A Big, Ol' Checkmark
That's what I get to put on my reading list. I've finished the first book--yay!
Perhaps I shouldn't say finished. I devoured that thing. I picked it up from the library Monday after school, and I finished it around 5:00 on Tuesday. Remember that I worked for eight hours and slept for seven in between those times. I'd say that's pretty impressive. Maybe you wouldn't, but I would.
You know a book is good when you can't put it down. Cliche, perhaps, but true nonetheless. When I started reading on Monday night, I was absolutely exhausted. I hadn't slept well the night before, and it had been a very long day. And yet I kept bargaining with myself. Five more minutes...one more chapter...okay, read until the time is at a multiple of ten. (Yes, I make deals like that with myself. What of it?)
I highly recommend you check this book out if you have not. ESPECIALLY if you are a woman in her twenties, just out of college and fresh into the work force. The main character, Becky Bloomwood, is just like so many people I know. As soon as she graduated university, credit card companies sent her applications for special rates and reduced percentages and whatnot. So she applied, and a few years later, she can't figure out where all her debt came from. She has a crappy job she doesn't like, is living with a friend who doesn't charge her much rent, and has an affinity for clothes...especially name brands. And when she's had a bad day at work, she uses retail therapy to lift her spirits. (As you might have guessed, she has bad days often).
I think everyone has been in her shoes. Maybe not literally, because at one point she was wearing Dolce & Gabbana boots, and maybe not figuratively, either, because her credit card debt (not student debt or car payments or rent) was in the quadruple digits. But I think most everyone has been at a place in their life where they want to cut back and reduce their spending. Becky's confessions are so honest and relatable as she attempts to get her debt under control. When she starts outlining her expenses and twisting the financial adviser's words to help fit in her little luxuries, it's easy to see how a person could rack up a considerable amount of debt. I mean, morning coffee and breakfast out and contributing to retirement/baby/wedding gifts at work and transportation and dinner on Friday night with friends and a birthday gift for another friend and that sweater you picked up when buying the gift for your friend because you've been looking for one everywhere and you just have to have it....see what I mean?
And Becky's trains of thought are so very parallel to my own that I found it scary and quite amusing. When she decides she's going to play the lottery and then she is sure she is going to win, she starts fantasizing about what she's going to buy: houses for everyone she knows and a vacation for herself, plus those designer boots she's been looking for, not to mention the credit card payments and other debts to pay off...and then not quite comprehending what to do when she doesn't win (because the odds weren't exactly in her favor, anyway). I'm guilty of thoughts like that...where you let your mind start to wander and then all of a sudden, you can't understand why it didn't turn out the way you had imagined. Probably because your imagination is rather improbable. Just saying.
Anyway, Becky has to finagle the dating world, work world, and her financial world to solve her problems...and her solutions are nothing short of hysterical. I won't spoil anything, but it has a happy, believable ending.
So if you're looking for a good, fast read, check this one out. Just translate the English pound to dollars as you read. (Side note: another reason I loved this is because I had been to some of the stores Becky shopped at when I was in England. Marks & Spencer, Boots, Past Times...such fun to reminisce!)
And, of course, stay gold!
Perhaps I shouldn't say finished. I devoured that thing. I picked it up from the library Monday after school, and I finished it around 5:00 on Tuesday. Remember that I worked for eight hours and slept for seven in between those times. I'd say that's pretty impressive. Maybe you wouldn't, but I would.
I highly recommend you check this book out if you have not. ESPECIALLY if you are a woman in her twenties, just out of college and fresh into the work force. The main character, Becky Bloomwood, is just like so many people I know. As soon as she graduated university, credit card companies sent her applications for special rates and reduced percentages and whatnot. So she applied, and a few years later, she can't figure out where all her debt came from. She has a crappy job she doesn't like, is living with a friend who doesn't charge her much rent, and has an affinity for clothes...especially name brands. And when she's had a bad day at work, she uses retail therapy to lift her spirits. (As you might have guessed, she has bad days often).
I think everyone has been in her shoes. Maybe not literally, because at one point she was wearing Dolce & Gabbana boots, and maybe not figuratively, either, because her credit card debt (not student debt or car payments or rent) was in the quadruple digits. But I think most everyone has been at a place in their life where they want to cut back and reduce their spending. Becky's confessions are so honest and relatable as she attempts to get her debt under control. When she starts outlining her expenses and twisting the financial adviser's words to help fit in her little luxuries, it's easy to see how a person could rack up a considerable amount of debt. I mean, morning coffee and breakfast out and contributing to retirement/baby/wedding gifts at work and transportation and dinner on Friday night with friends and a birthday gift for another friend and that sweater you picked up when buying the gift for your friend because you've been looking for one everywhere and you just have to have it....see what I mean?
And Becky's trains of thought are so very parallel to my own that I found it scary and quite amusing. When she decides she's going to play the lottery and then she is sure she is going to win, she starts fantasizing about what she's going to buy: houses for everyone she knows and a vacation for herself, plus those designer boots she's been looking for, not to mention the credit card payments and other debts to pay off...and then not quite comprehending what to do when she doesn't win (because the odds weren't exactly in her favor, anyway). I'm guilty of thoughts like that...where you let your mind start to wander and then all of a sudden, you can't understand why it didn't turn out the way you had imagined. Probably because your imagination is rather improbable. Just saying.
Anyway, Becky has to finagle the dating world, work world, and her financial world to solve her problems...and her solutions are nothing short of hysterical. I won't spoil anything, but it has a happy, believable ending.
So if you're looking for a good, fast read, check this one out. Just translate the English pound to dollars as you read. (Side note: another reason I loved this is because I had been to some of the stores Becky shopped at when I was in England. Marks & Spencer, Boots, Past Times...such fun to reminisce!)
And, of course, stay gold!
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