www.dontweallhaveacrazysibling?.com

See, I have this friend. Her name is Jewel. You may have heard of her. No, not the singer - Jewel, my best friend. She was supporting me in my library adventure the day that she issued this challenge to me, and she grabbed a book and handed it to me and walked away. It was a book that I had already seen the movie for a - movie that I loved. And guess what Jewel says? "The book is way better."

Hmm... I'll be the judge of that! Okay, I was honestly expecting it to be better. It usually is, as we well know.

The book? The one that turned out to be book #5?

In Her Shoes, by Jennifer Weiner.

If you don't know the premise, I will give you the super quick synopsis: A slightly frumpy girl and a super gorgeous girl are sisters. Their mother died when they were young, and the frumpy one is constantly taking care of the beautiful sister. And she doesn't have very good self esteem, but she's got a great life. And her sister seems to be constantly messing up... Throw in some shoes, some dogs, some men, and wackiness ensues. Read the book to find out more.. or the movie if you are lame. :P Actually, they are both good.

This book really made me think about my brother and myself. My brother Aaron is 6 years older than me, and to say that we are different is an understatement. We chose totally different paths in life, have done different things, achieved different milestones. It's shocking when my friends meet him to know that we are related, because we are like oil and vinegar. So the relationship between the sisters, Maggie and Rose, in this book really hit me.

My brother and I are so different, yet so alike in the sense that we know exactly what buttons to push to piss the other off (as most siblings do.) There is no person in the world that can get me as fired up as my brother. He brings out a side of me that I hate sometimes - he is the only person that I can remember full out screaming out in my lifetime. And not just sibling banter - worse. Terrible, mean, things. Not unwarranted, but still, terrible. I can still feel myself in that moment, thinking that I hated who I was right then and pissed at him for bringing me to that level.

But just like Maggie and Rose, who go through a terrible fight in this book and go their seperate ways for awhile, I have the weirdest soft spot for this crazy brother of mine. And I know that in a heartbeat he would be there for me, because he constantly has. Okay, so maybe his way of making me feel better is asking me if I want to sell drugs to make friends, or telling me that he will have someone killed. But still - when he really means it, he really means it. He has had a really hard year - my whole family has had a weird year. And my brother is still standing, which is impressive. Sometimes when it feels like I am about to watch him crumple, he pulls himself out of the mess. Just like Maggie in this book... I watch how Rose, the older sister, takes care of Maggie so well and I think about my brother and I, even though I am the younger one. I make fun of him, and roll my eyes at him, and don't approve of his decisions, but I do love him.

I think that we all have people in our lives that we will have that soft spot for no matter what... We all have someone, be it a family member or a friend that no matter what happens, and no matter how many times we say to ourselves "if he threatens to put me in a bucket one more time, I'm outta here (no? just me?)", we stick around. Maybe it's because we have a great neice and two great nephews in the mix. Maybe it's because we know that no matter what, we both care. And maybe it's because we're not so different when it boils down to it. Maybe it's because we are both doing the best that we can for ourselves and for each other, and we can both respect that without always agreeing with it.

So this book? A+.

I also read another one, called the Magicians, which I loved at first but then got stupid. I stumbled through it so I wouldn't be a quitter. And now I'm on to book #7.

Good recommendation, Jewel. :)

Anyone have anymore recommendations for me? Anyone? Anyone?

It's a trick. You can't click to look inside. I jacked this picture from Amazon. oops!