Old Friends

I'm finding myself in a bit of a funk lately.

On the job front, things are steady but SLOW. Some days I have great conversations with people and get great contacts and leads, other days it feels like nothing productive is ever going to come of all my searching.

Normally when I get into a funk, I turn to fiction to escape - either movies or books. But I've hit a bit of a funk with books too of late. The recent book club selection - Late Nights on Air - was a flop. I really disliked it and didn't even bother to finish it. To make up for that loss, I picked up Water-Method Man and lo and behold, I've finally found a John Irving book I don't like. Who knew? Garp and Owen Meany, where are you? This Fred Trumper guy is a loser.

So instead I look for comfort in the familiar. In times like these, when I've got nothing to read but desperately need something to occupy my mind, I go back to two tried and true books I've read again and again and AGAIN (at least twelve and counting) that are guaranteed to put me in a better mood: Microserfs by Douglas Coupland and Heartburn by Nora Ephron.

I acknowledge these are no Pulitzer Prize winners. But they're easy, they're light and they make me feel better. I've read them so often that I know the dialogue by heart and it's like coming back to old friends. And this time around, what I needed most was something to dull my senses. Vodka for the soul, if you will. Enter Nora Ephron.

Say what you will of so-called "chick lit" or of Nora Ephron, but this book does a great job of making me feel better each and every time I read it. I mean, compared to a woman whose husband cheats on her when she's seven months pregnant, unemployment's a walk in the park.


*Extra-special trivia sidenotes:

1. The movie version of Heartburn stars Meryl Streep (LOVE HER!) and Jack Nicholson. Need I say more? I mean, how have you NOT seen this movie?

2. Heartburn is Nora's "fictionalized" retelling of her divorce to Carl Bernstein. Yes, THAT Carl Bernstein. OK, honestly, how are you not at Blockbuster or the library RIGHT NOW?