what a doll

Confession: I am a huge book worm. I was one of those kids who thought library time was the best part of the week and would stagger down the hallways with a stack of books as tall as I was. Even in college, where asking students to read for fun is the same as asking us to give up Thirsty Thursdays, I was one of the few people I knew who actually made time for fun reading...and by "made time," I really mean that I put off my actual work. Summer obviously frees up so much more time and lets me explore so many new books. I actually just finished reading Valley of the Dolls the other day and I completely loved it! Without giving away too much, the story follows three friends from their early twenties to their mid-to-late thirties as they learn to navigate life in New York City, fall in love, become Broadway stars, get married and deal with their own personal demons. The "dolls" in the title actually refers to sleeping pills that all of the characters end up using or misusing at some point throughout the novel. The characters were all super easy to relate to which I was really surprised about considering the story is set in the late 1940s! Seriously, I never really thought of drug abuse, abortion or lesbian love affairs as something that happened back in those days so it was a really interesting read. It was also kind of thick but I got so involved with Anne, Neely and Jennifer that it was almost impossible to to put down.

What books are you guys reading this summer? I'd love to get suggestions for new things to read!