In the early introduction of this book, Mindy Kaling says something along the lines of, “in my twenties I wanted to be liked and in my thirties I want to be known.” And that was how I knew that I would really like this book. Because if there’s anything I can relate to, that’s it. And that’s a lot of the reason that I’m happy to be well past my twenties. I’m so over trying to be liked. I just want to be known.

Now, this isn’t going to be the most comprehensive and thorough book review you’ve ever read (for that, please go on over to Stephanie and Staci’s blogs). Usually I like to tell you what I liked from start to finish and even highlight some specific passages that really spoke to me. Well, I’d love to do that but the e-reader that I was using to consume this tome jumped the shark and so not only am I only relying on my memory, but I was also only able to read half the book before it went kaput. They can’t all be winners, you guys!

Shake it off! So, anyway, one chapter that I really related to was about friendship and weddings. At a certain age, when friends end up scattered all over the country—or even the globe (everyone has at least one friend who is in South Korea teaching English right now, tell me if I’m wrong), and really the only time that we make the effort to see each other is when they get married. She talked about how being a bridesmaid is the worst and they have to do all the hard work while a groomsman can play Frisbee with a dog and still get laid after it’s all over. She talked about how it’s a thankless, humiliating, and tacky job that no one really wants to do but everyone hopes that they’re asked to do it. It’s so true, right? I’ve been a bridesmaid twice and I can assure you—it’s all true. There’s a lot of work involved and there’s a lot of money involved. And, really, it’s not exactly fun work. This is all universally agreed upon–this is not new information to anyone except those who have never been intimately involved in a wedding before.
BUT, (and I’m not going to be able to turn it around like she does—she does it so well) we can’t wait to do it. We can’t wait to travel to see our friends get married. We can’t wait to celebrate together and be together and hold our friendship sacred even if it is distant and we don’t see each other so often.

Another chapter on Friendship focuses on the way that sometimes we get swept away by new friends—and these relationships are often times acute and short-lived but our ride or dies are always waiting for us when it’s all over with. And they don’t even mind that you just spent an entire summer ignoring them to hang out with a cool girl who is no where to be seen, now.

Mindy wrote about a lot of different topics (love, making tv, what it’s really like to do sex scenes, being a career person…) but I was really drawn to the friendship chapters. That’s where the attention in my life tends to land a lot, lately.

Like I said, please head over to Staci and Stephanie’s blogs to make sure that you hear about the other parts of the book that I didn’t get to. And if you read this book or have written a review on your own blog or on Goodreads or something, let me know and I would love to link to it.

Also, I want to say that Why Not Me was released on paperback just yesterday! How serendipitous! Go get yourself one!

And now onto October’s virtual book club choice!

We wanted to go with something a little more fun and spooky for October so we chose The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. You know Neil—he wrote Coraline! And also a hundred other things. Anyway, I’m really excited about this because I’m ready to get myself into that October feel. This book is about a boy who lives in a graveyard and is raised by the spirits who live there. This was the first book that Gaiman ever wrote for a middle-grade audience and I can’t wait to see where he takes it. I don’t usually love horror books so I hope that choosing a children’s novel will help me get that spooky vibe without completely terrorizing me.
I hope you read along and let us know what you think of The Graveyard Book on the last Wednesday in October, too.

What do you think? Have you read Why Not Me? Or anything by Neil Gaiman?

XOXO, Lib