Rachel Pastanâs first novel is pure pleasure-a crisp and witty page-turner for smart women everywhere. The Rubin daughters are three eligible sisters from an affluent suburban Philadelphia family whose well-meaning but domineering mother is single-mindedly determined to see them all happily married.
The book opens at a Sunday brunch where Dr. Rubin, mother and obstetrician, is scheming to introduce her eldest daughter, Alice, to a doctor who is almost too good to be true. But why hasnât Alice been able to find a husband on her own? Is her sister Isabel, the real heroine of the story, genuinely happy in her marriage? And is Tina, the youngest of the sisters, as shallow as she seems, or is she something worse than shallow?
Reminiscent of the work of Laurie Colwin, This Side of Married is a brilliant, ironic domestic comedy of manners. Full of surprises, yet filled with feeling, This Side of Married is witty, intelligent, and utterly delicious.
A fresh and hilarious debut novel about commitment, competition, and the occasional joys of unencumbered sex, for readers of Pride and Prejudice to The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing. Sometimes being left in the lurch is the best thing that can happen to you. Alison Hopkins’s live-in boyfriend, Tom, goes out in the middle of a dinner party to buy a jar of mustard, then calls her from a pay phone to tell her he won’t be coming home. He’s left her for his beautiful ex-girlfriend Kate Pearce, the kind of woman about whom men say rhapsodically, “She’s like a drug.” Alison had always feared that Tom’s looks would land her in trouble–having a handsome boyfriend is like having a white couch, an invitation to disaster. But if Tom isn’t her Big Love, who is? Alison embraces her freedom, buys “hiking boots and lacy underwear,” and sets out on a stroll down the midway of love. From an eye-opening fling with her new boss to an unexpected proposal from an old friend, Alison samples love’s many varieties–all the while talking obsessively with her girlfriends, comparing stories, and working through a lifetime of conflicting beliefs about trust, faith, and commitment. In spite of (or perhaps because of) her neuroses, Alison finds a surprising kind of triumph–and an irrational faith that the Big Love may be nearer than it appears. Sarah Dunn wrote on the staff of Murphy Brown, Veronica’s Closet, and Spin City before leaving TV to write this novel. She lives in New York City.
Images and Descriptions courtesy of PaperbackSwap.com.
Use to be that this number of books would be my weekly reading list back in the days before work and other committments. This year I’ll be lucky to finish them by the end of summer. That’s part of the beauty of the swapping site….read at my leisure, re-post, and re-order new books.
lizdormer says
Ooh they all look good! I need to find some time to read too!!