You may recall the memoir James Frey wrote that, shall we say, stretched the truth a bit? Well, I wasn't going to read his novel Bright Shiny Morning – for one thing it gave new meaning to the term mixed reviews and for another I was still mad at him about the memoir thing. But in the book exchange section at my local Curves where I exercise  (I know this is beginning to sound terribly convoluted but stick with me please) someone had left the complete set of books on tape of Bright Shiny Morning. 13 1/2 hours worth. It just so happened R. and I were driving up to Montana the following day so I took all 13 1/2 hours for the trip. 

And we listened and listened and listened. And got really, really involved. We began discussing the characters as if they were on this trip with us. The awful Mrs. Campbell! Maddie and Dylan – will they get married? And poor Old Joe. And we loved the section on LA freeways!  Would it be the same read alone on the page without out the wonderful voice of Ben Foster? We have two more discs to go and since we're flying home we're thinking of just sitting around the house and listening to them. (Has anyone else read/listened to this novel?) 

And I'm no longer mad at James Frey. To write such a huge, sprawling, gutsy novel (flawed as it may be) after being attacked by Oprah I think shows a certain amount of courage. 

(The above photo of the Blue Anchor in Twin Bridges has nothing to do with the novel. It's where we had dinner when we arrived in Montana. And if you happen to be in Southwestern Montana, check it out – my stepdaughter Leslie Adams has redone the restaurant and hired a terrific chef.)