Running in Heels is one of my favorite books! Love Anna Maxted. Jane Green just came out with Babyville and Marian Keyes has a new book out too with something about Sushi in the title.

As for the Red Dress Ink Books, I have them all. The good ones are:

Milkrun - HYSTERICAL!
Confessions of an Ex-Girlfriend - loved it!
Fishbowl - same author as Milkrun, and this was the second best of the group
Burning the Map - good story
Name and Address Withheld - cute
Out of the Blue - if you've ever read Making Minty Malone or The Trials of Tiffany Trott, it's written by the same person! This is the best of the bunch.
Fashionistas - not a chickie romance, but good!!
Engaging Men - by the same author as Confessions of an Ex-Girlfriend, but this is better!

The rest are ok, but some of the earlier ones suck.

I'm a big fan of the Red Dress Ink books!

Moxiegirl -- I will definately let you know after I'm done reading it! :)

I really liked Running in Heels and think I will explore some more of Anna Maxted's books!

Also on the Red Dress Ink books -- the ones that I've read are so cute!!! And a lot that I saw on their website are already on my summer/fall/rest-of-the-year reading list!

I believe it's called Sushi for Beginners. I tried to reserve that and Babyville at the library but i'm like 26 in line for both of them.. hopefully i'll get them eventually, otherwise i'll just have to go buy them.

wow.. 26th in line? what a bummer.

maybe you could try getting a copy on www.amazon.com . They have great deals on new & gently read books :)

i usually end up getting them for my sister.. she travels every week so she spends a lot of time on airplanes, so she is always buying books. so when she is done she gives them all to me. i know she likes both of those authors so i'm thinking she might buy them.

Ahh i got so excited reading this! because i am a HUGE bookworm and i read ALL THE TIME (not even kidding). when i came to college all my friends were like, "why do you LIKE reading?" but i soon recommended books for them and now they're hooked too (although not to the extent that i am, ha). so i thought i'd put down some of my favorite books.

~She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb. AMAZING. I know there is already some posts on here about this book but i'm serious, it is fabulous. i made my roommate read it (she never reads anything) and she couldn't put it down.
also by wally lamb: I know this much is true . longer than SCU, but still excellent. i just love the way Lamb writes, he is a genius. Check out both of these books, you will either love them or hate them, but it's worth a try!

~Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood and Little Altars Everywhere , both by Rebecca Wells. I liked these books long before the movie (which, by the way, doesn't do justice to the books). Great Southern books, I love them personally because I am SOuthern. Also great stories and detail. Definitely a "girl" book though, but fabulous reading. Wells makes it seem like you are there!

~both Bridget Jones books. Absolutely hilarious. I literally laugh out loud when i read these. Once again, the movie isn't nearly as good as the books (although Renee Zelweger was PERFECT for the part of bridget). i HIGHLY recommend both of these, especially to single girls fed up with relationships and "bastard" men:cool:

.....and ihave TONS more but i don't have time to put them here! so i'll do it later!

ok.. just got The Pledge in the mail today. I'm all excited! It's a huge book!

Finished Bookends yesterday, so for all you who want to read it, GET IT!!! Loved it :) I'm starting One Hit Wonder by Lisa Jewell (who aslo wrote Ralph's Party and Thirty-Nothing, both great books!)

Has anyone read My Legendary Ex-Girlfriend by Mike Gayle?

I saw nearly all of the books mentioned here on Amazon when I was trying to order some stuff earlier. I'll have to give them a try. I'm used to reading the courtroom mysteries of John Grisham and things like that. So, in exchange for my reading all those girlie books, here's my list of great reads for someone who's looking to go beyond the 'shopaholic'!!!

John Grisham's The King of Torts, The Runaway Jury, and The Summons
Harlan Coben's Tell No One and Gone For Good
An oldie but goodie, Michael Crichton's Timeline
And a classic that isn't for everyone, Richard Wright's Native Son. The subject matter might be hard for some people to read, but I thought it was very good!

Just my $.02

GMCBUnny, thanx for listing the titles here! I've been trying to get into another genre of books beyond the 'shopaholic' types :)

If anyone wants to read any of the titles I posted earlier (except Native Son cuz that belonged to someone else) I'd be more than happy to mail them to you. You can buy them off of me for 1/2 what I paid for them. They're just collecting dust sitting in my room. I also have a huge collection of other Grisham books, but I thought those 3 were the best. :)

I'm starting Richard North Patterson's Protect and Defend tonight (gotta get my last fix of courtroom/political reading before I start my fluffy girlie book rampage) so I'll let ya know how it is later on (read: 2 days from now :p )

Hello...I wanted to put together a "Summer Reading List" so I mined this thread and there are a LOT of titles. Here they are for your use. I did not put every single book down, because some I read already, or else they did not "speak to me" in their descriptions. You can copy and paste this into Word and print it out. Also, I alphabetized it by author's surname so that you can walk through the aisles of the book store with relative ease, smart, huh? ;) Some of them say (reading with Ripa) as Kelly Ripa has a book club and I quite like her and I wanted to remember which ones were "Kelly's Picks"
Enjoy!

The List

Cupid and Diana by Christina Bartolomeo
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
books written by Poppy Z. Brite
The Boy Next Door by Meggin Cabot (reading with Ripa)
She Went All the Way by Meggin Cabot (reading with Ripa)
Burning the Map - by Laura Caldwell
God Save the Sweet Potato Queens by Jill Connor-Browne
Cruel and Unusual & All That Remains : Patricia Cornwell
Confessions of an Ex-girlfriend - Lynda Curnyn
Girls' Poker Night: A Novel of High Stakes by Jill A. Davis
The Good Sister by Diana Diamond (reading with Ripa)
Wanderlust by Chris Dyer
Eating the Chesire Cat - Helen Ellis
Always Wear Joy by Susan Fales-Hill
Otherwise Engaged by Suzanne Finnamore
Kiss My Tiara by Susan Jane Gilman
Maneater by Gigi Levangie Grazer
Jemina J by Jane Green
Mr. Maybe by Jane Greene
Bookends by Jane Green
The Room-mating Season by Rona Jaffe
One Hit Wonder by Lisa Jewell
Ralph's Party by Lisa Jewell
thirtynothing by Lisa Jewell
normal girl by Molly Jong-Fast
Confessions of a Sociopathic Social Climber by Adele Lang (reading with Ripa)
Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married by Marian Keyes
Watermelon by Marian Keyes
Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes
Sushi For Beginners" by Marian Keyes
Nerd in Shining Armour by Vicki Lewis Thomson (reading with Ripa)
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister - Gregory Maguire
Just As We Were - Prudence Mackintosh
Apocalipstick - Sue Margolis
For Better, for Worse by Carole Matthews (reading with Ripa)
Running in Heels - Anna Maxted
Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty
Waiting to Exhale by Terry McMillan
Fashionistas - Lynn Messina
Milkrun - by Sarah Mlynowski
Fishbowl - by Sarah Mlynowski
Dog Handling - by Clare Naylor
Welcome to my Planet by Shannon Olson
On the Verge by Ariella Papa
the bachelor by Carly Phillips (reading with Ripa)
the playboy by Carly Phillips
The Pact by Jodi Picoult
Knocked Out by My Nunga-Nungas: by Louise Rennison
The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold
see jane date by Melissa Senate
The Perfect Elizabeth by Libby Schmais
Name and Address Withheld - by Jane Sigaloff
Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner
The Devil Wears Prada - Lauren Weisberger
If Looks Could Kill by Kate White (reading with Ripa)
The Trials of Tiffany Trott - by Isabel Wolff
Out of the Blue - by Isabel Wolff
Layover by Lisa Zeider
Her by Laura Zigman

Thank You, CP :)

CutiePie: Barnes and Noble is going to be very happy with me because of you! Thanks for the great list!

Another suggestion - Smart & Pretty by Valerie Frankel

Wow CutiePie! Awesome! Thanks for the great list..

My summer reading list just quadrupled! :p

I went to the public library today and got "A Suitable Boy" by Vikram Seth. It's about arranged marriages and life in India, which I find fascinating since that's where my mom grew up. She reccommended the book to me, so I have vowed to read that this summer. It's 1350 pages though :eek: so it might take a little longer than expected. :) I love summer reading!!!

A book I highly suggest is "Second Helpings" by Megan McCafferty . It is FABULOUS, and there is "Sloppy Firsts" the first book, but I haven't read that one yet. :p

CP2000 wins the thread. :)

just an fyi, the author is molly jong-fast..not mai jong :)

i'm reading this right now, i'm kind of finding it hard to get into..its more of a female version of a bret easton ellis(american psycho, the rules of attraction) novel then a fluffy girl book..

that's exactly how i felt when i went to read it when it first came out..

Since I was younger I still love to read. So far this summer I have bought 3 books and have checked out 3 books from the library. I feel like I am gaining so much when I read. Reading helps me relax. Right now I'm reading "No body's perfect" which is a good book.

Sophie K.'s new book
 

"Can you Keep a secret" is out in the UK (at least I've seen it on eBay.. hehehe)

Anyone planning to read this one?

CP's list
 

I've got several of these, including the Adele Lang book, which is a sour but funny book. I am looking forward to Trading Up by Candace Bushnell, which comes out next Tuesday. I had looked forward to Maneater, but have skimmed it and am not sure if I want to pay $20+ for it.

Thanks for telling me! I will modify the list with the correction! :D


You mean Smart Vs. Pretty by Valerie Frankel ;), methinks?? :D
I read that one but I wasn't crazy about it to be honest with you. Valerie Frankel used to be a columnist for Mademoiselle, before it went under. Boo hoo...I miss that magazine! :(

YES!!! They are advertising it in the back of "Shopaholic Ties the Knot" (#3 in the series). It looks awesome and very funny. I quite like Sophie Kinsella..she is funny.


Some thoughts:
1. I noticed that a lot of you mentioned Red Dress Ink books. Did you know that Red Dress Ink is actually "Harlequin" in disguise? Harlequin needed to modernize their image a bit (for modern, hip girls such as ourselves ;) ), so they came up with the Red Dress Ink name. Funny, huh?

2. It's a shame we did not all live near each other. Then we could just pass these books around, instead of spending our hard earned money on buying our own copies of the book. Then we could save our money for other things.....like shoes! :)

ooooh... I yoinked a bunch of books from my parents house when I was visiting this weekend. Right now I'm halfway through The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan. I love Amy Tan.

I'm also in the middle of reading White Oleander and The Secret Friend.

Does anyone else juggle several books at once?

CutiePie2000: Oops! Thanks :) I guess the "&" would defeat the whole purpose of the story. And I miss Mademoiselle too. :(


Jaggergirl: Right now, I'm reading "Precipice" by Tom Savage, "When Good Kids Kill" by I don't remember, & "Smart Vs. Pretty." Some books are just easier to read at home, when I can concentrate verus work, where I'm trying to ignore people yapping.

Read Monkey Business.

-Rudey
--It's about my life.

I highly recommend The Dive from Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer. It's very college oriented and made me fall in love with Madison, Wisconsin. I just bought Mendocino and Other Stories, a collection of short stories by the same author. I hope it is just as good!

:eek: I *finally* finished reading The Pledge from Rob Kean! OMG, that book was awesome!

It was nice to read something different than my usual fluffy "chick" books.

Yeah!!! I'm glad that you liked it, t*p! It is one of my all-time faves! :D

MoxieGrrl, that book is definately going to be one of my all-time favs!!!

What is everyone reading this July?

i just finished Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty and started Gossip Hound by Wendy Holden. I liked Sloppy Firsts a lot, but I don't think I'm far enough into Gossip Hound (only on the first chapter) to develop an opinion of it yet.

I am keeping my promise to read fluffy girl books, and will be starting Fishbowl as soon as I finish John Grisham's The Chamber.

It took me a while longer to finish Protect & Defend than I had originally planned. I usually go through a book a week. It was incredible, though, and worth the wait. The storyline could bother die-hard pro-lifers, so I suggest going into it with an open mind.

I did break my girly book buying when I stopped by Waldenbooks and racked up more points on my preferred reader card with Harlan Coben's new book, No Second Chance. I didn't realize until I got home that it's a signed copy, so I don't care if it's not a girly book :p

Has anyone read High Maintenance by Jennifer Belle?

If so, what were your thoughts? I'm considering reading that book...

*bump*!

I love this thread! :D

Here are some new books that look like they will be great reads!

Lucia, Lucia by Adriana Trigiani

Trading Up - by Candace Bushnell

started this book yesterday. so far, i like it!

Fishbowl started kinda slow, but I managed to read it over 3 days. Near the end got hooked and couldn't put it down! I finished No Second Chance in two days and then started on A Body To Die For by Kate White. That one was finished in about a day and a half. Itwas incredible! Girly, with a huge murder plot and big twist at the end. I loved it! Anyone got any other books I should read??? I need more points on my preferred reader card! :p

*sighs* I admit it, girls...I'm re-reading "We've Got Spirit: The Life & Times of America's Greatest Cheering Squad". :)

Beside PentHouse and Playboy!:confused:

Oh, maybe John Sandford and his Prey Series.

W.E.B. Grifith and his Army/Marine/OSS, and Phil. P D Series!!

Any semi Historical Ficton type book.

Anything about Greek Life and History! Da, well of course!:rolleyes: :cool:

Candace Bushnell actually was having a signing at a bookstore right down the road from me - although I had no interest, I saw a few ads for it around and about.