Now that I'm totally "in" with several Evanston moms, I've been doing "my babysitter cancelled, can you watch my kids?" engagements. It sounds daunting, but for a newbie it means acceptance and victory.
As I plunked down on my friend Kindon's couch, about to babysit her napping baby, she tossed a copy of 'Treasure Island!!!' by Sara Levine on my lap and said "Here, read this while you're babysitting." (Kindon is very bossy and it's one of the main reasons I like her so much because she reminds me of me.)
I pretty much read 'Treasure Island!!!' for three hours straight. It's smart, fun, snarky, contemporary and worth reading and gifting AND I'm not saying this because Sara Levine lives in Evanston and I want her to be my new best friend - the book is fantastic. Don't believe me? Read the following reviews from The New York Times and O Magazine.
What's the book about?
From O Magazine: In this irreverent comic novel of self-empowerment, the narrator tries to pattern herself after the hero of Robert Louis Stevenson's adventure classic.— Karen Holt
From Evanston Newbie: A self-absorbed, spoiled rotten jack ass of a main character becomes totally obsessed with Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Treasure Island'. Her job, love life, friendships, etc. become road kill as she obsesses over the book. You hate the main character, so you're perfectly happy to see her life crash and burn. But I'm not done with the book, so maybe I'm wrong and her life turns out okay. (I like the idea of a mid-read book review. Maybe I'll keep this up. Ooooh, except that I only do book reviews of books written by people living in Evanston, so that might be a little tricky.)
If I only I knew about this book before the holidays of 2011, I could have gifted it. What I'll do is try and contact Sara and ask her to sign a few copies so I can have a stash of super cool Evanston-style gifts to give. Hey, maybe I'll try and profile Sara on this blog. Really, with a fantastic book like 'Treasure Island!!!' the possibilities are endless.
Photo credit: the photo above was taken at WORD of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where Sara Levine did a reading from her book 'Treasure Island!!!'. Click here to read more about the reading and WORD.
Info: 'Treasure Island!!!' was published in December 2011 by Alice Sebold’s Europa Editions imprint, www.europaeditions.com.
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Thank you for reading my blog "Evanston Newbie", a project that I am using to chronicle my new life in Evanston. Do you have favorite Evanston bakeries, bike shops, events, summer camps that you can recommend? Send me an email at thelisadshow@gmail.com and I will post my review on this blog. -Lisa Degliantoni
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