writerjenn

 I was in a bookstore yesterday, and since I am nearly unable to leave a bookstore without buying something, I came home with EVERYTHING I NEEDED TO KNOW ABOUT BEING A GIRL, I LEARNED FROM JUDY BLUME (Jennifer O'Connell, editor).  This anthology includes essays by writers such as Meg Cabot, Lara M. Zeises, and Laura Ruby about the influence of Judy Blume books on their lives.   I'm still reading it, but I am struck over and over by how powerfully we remember the books we read in childhood and young adulthood.  And how often books reassure us that we're not alone in our vulnerabilities and insecurities (about friendships, about our looks, about our sexuality, etc.).