What a Lovely Summer Read

          I don't know why this book sits in my mind as a "summer read." Most of it doesn't take place in the summer. Only one scene occurs on a beach. It's not islandy or smutty or anything else that screams SUMMER READ! Or "beach read"--whichever phrase you prefer. Still, there's something in me that associates pleasant, light reads with summer time. Maybe it's the shortage of assigned readings and the surplus of sunshine? Who knows. Either way, I found Someday, Someday, Maybe to be a delightful novel that entertained me between cookouts on Memorial Day.

          I hadn't actually intended to read Graham's book to satisfy the "a book you can read in a day" challenge. To be perfectly honest, I hadn't even thought of the challenge when I started it. I have enough empty slots on my list that I knew it'd satisfy something! One of the benefits of having slacked on this challenge so long. I began reading Someday after my Nana, my best friend Leah, and our neighbors left after having a Memorial Day cookout on our patio. I read approximately 60 pages before going to yet another cookout, this time at a family friend's house. Returning from our delightful evening around 10:30, I figured I'd read some more. I'm a night owl, so me in bed asleep before 2 am is an anomaly. I paid no attention to the time as I read, so I ended up finishing the book at 2:45 am. Surprisingly, this was actually only the fourth latest time I'd stayed up until this past week.

          Lauren Graham used her experience as an actress (on Gilmore Girls and Parenthood) to lend an air of authenticity to the protagonist Franny Banks' situation. Franny set herself a 3-year deadline prior to coming to New York to make it as an actress, deciding she wouldn't be one of those sad individuals who never realizes they're never going to make it. On the day Someday begins, Franny is exactly 6 months from her deadline. She has no agent, has only had one job (an ugly Christmas sweater commercial) in two and a half years, and works as a waitress at a comedy club to pay rent. She's not very optimistic. Graham does a great job of crafting Franny's story after this point. Franny's a talented actress and gets recognized as such one moment and treated like a nobody the next. Her story isn't completed from a career nor a romantic perspective once the novel ends, but that's probably what makes the ending so great. Because we've seen Franny grow, we can kind of tell it'll end up alright. But we don't know.

Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham is a wonderful book for when you are looking for something light and thoroughly enjoyable. If you read it, be sure to let me know what you think!