The titles worthy of a place on your bedside table
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
Curtis Sittenfeld has a gift for writing women. Whether imagining real lives (Hillary Clinton in , Laura Bush in ), or reinventing fictional ones (Lizzie Bennet in ), her characters spill off the page in all their messy, complex glory. In her latest being any less addictive. Split into three parts, the first takes us behind the scenes of an -style TV show, as Sally channels her cynicism into her sketches, skewering common romantic tropes such as average men dating extremely successful, beautiful women. The reverse just doesn’t happen, so when “cheesily handsome” singer-songwriter Noah Brewster seems to show more than a professional interest in Sally, she can’t help but sabotage it. is not without its faults – part two, a series of lockdown emails between Noah and Sally, falls flat – but that didn’t stop me tearing through the pages in one sitting, finishing with a big, goofy grin on my face. And there’s a lot to be said for that right now.
