Gyllenhaal is up for the part of Denise Lambert, the talented bisexual young chef and family mediator. Gerwig would play Julia Vrais, middle child and Chip’s married girlfriend and Ifans would play Julia’s Lithuanian husband, Gitnas, in a cameo. Bruce Norris, playwright (Clybourne Park) and theatre actor is in talks to play Banker and amateur photographer, Gary Lambert.

The show, which will be written by Franzen, has already cast Diane Weist and Chris Cooper as Enid and Alfred Lambert. Ewan McGregor has also been casted to play the peter pan like Chip Lambert, the most outwardly screwed up member of the Lambert Family of St. Jude, Missouri.

It is rumored that the show will air in 2013 and will be produced by Scott Rudin (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.)

Four of a Kind by Valerie Frankel

“A man’s growth is seen in the successive choirs of his friends.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I sat down to write this review in the same manner I write every review. I wanted to diplomatically describe the details of the book (something you can easily find on Amazon or Goodreads and therefore do not need me to repeat here). I was then going to give my impression of the book, where the author excelled, what was interesting about the plot, describe the challenges the four main characters faced in their lives (at home, at work, in love).  All of this would have been interesting and informative but it would also be stagnant. It would be run-of-the-mill. It would be something you could find in the hundreds of reviews online or in magazines and newspapers. It would be something you could find just by reading the book yourself. (Which I highly recommend you do!)

Instead, I want to do things a little differently. I want to explore the theme of this book and how it relates to life. Because isn’t that why we read fiction in the first place? To learn more about ourselves, to understand our lives, our hopes, dreams, fears, and failings?

Four of a Kind by Valerie Frankel (Ballantine Books, February 7, 2012) is a novel about FRIENDSHIP.

Friendship is crucial in life. It is an integral part of our happiness. Strong social ties are key to happiness. Gretchen Rubin in her book, The Happiness Project, routinely points out that “To be happy we have to feel strongly connected to other people.” She even has a post on her blog with 8 Tips for Making Friends. In that post she talks about how the “mere exposure effect” makes you like someone better. Basically, just by repeatedly seeing the same people, you will, in fact, like them better. Another tip she gives is to join a group. “Being part of a natural group, where you have common interest and are brought together automatically, is the easiest way to make friends.”

This is what happens in Valerie Frankel’s completely entertaining novel, Four of a Kind. Four women are brought together as part of a school diversity committee, each woman has a child in the same school. Ironically, the diversity committee is a very diverse group, women who would never be friends if not forced together. On a whim, the women end up playing a game of Texas Hold’em, but instead of money the currency is secrets. Secrets in their marriage, secrets with their careers, their children, their parents. Every woman has a secret in her life and even though she keeps them close to her heart and aches because of them, she is really just looking for the right person to tell.  When these secrets (and worries and fears and hopes) begin to come out, the women realize they are bonded more closely than they ever could have imagined. These women found each other and as a result have built honest, beautiful, complicated relationships.

Rachel Bertsche’s website and book, MWF Seeking BFF, was devoted to the challenge of finding friendship once you are no longer in structured, friend-building environments (school, offices, teams). Her message struck a chord. Why is it so hard to make friends as you get older? Studies constantly point out the health benefits behind having friends. For example, did you know that gossiping with friends can help lower stress? Friends give you an impartial outlet to vent your frustrations. They can listen to your complaints, offer advice and guidance and be the shoulder to cry on. They can also help you find joy and happiness in life. They get you out of your routine and can help you discover new aspects of yourself.

It is easy to isolate yourself, to retreat into your own world and shut people out. Women often feel competition and jealousy, even with their closest friends. They strive to have the most successful life; the best clothes, career, husband, children, vacations. Women can sometimes see that green-eyed monster lurking when a friend’s life seems to be sunnier than their own.  So in trying to prove that our lives are successful and that jealousy never crosses our mind we put on false fronts, fake faces. We live in a false sense of security with our hundreds of Facebook “friends.” But what about real, live interaction? An email message pales in comparison to lunch with a girlfriend.

By reading Four of a Kind you will find yourself longing to have the close friendships that evolve throughout the novel. You may not envy their struggles and fears, but you will rejoice in their successes and find yourself routing for all of them in the end.  When you turn the last page you will have an immediate urge to call your closest friends and organize a girls night out. I highly recommend you do this!

5. Fight Club by Chuck Palaniuk

Fight club resonates with people who are anti-authority and Tyler Durden is their hero. This one tattoo is an iconic image because Tyler was, among other things, a soap maker.

4. The Little Prince by Antoine  de Saint-Exupery

The watercolor images inspire many tattoos but also the appreciation of the world’s beauty and wonder. This tattoo is of the prince himself.

3. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

This book reminds us of our childhoods and we grow up so fast, that maybe it’s a symbol of who we were as children: wild, carefree and full of imagination. This is tattoo is of Max in his iconic wolf outfit.

2. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

There are a lot of tattoos of Alice in Wonderland out there. There are quotes, images and the cast of characters are depicted frequently: Alice, The Mad Hatter and especially the Cheshire Cat. Here is a depiction of the tree, the cheshire cat and a few other characters.

1. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnetgut

This classic novel of war and time travel resonates with people in the mantra “So It Goes,” which represents the owner’s coping with worry or loss. Here is a tattoo of the mantra on someone’s wrist, which is where people usually get the tattoo, oddly enough.

Because the internet truly is a web that I get lost in quite frequently, I wanted to fully trace my path to this particular discovery. I was perusing one of my favorite websites, Creature Comforts, when I found a post about a unique project. Handwritten Letters by Mary Kate McDevitt. Mary Kate gave herself the task to write one handwritten “letter”, not a note to a friend, an actual letter of the alphabet, every day for 395 days. She blogs about it here.  Originally, she had a sign-up board where you could actually enter your address and each person would receive one letter. The list of 395 filled up pretty quickly and the entry form is now closed. But what a gorgeous idea! She also blogs about her illustration and other lettering work here. And she tweets.

She has a book coming out in March (a journal) from Chronicle Books and this is DEFINITELY something to pine for…

Friendship According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney

Our resident children’s book reviewer is back with a fantastic review of a new and exciting series. Get ready to fall in love with Humphrey.

Friendship According to Humphrey (Book 2)

by Betty G. Birney

In book 2, Class 26 gets another class pet and everyone is paying more attention to him (the frog) than Humphrey. Plus how could he become friends with a frog with its bug out eyes and really icky skin? When the class writes poems. most of them write about you know who.

…This book was read and reviewed by Piper, an adorable 9-year-old girl. We can’t wait for more reviews from this insightful and brilliant reviewer! We also can’t wait to find out what further adventures await Humphrey.

Thanks, Piper!

The pilot is about a Jewish family living in Washington, D.C. It has been described as“politically, religiously, culturally, intellectually, and sexually irreverent.”

Alan Alda is in talks to play Ben Stiller’s father, making the first time he’ll be on a series regular since M*A*S*H*.

According to Deadline.com, 20th Century Fox has hired Karen McCullah & Kirsten Smith to adapt 29, the novel by Adena Halpern. John Davis is producing. The book is a high concept comedy about an elderly woman who wakes up in the body of her 29-year old self and finally has the chance to do things right. McCullah & Smith’s credits include Legally Blonde and The House Bunny. In addition to solo projects, they are scripting Love It Or Leave It for Chockstone Pictures, which they are producing with Seth Jaret and Steve Schwartz, Paula Mae Schwartz and Roger Schwartz. The scribes are repped by Paradigm and manager Seth Jaret.

Summary:

What if you closed your eyes, blew out the candles, and your wish came true?

Ellie Jerome is a young-at-heart seventy-five-year-old who feels she has more in common with her twenty-nine-year-old granddaughter, Lucy, than her fifty-five-year-old daughter, Barbara. Ellie’s done everything she can to stay young, and the last thing she wants is to celebrate another birthday. So when she finds herself confronted with a cake full of candles, Ellie wishes more than anything that she could be twenty-nine again, just for one day. But who expects a wish like that to come true?

29 is the story of three generations of women and how one magical day shakes up everything they know about each other. While Ellie finds that the life of a twenty-something is not as carefree as she expected, the sheer joy of being young again prompts her to consider living her life all over. Does she dare stay young for more than this day, even if it means leaving everyone she loves behind?

Fresh, funny, and delightful, 29 is an enchanting adventure about families, love, and the real lessons of youth.

The World According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney

Our resident children’s book reviewer is back with a fantastic review of a new and exciting series. Get ready to fall in love with Humphrey.

The World According to Humphrey

Book 1

By Betty G. Birney

In book 1, Humphrey goes to Room 26 in Longfellow School. He was in a pet store until Mrs. Mac a teacher got him. She thought he would be a smart hamster so she got him a small notebook and pencil and she was sure that he could learn to write, but could he??? After a long time with Mrs. Mac she leaves and now Humphrey has to face with the teacher who is out to get him. Will he get out of the trouble he is in? Read the book and find out.

…This book was read and reviewed by Piper, an adorable 9-year-old girl. We can’t wait for more reviews from this insightful and brilliant reviewer! We also can’t wait to find out what further adventures await Humphrey.

Thanks, Piper!

150 Pounds by Kate Rockland

Summary:

A smartly-written novel of two women starting at opposite ends of the scale–and finding compromise and friendship in their journey towards 150 pounds In the fast paced life of blogging, two women stand out: Alexis Allbright, of Skinny Chick, and Shoshana Weiner, who writes Fat and Fabulous. Both have over five million loyal readers. Both are hungry for success. But the similarities stop there.

With over 100 pounds on the scale separating them, weight isn’t their only difference. Alexis is a loner who is so bitchy the only person who can stand her company is her gay best friend Billy. She gives neurotic New Yorkers a run for their money with her strict daily workout routine, and weighing of food. Shoshana is Alexis’s opposite. Living in Jersey with rowdy roommates, she is someone who “collects friends,” as her mother puts it; and treasures a life of expanding circles…and waistlines.

When both appear as panelists on a popular talk show, their lives intersect in ways neither could have imagined. In turns comedic, heartwarming–and familiar to any woman who’s ever stepped on a scale–Alexis and Shoshana realize they have far more in common than either could have possibly imagined, and more importantly, something to offer. (via Goodreads)

The journey of self-acceptance and comfort in your own skin is a life long one for many. Weight plays a key role in this journey and it can sometimes make the road ahead of you seem long, winding and filled with potholes. No matter how fit, confident and put together a woman appears, everyone has insecurities. Kate Rockland does something extraordinary with her novel 150 Pounds, she realistically gives readers hope. Hope that they can make their journey easier and more enjoyable by accepting themselves. Hope that one day they can stop caring about the extra pounds they’re caring around. Hope that they can appreciate themselves as is and love themselves, extra baggage and all.

Shoshana Weiner is a plus size writer for the blog Fat and Fabulous. Alexis Allbright is skinny, obsessed with working out and runs the site, Skinny Chick. Both girls meet at the start of the novel as guests on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Immediately pitted against each other, hurling insults and accusations, the girls are enemies out to prove that their lifestyle is the “right” way to live. But fate steps in and mixes things up.

Each chapter is told from either Shoshana or Alexis’s perspective and opens by documenting their current weight. Immediately I liked Shoshana better than Alexis. Alexis is uptight, self-obsessed and consumed with fat-burning and fitness. Her life is structured, scheduled and strict and no one is going to mess with the order she has created. Of course, life has other plans and soon a wrench is thrown in Alexis’s seemingly perfect life. We also discover some darkness in her past that has influenced her need for structure, perfection and control.

Shoshana, on the other hand, is leading a life filled with love and happiness. She has great friends, a great family and a confidence that you will find yourself envying. But even people who seem to have figured out the “big” issues in life still have lots to learn and discover. Shoshana has her own insecurities and her path is not an easy one either.

Rockland reminds me of Jennifer Weiner in her ability to accurately portray the plight of women and the emotional landscape we all face. There are similarities in all of our stories and struggles and Rockland perfectly captures that in 150 Pounds. Her writing is enjoyable, her plot is compelling and her novel is a must-read for women everywhere.

When Charlotte Rainsford, a retired schoolteacher, is accosted by a petty thief on a London street, the consequences ripple across the lives of acquaintances and strangers alike. A marriage unravels after an illicit love affair is revealed through an errant cell phone message; a posh yet financially strapped interior designer meets a business partner who might prove too good to be true; an old-guard historian tries to recapture his youthful vigor with an ill-conceived idea for a TV miniseries; and a middle-aged central European immigrant learns to speak English and reinvents his life with the assistance of some new friends.

Through a richly conceived and colorful cast of characters, Penelope Lively explores the powerful role of chance in people’s lives and deftly illustrates how our paths can be altered irrevocably by someone we will never even meet. Brought to life in her hallmark graceful prose and full of keen insights into human nature, How It All Began is an engaging, contemporary tale that is sure to strike a chord with her legion of loyal fans as well as new readers. A writer of rare wisdom, elegance, and humor, Lively is a consummate storyteller whose gifts are on full display in this masterful work.