The Center of Things by Jenny McPhee

How do you pick a book from the shelves anyway? I picked this one off the New Fiction table for the cover - very GIRL. The story sounded pretty neat too. Marie Brown is a tall, quiet, smart girl who happens to be a tabloid journalist - well, more like fact-checker and ghost-writer until she finds the story she has to get: an obituary for the not-dead-yet Nora Mars, her most beloved screen idol.

"Maud probably never had any intention of talking to Marie in the first place and made the appointment at the museum just to get rid of her. So much for star alignment. She thought of the harsh tone Brewster had taken with her earlier. Perhaps she had misinterpreted him and he really didn't have any confidence in her as a journalist - he'd simply been setting her up so that he could fire her. And he would be right, she thought. She'd been conned by Maud, sent on a wild-yak chase. She then started up on her old familiar litany - she was still tall, still deaf, still unmarried, still a graduate school dropout, still writing for a tabloid - but somehow the list just wasn't compelling enough to continue"

Funny and charming, I think. A very enjoyable read. I only have two small things against it:

1) The book acts a little bit smarter than it really is. I mean, I love the references to quantum mechanics and physics and all that. And I completely relate to Marie Brown's enjoyment of these things for the metaphors they provide for life - why else would anyone care for science? - but I thought these references sometimes flew too thick and fast, without stopping to get their hooks into the meat of the story. Or maybe that's just me, being a little bit dumber than I think I am.

2) Very unconvincing lust interest in Nora mars' ex-husband Rex Mars. If you are trying to throw us off the track of Marie's true destined love, Ms McPhee, you need to do a better job. As far as red herrings go, this one stinks - The man wears indigo cowboy boots, for heaven sakes, and we are suppposed to take that seriously?

Otherwise, definitely, generally, yes. For something light, and not too long, this is a fun book.

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