I had a pretty good morning today. I had a nice telephone chat with KristyK and as soon as we hung up, The Boss called. One of his appointments cancelled so he wanted to know if, instead of him coming up to the office, I'd like him to pick me up and have our meeting over lunch at this really cool diner nearby instead. This afternoon has been really busy, but lunch was worth it.

Here’s a book review:

The Devil Wears Prada, by Lauren Weisberger
Boy, I am so glad my mother loaned me this book! Because if I’d spent my own money on it, I’d be pissed.

I expected this book to be a lighter-side, fluffy “beach reading” type piece, so I had no unreasonable expectations in that regard, but based on other reviews and word-of-mouth, I did expect it to be funny. It isn’t.

The two main characters - Andy, our ostensible heroine and Miranda, her bitch-boss antagonist, were woefully one-dimensional. If you told me I could kill only one of them, it would be a very difficult decision. Miranda is an impatient, capricious, demanding bitch-on-wheels, but I couldn’t muster any sympathy for Andy, either. Andy stands around outside the office smoking cigarettes, chatting on her (company provided/paid) cell phone to her boyfriend and goofing around with the doorman until the BitchBoss’s latte gets cold, then gets lambasted for it, but how am I supposed to feel sorry for her when she is getting paid $32,500 a year, an unlimited expense account, chauffered Town Car and all the Jimmy Choos she can wear to fetch said BitchBoss said coffee? Uh, no. Sorry if she finds fetching lattes and newspapers demeaning, but she knew all along that these errands were the form and substance of the junior assistant’s job.

Granted, I wouldn’t let someone treat me the way Miranda treats Andy for $32,500 and free Jimmy Choos - I wouldn’t for twice that much - but the fact that Andy puts up with her horrible insults, unfair treatment and outright nastiness for months (all the while complaining incessantly) struck me as colossally annoying, not amusing. If the job is that awful - and it is - quit. This is America. They let you do that here.

The situations themselves, Miranda’s capriciousness, Andy’s incompetence and the ensuing crises didn’t seem funny at all to me, just asinine and irksome. They were all stupid enough to need shooting, only no one did. And it was set in NYC, too! So that's minus 3 points for lack of realism, on top of the irritating characters, fragmented writing style, unfunny situations and formulaic plot.

Verdict: don't waste your time.