Listening like one possessed

I typically only listen to audiobooks when I'm in the car, but yesterday I reached match point--a point of no return--in The Earth, My Butt, And Other Big Round Things.  I jerked the IPod out of the car and dug up some earbuds so I could go on listening, and that is what I did.  I listened while jogging, checking email, fixing supper and at the end, while eating supper, I turned off the Supernatural episode I was trying to watch and put the earbuds back in.

Needless to say, I finished it.   Note about supper: I finally tried the Tuna Tapas recipe I'd saved long ago and it was pretty boring.  Not worth another trial.  I gave the remainders of Callie's sandwich to my dog Izzy and even she rejected it...or maybe it was the white bread on the sandwich I made since tehre was no way Callie would eat the tapas with chips.  Izzy pulled a piece out of the bowl, put it on the floor, and went into her dog cage and fell asleep.

Wish I had a (certain) dog's discerning palate--I ate the leftovers with some tortilla chips.

Anyway, back to the book.  Is Ms. Mackler chanelling Judy Blume or what?  This was just so good.  She writes with all of Judy Blume's brutal honesty and then puts an ending on it, eliminating my only gripe about Judy Blume's books which is that they never seem to end--they just stop.

I'm not saying it's a clean and tidy ending, but it's an ending. You're not disappointed that it stopped there.  But if I'd created this cornucopia of fascinating characters, I'd be tempted to write a sequel.  Or two.  I'd like to see if the father ever developed insight; if the mother ever overcame her rigid self-denial; if the brother ever got a grip on his aggression; if the older sister came back and became a forever friend.  And Froggie--how did that relationship end up?

I see that Caroline Mackler has written five other books.  I must have them.