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without a title or author, how can i find a particular book?

Here's the thing. i read this book about 10 years ago that was incredible (at least, my 16 year old self was incredible, so who knows). it was about a sort of vaguely discontented snarky and cynical suburban mom whose life gets turned upside down when an unbearably bubbly and energetic young soccer mom moves into the neighborhood. the unlikely pair become best friends, and the story is about all they learn from each other. it sounds pretty barfy when described like that, but, from what i remember, the writing was pretty good. and the format keeps the reader interested, because it is told in the first person from the perspectives of the two women. olivia writes one chapter, then the other friend (i can't remember her name) writes the next, and it goes back and forth like that. it's a little bit like a mystery, since the imperfect narrators make the reader have to infer parts of the story to fill in the gaps. the bubbly young mom gets breast cancer, and then gets pregnant while going through cancer treatment. it doesn't look like she'll make it, but then gets somewhat better and there's hope for her, and at the end she gets killed in a car crash. i remember being profoundly impacted by the story as an adolescent, and i really want to go back and read it again. but all i know is the plot and one of the character's names. no author, not even a bit of the title that i can remember. any ideas on how i might be able to go about finding this book?

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  • Pink_chicken_small
    Reputation: 129

    Post your question here: http://www.spl.org/default.asp?pageID=info_help_ask_email

    Librarians at SPL can always figure out the answer.

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  • Subcultureoftwo_small
    Reputation: 1892

    I've had great luck with Booksleuth, a forum for just this sort of thing on Abebooks.com.

    http://forums.abebooks.com/abesleuthcom

    I've posted your question for you, so we'll see what they say!

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  • Photo_on_2012-01-03_at_17
    Reputation: 628

    this isn't great advice, but I have had this problem before, and I just tried to describe key parts in a google search and by the process of elimination I was able to figure out the book finally...also coupling the google search with amazon searches and/or library searches can help. another way might be to call a bookstore or library and see if they know. if you happen to know the section it would be in that could be helpful...like romance or young adult lit or bestsellers or something like that.

    good luck. i know it is totally annoying not to know the book when you remember it and want to look it up again!!!

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  • Lookalikes_small
    Reputation: 2589

    Sacrelicious already had the best answer - the people at Booksleuth know EVERYTHING! I've had them find the title of a book from a horrifically vague description.

    Reference librarians are also your friend. Seattle Public Library has an email or telephone contact for theirs; again, they know everything. (David Wright, who posts on here, is one of them.)

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