Rise and Shine by Anna Quindlen

I've read almost all of Anna Quindlen's fiction. (Ironically, not One True Thing, which was made into a movie with Meryl Streep, Renee Zellweger and whatsisname, Marlee Matlin's ex...Mosquito Coast guy...) I enjoyed this one more than the others. Or perhaps I'm not remembering the others as well as I ought to.

But no matter. This was a lovely read. Not having one myself, I envy the relationship between sisters (at least if they're the good kind--involving some amount of communication and drama which resolves itself eventually). This was a lovely story of two very different women, one a morning-show anchor (think Katie pre-CBS at 6:30 pm, or Diane even) and the other a social worker. Their lives go haywire and they lean on each other to survive.

But as much as I loved that it was a story about two sisters, I also enjoyed that it was a story about two New Yorks. One where Town Cars are available to drive you everywhere, and you have a view of Central Park from your home, and your child attends tony private schools, and you eat at places like Le Cirque and Jean Georges as a matter of course. The other is where everyone else lives. The book does justice to both places; even makes you want to get to know the "lesser" one a bit more. Maybe.

Closing Costs

by Seth Margolis

I expected this book to be just another fun read. I wasn't wrong--it was fun to read about the wealthy and their real estate adventures in Manhattan. (Whenever I sigh and think about how impossible the DC market is, I try to reassure myself by thinking that at least we don't live in NYC.) But Closing Costs isn't as fluffy as I thought it might be.

It skewers the world of the haves (and the different castes within that world) as they search for the place to call home. In a way I can't define, it reminds me of The First Wives Club by Olivia Goldsmith.

There are happy endings all around, though if you've ever had home renovations, or downsized, you'll be wincing through quite a few chapters.