Francisco, which were the top two vote-getters in my Facebook poll. Come see me... Saturday, July 18: St. Louis, The Ethical Society of St. Louis (9001 Clayton Road), 8:00 pm Tuesday, July 21: El Cerrito, Barnes and Noble El Cerrito, (El Cerrito Plaza), 7:00 pm Wednesday, July 22: San Francisco, Book Passage Bookstore in the San Francisco Ferry Building (1 Ferry Building, #42), 8:00 pm' Finally, a note for Kindle users -- I know the book is currently priced at $14 for Kindle, as opposed to $9.99 you pay for most titles. Amazon is responsible for setting the price. My understanding is that they list titles they expect to do well for $14 and then, after a week or two, the price drops to $9.99...but because it's Amazon, not the publisher, making the decision, I can't tell you how the price got set, or tell you when the price will change. All I can say is that I hope you decide that BEST FRIENDS FOREVER is worth $14, and that you enjoy the read. | # |
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