Life's a Beach

Just finished "Life's a Beach" by Claire Cook. She also wrote "Must Love Dogs", "Multiple Choice" and "Ready to Fall" (which I haven't read yet.) I really enjoyed it - I'll use it for the Senior Booktalks I'll do in the fall.

41 year old Ginger Walsh isn't where she thought she would be at this age - she's still living in an apartment over her parents garage, unmarried, and not sure of her career path. Her mother wants to sell the house out from under her, and is dragging a parade of "Red Hat Ladies" through for selling advice. Ginger's father isn't so sure he wants to move, though....Her longtime lover isn't necessarily ready to commit - he doesn't even use a phone much - and how mature is it anyway to throw pebbles at her window? Her married older sister is having a crisis over turning 50, and really thinks it's time Ginger got her act together.

Moviemakers come to town, (a shark is stranded in the harbor, and it's better than a fake shark!) and her nephew turns out to be a natural. Who better to chaperone than Ginger, who really hasn't got anything to do anyway? She has a chance to find herself, her path, and what she wants after all.

I liked this - I've read two of her others and enjoyed both of them. I suppose I should see "Must Love Dogs" since I liked the book, and like John Cusack and Diane Lane...although movies usually aren't as good as the book. (An exception to that rule is "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" I think it's Leonardo DiCaprio's first movie, and he's really good. Johnny Depp could read the phone book and I'd be interested, and Juliet Lewis is good as usual. And the Harry Potter movies... )

I'm watching the news and they're talking about the tornado that hit Rolla, ND. It's pronounced RAH LAH, not ROH-LAH. My husband grew up about 20 miles from there, so I know! lol. I'm sure my mom in law knows someone who was involved - no matter where we go in ND, she runs into someone she knows. (My sister in law is like that in Richfield - it's pretty fun. )