Modern Romance, Email Style

Lately, my coworkers and I have been on a Rainbow Rowell kick. Mainly they hand me books and I read them. Well Attachments by Rainbow Rowell was a charming modern quirky romance. It’s the kind of book that is a perfect chick flick romance. You can picture the characters in your mind’s eye, and they kind of seem like your best friends that you've never actually met.

Lincoln is a 28 year old IT guy at a newspaper. Actually, his main job description is email security. He’s the guy who has to monitor company emails when certain words or phrases are detected. Think of him as big brother. Lincoln hates that he’s an email rat, spying on his coworkers, but it pays the bills. One night while he’s working, he runs across an email chain between Beth and Jennifer and everything changes. Instead of sending them a warning email, he continues reading their flagged emails. Beth and Jennifer are hilarious and help Lincoln feel a connection. Soon, however, he wants not just to spy on them, but to know them. One of them in particular.

I enjoyed this book. I felt for the characters, wanted them to meet and laughed at their exchanges. Lincoln, Beth, and Jennifer are all wondering about the next step in their lives. They’re all in their late 20s, college educated, missing something, and unsure of what to do next. Now maybe this is a theme that resonates with all age groups, but as a twenty something this story held water with me. After college, we all think life will be sweet, we’ll roll in the dough, our significant other will show up and marry us, and all those amazing plans we have will actually happen. Then things don’t go as planned or our plans aren't what we imagined. It feels like you have no idea what you’re doing. This is where Lincoln's life has ended up. Jennifer and Beth are questioning their lives and plans too. These characters are imperfect and lovely.

An interesting aspect of the book is the relationship Lincoln forms with Jennifer and Beth before ever meeting them. Isn't this the same relationship we form with characters in books? The major difference being that characters in books don’t actually exist whereas, Lincoln’s email delinquents do in his world. Just like Lincoln, we fall in love with overheard conversations, we want to meet and be a part of the lives of our favorite characters and yet there’s a barrier between our world and theirs.

I enjoyed the anticipation in this book. The audience waits for Lincoln to meet Beth and Jennifer. We look forward to him figuring out his social life, career choices, and living situation. It was an easy read. I looked forward to curling up with it and wishing that I had a guy as adorable as Lincoln to stalk my emails.

Getting Squirrely with Sedaris (oh puns)

David Sedaris. If you don't already know this name, I highly suggest you acclimate yourself with it. Admittedly, I have not read much of his work, but what I have read, or heard from him always intrigues me and usually makes me giggle.

In "Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk", Sedaris takes social issues and puts them in animal terms. No one likes being preached at. Lord knows I've had to sit through too many boring sermons by people who don't know how to write or engage an audience, so I REALLY don't want to read something of that sort. Sedaris, however, has a fun way of getting social commentary out there without slapping you across the face with it. Only fun little taps and maybe some light slapping. In this book of short (o so short) stories, he talks about those annoying habits people have, the strange things we do, snobbishness, and so much more. He observes the actions of society and individuals and writes about it in an eye-opening, dark, and humorous way. The best part is, he doesn't use humans! O the brilliance! This method takes a step back from the formality and somewhat harshness of dealing with a reflection of yourself in a character and instead transfers it to sheep, owls, squirrels, etc. Who can resist a good animal tale?

Think about 'Aesop's Fabels'. Teaching lessons or commenting on life through cute and cuddly animals is sometimes a better approach to certain issues. Although Sedaris is bringing up different perceptions, life choices, and morals/values, he does not end his stories with 'here's what you should learn from this'. They're cheeky, darkly humorous, and poignant. I could use another read through the stories to fully comprehend the meanings, but they are not difficult to capture where Sedaris is going with each tale.

Pick up "Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk" and give it a read. It will take you maybe a couple hours to get through, so why not? It is short and entertaining with those pesky little messages peeping through the pages. On top of all that, there are pictures! Who doesn't love a book with pictures? This was the perfect break book for me. Nothing fluffy, but a nice pause from all that long and tedious reading. Good for an upcoming pool/beach day.