The Golden Notebook

by Doris Lessing.

Quickie recap: Anna tries to combine all of her life's previous notebooks (on her time in South Africa, her involvement in the Communist party, fiction based on her unsuccessful affairs, her dreams and her emotional life) into one coherent golden notebook.

Quickie review: I wanted to love this book. I'd heard from others that it changed their lives. Me, not so much. The first part started out splendidly, I thought, and Lessing's knack for showing friendship between women, that fine line between jealousy and support, was illuminating, but soon the book disintegrates into Anna's memoirs, and I found the recollection scattered and disengaging.

Quickie recommendation: Perhaps my expectations were too high, but I must report that this book failed to meet them.