Bookends (2000)

This book felt a little long and I kind of felt like I lived a year in the life of the characters, day by day, but overall the story was good and I enjoyed it. ( )

Nice read. I enjoyed this book, the story brought me in immediately. ( )

I liked the whole idea of a novel centered around opening a bookstore/cafe and going for your dreams, but I didn't feel that aspect was central enough, or full enough of suspense and conflict. The good aspects of the book makes me wish I could rate this a tad higher, but it couldn't hold me to the end. I felt I had read this book dozens of times before. This was better written than most chicklit (which isn't high praise), with a heroine that was relatable--not size 0, not born with a silver spoon and not too-stupid-to-live. I did enjoy the English setting and voice.

Though this is narrated first person by Catherine Warner, this had an unusually ensemble feel to it, since it's about five friends: Catherine herself, Portia, Simon and Josh who she met in university, and Josh's wife Lucy who is her business partner. Actually, that may have been one of the weaknesses, that the first person voice wasn't the best way to tell the story of this group of friends. And too often--which is also too often a danger of a weak first person--too much is told, not shown, sometimes dragging, sometimes running through events without developing so that pacing was also a problem.

Not a problem you tend to notice much because it's really a quick read. A good light airplane/beach read if you're drawn to chicklit, but nothing here makes me want to try more of the author. If many chicklits are tired soap operas, this was far too much of a cliche sitcom. ( )

When a good friend from college shows up again, the dynamic of a group is thrown off and everyone must struggle to find equilibrium. A bookstore, food, TV shows, HIV and love find them.

This was an okay read. ( )

Fairly typical chicklit book, lent to me by a friend. The circle of friends from Uni, the gay best friend, the successful woman in Marketing, given up on finding love after 35, etc. The only thing that kept me reading was that the main characters life dream was to open up a bookshop. The bookshop storyline didn't turn out to be all that exciting and it all ended with lots of drama, uni friends reunited and the token lesbian couple.