New Book: The Girls From Ames

When I'm looking for a new book to read I head to Borders with my notepad. There I browse and write down the titles of the books that caught my fancy then check them out at the library. I find that it's WAY easier to browse at a bookstore than the library. This is how I came across The Girls From Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow.

I like books by journalists. Zaslow took a year off from his column at The Wall Street Journal to write this book. Journalists turned novelists make me feel like someday I can actually write a book. Maybe.

Anyway, I was particularly interested in this book because I grew up in a college town and had a clique of friends. We were called "The Clan" in high school and we were made up of mostly oldest-children in our families navigating the waters of high school. Melanie, Heather, Laura, Tyra, Kate, Tonie, and Jody. We all did everything together. That's not to say that we didn't have friends outside of our clique -- because we all did. But we were popular and known to have ties to each other that went back to preschool days.

I just started this book last night. I was flooded with memories of my own friendships and started thinking about those girls and what they are up to today. I keep in touch with every single one of them. Some of them have lost touch between each other, as will happen over time. I love every single one of them still and wish I could see them all more often.

So far the book is living up to my expectations. It's interesting that a male journalist is chronicling the lives of these 11 women friends, but so far he's doing a really great job. I'm excited to read more!