Chick-lit follow-up

So, last night I had a really wonderful time doing absolutely nothing with T, my dear, dear friend and former roommate.  We sat around on my couch and talked about serious matters and inconsequential fluff, watched the season premiere of America's Next Top Model, and had prosecco & creamcheese brownies from the Black Sheep (yes, I brought them from Amherst to Boston, and it was totally worth it!).  F***ing phenomenal.  And, of course, with a friend who knows you as well as T knows me, and who you are as open & comfortable with as I am with her, the serious things can be dealt with in a light way that makes them easier to process, and serious insights can be found in the fluffier chats.
I also finally got to give her her Christmas present, which included The Monsters of Templeton, which I have already declared my love for in this blog.  I am so excited for her to read it, and I was also really happy because she told me how much she had liked The Flamenco Academy (which, again, I originally read the same weekend as Monsters of Templeton), and even passed it on to a friend.  Some books I read and never think about again, or they're just good for a break from real life once in a while, but some books have a bigger impact, and I think the best sign of a book is if you recommend it to someone you care for and respect.  I've said it before, but these are two books I just thought were fantastic, and I am so, so excited that someone I love thought so too!
They're both novels by women, about women, and both - in some ways - about growing up and finding your (female) self, but if they're chick lit, they're chick lit in the best way.  I was thinking about them again last night, because I gave one (so now both) to T, but also because I have been really bothered by this currently chronic leg/back pain that I assume is a result of the surgery I had in December.  At first I was trying to escape the pain by reading really "light" books, thinking I wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything too serious or well-written, but these were two books that I thought were very well written, and end up dealing with some quite serious emotions and situations, but they're so compelling and real that as a reader you just get dragged in, and that makes a real escape possible.  Heresy's really not cutting it for me in that sense right now (although a combo of prosecco & chocolate-coma, Heresy, tylenol pm, and CVS-brand muscle rub are somewhat helpful - minus the fact my apartment now smells minty/mentholy-fresh all day long!), but I am going to try to scope out my shelves for a weekend winner. 
Have La Salle, by John Vernon, with me today: I needed to bring a book because I am going to the doctor's to get checked out, and need waiting room reading, but I'm too close to the end of Heresy, and it's too heavy, to bring it with me and finish it in ten minutes, so La Salle was the lightest book I could grab quickly.  Don't even remember when I took it out from the library or why, but at least it will be a surprise, even if it's not great!