Candace Bushnell, "The Carrie Diaries"

[stapsreads]

The life and loves of Carrie Bradshaw before the 'Sex and the City' years. I should admit now, since it will probably soon become obvious, that I was only briefly acquainted with 'Sex and the City', since there were only a couple of years during which two vital conditions were fulfilled: a) my having a telly; and b) the show being on it. Consequently, I only occasionally remembered that I was reading the prequel to 'Sex and the City'; most of the time it just felt like a common or garden high school novel. The fact that in my head Sarah Jessica Parker sprung into being fully formed at the age of about 35 isn't really helping, either.

None of which is intended to say that I didn't enjoy this. I did. It was a very readable piece of teen fiction - often amusing, sometimes profound, and only occasionally didactic. In fact, it worked beautifully as a standalone novel, with one glorious nod to the future. (I'll be honest: I saw it coming - or something like it coming, anyway - but that doesn't make it any less glorious, damn it!)

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/9730739