I’m away on holiday - hopefully enjoying some sunshine as you receive this in your inbox!
I’ve taken six books with me on holiday - many are memoirs, most are quite intense and not traditional holiday reading. So I thought I’d recommend a fun book which I read recently which WOULD make for good holiday reading.
This book was recommended to me by my friend Alice - Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfield.
A little bit about Romantic Comedy. Sally Milz is a script writer for a late night comedy show, The Night Owls. The show airs live every Saturday night. With a couple of bad break ups, she's abandoned her search for love, settling instead for the occasional hook-up, career success, and a close relationship with her stepfather to round out a satisfying life. But when Sally's friend and fellow writer Danny Horst begins dating Annabel, a glamorous actor who guest-hosted the show, he joins the not-so-exclusive group of talented but average-looking men (both at the show-and in society in general, according to Sally) who've gotten romantically involved with incredibly beautiful and accomplished women. Sally channels her annoyance into a sketch called the "Danny Horst Rule," poking fun at this while emphasising how unlikely it is that the reverse would ever happen for a woman. Then Sally meets Noah Brewster. A pop music sensation with a reputation for dating models, who signed on as both host and musical guest for this week's show. Sally hits it off with Noah instantly, and as they collaborate on one sketch after another, she begins to wonder whether there might actually be sparks flying. But this isn't a romantic comedy; it's real life. And in real life, someone like him would never date someone like her...right?
Sally and Noah are both in their late late 30s and there is something quite refreshing about watching a potential romance unfold for people around my age. I grew to really like Sally. She’s clever and funny and this translates to some great banter between her and Noah.
I usually wouldn’t give a romance novel 5 stars but this is not your usual romance. It felt relatable even though we are dealing with famous people. Don’t get me wrong, there are many times when Noah’s life is nowhere near relatable but it was the dialogue and the way the two interacted that I related to.
This book was also a really nice palate cleanser for me after reading some heavier books (refer to my last post). If you are looking for something fun and fresh which would make great holiday reading, give Romantic Comedy a try, because life is too short to read bad books.