"For twenty-eight years, things have been tripping along nicely for Canni Shapiro. Sure, her mother has come charging out of the closet, and her father has long since dropped out of her world. But she loves her friends, her rat terrier, Nifkin, and her job as pop culture reporter for The Philadelphia Examiner. She's even made a tenuous peace with her plus-sized body. But the day she opens up a national women's magazine and sees the words "Loving a Larger Woman" above her ex-boyfriend's byline, Cannie is plunged into misery...and the most amazing year of her life. From Philadelphia to Hollywood and back home again, she charts a new course for herself: mourning her losses, facing her past, and figuring out who she is and who she can become."

I like this book, but don't love it. I feel it would have been MUCH better with firm editting. Zigzags between straight novel, fantasy ... How can something with such improbable plotlines be so predictable? Still there's a lot of buzz out on this, so I'm setting up a book ring for other interested BCers to evaluate for themselves...

Mixed feelings on this novel. Sent this to Canada as the first leg in a BookRing on Fri. 25 April.

The book just arrived today-- thanks AmberLee17! I will start reading it right away so I can pass it on to the next person...

I'd actually give this book a 7.5. It was good, but didn't blow me away. The main character, Cannie, is very real and likeable with a strong voice. Yet somehow the events of the book seemed predictable and, at times, contrived.
Definitely an enjoyable read, though.

I will be sending it to the next BCer in the ring, JPandJo, in the US.

Mailed out to next BCer on the list- JPandJO on May 23rd. Hope you enjoy it!

My nightmare, a bunch of bookray's arrived at once. I finished my class tonight and I'm diving in. I'm hopping I'll have this book along to it's next reader within the next 3-4 weeks.

a bit slow, in fact the whole pace was just off. Though a nice story, it needed editing. Creative writing would be one way to describe the story. I did feel a bit guilty as I consumed brownie number five while reading about the main characters struggles with weight loss.

mailing back to AmberLee17 today

It's ba-a-a-a-ack, with a little surprise as a bookmark. Thanks! Now to see if there are others interested in this story...

Just got this one in the mail today. Thank you sooo much!!

I really enjoyed this one, I think because I saw a bit of myself in the main character. I particularly liked the way we get to know Cannie from all sides and on many different levels. I have passed it on to a friend who will not be journaling, but will be sure to give it back to me when it is finished. I'll then look for another 'crosser to pass it on to.

This one has been returned to me, and is next headed to Puppetlady in 2004.

I just received this in the mail and I'm so excited to read it. Unfortunately, I'm not supposed to read this week (see The Artist's Way, week 4) so I can't start it yet, but soon!

I really liked this book. It was actually more and deeper than I expected. I had expected more of a cynical, everything's-ironically-hilarious kind of book, and was very surprised how quickly the struggles of Cannie began to touch me. This was a book that was definitely written for catharsis - there were those moments, those scenes, where Cannie says the things she needs to say with no holding back - not always great in real life but good for reading! I was very pleased that the character, who struggles so much with her body, being a plus-sized woman, and how she feels about that, did not end up a happy size two.

Being sent to another bookcrosser as part of the Chicklit Relay.

Received the book today, with cute little dogs between pages 88 and 89, thanks Puppetlady! Since it was sent via airmail(!), I try to get to it soon :)

Picked this up at our monthly meet up in Helsinki today. Thanks Vi0let for bringing this to Café Soihtu. This was in my wishlist but will probably have to wait for awhile before starting with this.

Wow, this has been on my shelf for ages! Once the title was on my wishlist but since then I have lost interest for chick-lit books. I have read In Her Shoes by the same author so relating to that reading experience I'm not likely to read this one. So off it goes!

Probably it will be released in our 3rd Finnish National BookCrossing MeetUp in June 2008, which is held in Suomenlinna fortress in Helsinki. That is, if I don't come up with something else before that.

RELEASE NOTES:

Kesäpäivillä.

I picked this up from the book buffet at Kesäpäivät (the All-Finland bookcrossing meeting). I've heard references to the title many times before. There have been a few chick-lit books I have enjoyed and several that I thought weren't worth reading... the back cover of this looked fun so I'm hoping it falls into the first category.

Please, Niksu, pass on my thanks to all the Helsinki-region bookcrossers for organizing such a nice Kesäpäivät!

I brought this book with me to England. I've just finished a Terry Pratchett, ready for release, and now am starting on this one. If I finish it while still here I will release it into the wild, probably somewhere in East Yorkshire.

RELEASE NOTES:

A year and a half ago, I left another book, Dinner for Two, in this same phone box. There's a tenuous connection, because both books feature main characters who are journalists - I was actually reminded of the Mike Gayle character while I was reading Weiner.

I enjoyed this book. I hadn't realized at first that it's the same author as In Her Shoes, but suddenly I realized that it probably was. Disappointingly, the author interview at the back revealed that some of the characters from this one had cameo appearances in the other novel, but I can't remember any of them - you had to have read this one first to spot them, I'm sure.

Scrolling through earlier journal entries now, I agree wholeheartedly with PuppetLady that the author was right not to have Cannie end up miraculously skinny (I enjoyed reading the interview where she discusses that, as well as her speculations as to which actresses would be suitable to play Cannie in a movie version). I also take AmberLee's point that in places the plot was just too fantastic to take seriously, but again the author interview helped me there too. It seems that Weiner got stood up by a famous actress she was supposed to interview, and that this book is her 'how it might have been' version. I suddenly thought of Forster's Maurice, also having elements of an escapist fantasy plot - a storyline which the author feels the need to invent. On the other hand, the dark period Cannie goes through, when she's just walking and walking, that was something I never expected in chick-lit! Suddenly I was in floods of tears (self-conscious giggle). So, yes, escapist reading, but not entirely fluff either.

Thanks everyone for passing this book along. I have now released it into the wild - see notes below.