Jennifer Weiner's Blog, page 11

I’m back from book tour and packing for Disneyworld. What...

I’m back from book tour and packing for Disneyworld. What’d I miss?

Well, the National Book Critics Circle handed out its yearly prizes, and every single winner was a man.

Best novel? Dude.
Best criticism? Dude.
Best poetry collection? A tie between two dudes.
Best biography? A dude, writing about another dude.

It was shocking!

Okay, it was not shocking at all. When you’ve got an organization whose members flat-out admit that they find the male voice more powerful and persuasive than female one (and, m

Longer update about my time in the UK coming soon, but me...

Longer update about my time in the UK coming soon, but meanwhile, check out my Huffington Post piece on the strange life and times of Jade Goody: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennife....[image error]

I'm heading off to Heathrow for the UK launch of CERTAIN ...

I'm heading off to Heathrow for the UK launch of CERTAIN GIRLS. You can catch me on the BBC Breakfast News on Monday morning in the 9 o'clock hour and, in Ireland, on The Afternoon Show (with Sheana and Blathnaid!) on Wednesday afternoon at 3.

Yes, I will be in Dublin on St. Patrick's Day. Yes, I am alternating between excitement and terror.

In addition, I'll be back in London signing stock at the Waterstones Piccadilly on Thursday at 4 p.m., so you're welcome to stop by, say hi, and get your book

I'm packing for my British book tour (where did I put tha...

I'm packing for my British book tour (where did I put that passport?), but meanwhile, I just posted my first-ever blog over at the Huffington Post. You can find it here.

Warning: it is lit-crit-ish, and talks about the ways gender comes into play in the reception of women's work, so if that is not your bag, baby, and you'd rather read about my kids' rashes, stay tuned. I'm sure one or the other of them will develop something new and exciting shortly![image error]

So! If you were my friend on Facebook, you would know tha...

So! If you were my friend on Facebook, you would know that the baby had roseola -- a horrifying mind-twist of a viral infection.

What happens with roseola? Glad you asked! Basically A., your kid runs a really high fever for a few fun-filled days; B., your kid pukes in her crib; C., your husband carries crib-puking kid to the bathroom so that she can puke in the toilet, prompting you to say, "I don't think that's going to work...she's not in college!" and finally, D., just when you thought everyth

Meet the book I’m loving right now: Ron Rash’s SERENA, wh...

Meet the book I’m loving right now: Ron Rash’s SERENA, which was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner prize. (The prize was ultimately won by NETHERLAND, a post-9/11 novel about a pair of expatriates, one white, one black and their quest to establish a cricket mecca in Manhattan that, in spite of all the praise, I cannot muster even a scintilla of interest in reading. I don’t know whether that’s because cricket sounds like such a yawn, or the book sounds like it’s got a magical negro problem).

But! S

Last week, my neighborhood coffee shop closed.This is, ob...

Last week, my neighborhood coffee shop closed.

This is, obviously, a very big deal for the people who lost their jobs. It would be a moderately big deal for me under normal circumstances.

But my circumstances are not normal. The coffee shop was where I worked, five days a week, usually from one in the afternoon until five. I’ve been going there for years. I’d wait until the lunch rush was ending, then take a table by the window, convenient to a power outlet, and plug in my laptop, and sit with my

Things you will pack to amuse your five-year-old for a th...

Things you will pack to amuse your five-year-old for a three-hour flight to Florida:

Coloring books.
Puzzle workbooks.
Crayons.
Two Junie B. Jones books.
One “Color Fairy” book.
One Cam Jansen book.
Healthful snack of whole-grain crackers, cheese stick and raisins.

Thing your five-year-old will be interested in during flight:

Fruit Roll-Up type item (now with two percent fruit!) that she traded Junie B. books for in waiting area

iPod’ed episode of “National Geographic” depicting lion pack devouring baby

A reader (and Facebook friend!) writes: what’d you think ...

A reader (and Facebook friend!) writes: what’d you think of Janet Maslin's review of "Death by Leisure," which includes the line "[f:]ast and funny, “Death by Leisure” has the high spirits of a chick book, because its author is interested in chick-lit things: dates, celebrities, vanity and shopping. But it is also a tale of real woe."

What is THAT???? my reader wonders. The "but" says it all. What jerks.

I thought, why yes, that is odd!

You know what else it is? Familiar.

Come with me, won’t you, on

It’s been almost a week since I wrote to Brian Tierney, h...

It’s been almost a week since I wrote to Brian Tierney, head of the Philadelphia Media Holdings and publisher of both the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News with an offer to sponsor the Inky's book coverage...and, even though I made a bunch of new Facebook friends, not a word yet from Mr. Tierney.

The phone’s not ringing. The in-box isn’t chiming. Ladies, I think we all know what this means.

Brian Tierney: he’s just not that into me. (Unless, perhaps, there are lots of people with innovative ide