pants in my hands

I bought the second Pants book the other day (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Second Summer of the Sisterhood, Girls in Pants, for the uninitiated) and am deep into it now. These books are very engaging, I'm sure for kids, but even for a jaded adult like me. The characters are all developed and interesting and different from each other. They have rich internal lives and strong friendships. They all are smart but act crazy sometimes.

I haven't seen the movie based on the first book, but I've heard they gave it a Hollywood ending. That book did not end all happy and tied up. It ended messy and sad but for the most part hopeful. I read it when I was at a conference and I skipped one program to lie in my hotel room bed finishing it.

Sometimes I wish I could write something like it or like one of my favorite books (see a few posts ago for that whole discussion) but I have a hard enough time squeezing out the occasional short story. I spent many of my junior/senior high years rewriting the first pages of a mystery novel, main characters based on me and the guy I had a crush on in the 6th grade (who turned out not to be all that interesting, but that sort of detail didn't stop me in those days).

I think I named myself Hallie and the dude's name was just the beginning of his last name and the end of his last name + first name. Dumb, but I thought it was so clever. It would be like renaming Pat Sajak Jack Patsa. Funny, no? I spent many many happy hours reading the Ellen Raskin books, which gave me that idea I'm certain. Come to think of it, they'd have to be on the list of books that greatly influenced me as a youngster. The Tattooed Potato and Other Clues, The Westing Game, the Mysterious Disappearance of Leon I Mean Noel. I pretty much had The Westing Game memorized. Man, did anyone else read those?