Wintergirls

         I am reading the book Wintergirls by Laurie Anderson.  Thi book tells the story on a girl named Lia that struggles through anorexia.  Then an ex-friend of hers that had bulimia dies.  Cassie, her girl that died, called her 33 times on the night she died.  A fact that Lia just can't live down.
        In this book I've been thinking about innocence.  Lia isn't innocent because of what she does.  Starving herself to look thin.  Always denying the fact that she could die... just like Cassie.  And the thing that doesn't make her innocent is that she knows that doing what she is is dangerous.  She knows what could happen to her, yet she just keeps on doing it.  In fact, Lia has been sent to a rehab twice already.  And she known that if anyone finds out, she is going to go back.
        Another reason that Lia just isn't innocent is that she knows Cassie called her 33 times.  And yet, she didn't pick up.  She heard it, but let it ring, and ring, and ring, and ring.  In this situation she wasn't innocent because she might have been able to help Cassie.  But maybe not.   Now she sits there and wonders why, what could have been so important that she called?  After all, Cassie hadn't spoken to her in months.  So, why did she suddenly start trying to call?  I know the answer, but I won't say.
        I wonder if Lia has a little guilty consience.  I mean, don't we  all?  If there is something that we feel bad about, doesn't it just haunt us?  The little voice in the bag of our head taunts us, making us want to belive that it is all our fault.  But the thing is, that it isn't.  Lia needs to realize this.  That Cassie dieing isn't her fault.  Yes, the anorexia is, but she can change it.
        Everything starts by trying to change something.  Lia needs to put a foot forward, and start walking that direction.

Boys R Us by Lisi Harrison

        The book I am reading right now is called Boys R Us by Lisi Harrison.  This book is one in a series called The Clique.  In the book you will follow the lives of 5 girls that are now ex-best friends after the alpha, or leader, of the group (Massie) disbands the "Pretty Committee".  Their names are Massie, Claire, Dylan, Kristen, and Alicia.  They live in Westchester and do to a school named OCD, where everyone fights to be on top.
        I think that this book tries to teach you that money can't buy everything.  This is a cliche, but the way Lisi shows it is different from any other way I've seen before.  To Massie, Alicia and Dylan, money is everything.  They could get whatever they want with it.  Having Claire and Kristen there, because they are both working class, just enhances the point that you don't need money to be happy.
        This theme about money leads to somethng else.  It shows that you can't buy friends.  Spoiler alert!!  Massie learns that the hard way when she hires 4 actresses to play the roll of friends.  She soon finds out that not even money can buy you what you want, and that you need real friends to be happy.
        While Massie is off fighting her own battles with her new employee friends, Claire is torn in between her friends and her alpha (Massie).  True friends are always connecterd by a past,  the present, or the future.  The old Pretty Committee girls are connected by all 3.  They had a past, Claire and their minds are the presents, and by the way the 5 girls miss the old days that they were all friends, I am 99.9% that they will be back together soon.  But hey, maybe things won't get better.  As I continue reading the book, things might change.