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Rating: 
Summary: Go Girls'!
Review: Ruby, a humor columnist, begins by recounting her desertion of her Boston boyfriend Doug, a nice-enough guy who collects bread bag twists. "...one time we were playing Frisbee and this dog came over and looked as if he was going to bite my face off if I didn't give him the Frisbee --- and Doug rescued me. I thought, yeah, maybe we could get married. But how many dogs do you meet like that?" So she sends a bunch of her newspaper columns to a New York editor and lands a job at The New York ... Ms. Davis used to write for David Letterman, and it shows. The book consists of short pieces, with titles like "A Bad Case of Dumb-Ass," clever riffs about childhood memories interspersed with current plot lines about Michael and accounts of Ruby's sessions with her crafty therapist Ella. The vignettes are off-the-wall, subtle, funny and bittersweet. The spare style works especially well for the more painful revelations that begin in the middle of the book. Because Ruby really does want to grow up. But to do so she has to confront her pain over the loss of her father, first by divorce, then by car accident (that some say was suicide). After all that she's lost, she has to learn to choose risk. In the end, GIRLS' POKER NIGHT is more than just funny. It's also very moving. Ruby achieves a true transformation, ... By the time she goes to see Randy, a chubby, gay, Jewish psychic who's been with his boyfriend for 32 years, you'll find yourself agreeing with her. "The world is sweet, kinda whether you like it or not."
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Summary: Hum Drum
Review: Ugh. I couldn't get into any of the characters... they reminded me of a group of people who if they asked me to join them I'd get a sick filling in my stomach just from the invite. It is not compelling...they don't do anything interesting, have anything interesting to say, and have no inner lives...it is HUM DRUM
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Summary: The *kayters* review
Review: Yaay! Okay, it's just February, but this book is the best book I've read this year. Terrific, wonderful, witty, brainy, smart... I could go on and on with the adjectives. I picked it up wanting a mindless read, but I got a smart woman with a great voice, of whose work I want to read more. Ruby Capote is a columnist for a Boston newspaper who has a "safe" 3-year relationship with Doug. However, she wants more. She decides, knowing that "happiness is not for cowards", to take a risk and send her resume to The New York News. This paper doesn't currently have a columnist like her, so she reasons that no one will even have to get fired for her to get hired. After some weeks with no response from the News, she decides to get creative. This pays off and she's soon on her way to New York. Girls' Poker Night is about taking risks and being open to love. The title refers to a ritual that Ruby had in college and resumes when she moves to New York - playing poker with her girlfriends, whose stories are subplots of the novel. I collected multiple quotes from the book - something I don't normally do. I anxiously await Ms. Davis' next novel!
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