#honorable mention to brian mcbrian who would have loved boaty mcboatface

[jltonnere]

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Takeaways from 20 years later (fuck I'm old).

The girls' friendship is still goals and I resent this book for giving me unrealistic expectations about friendship and pants.

These pants must be utterly disgusting if the girls were aggressively sweating in them all summer and they cannot be washed.

Why are all the romances upsettingly large age gaps and how did I never notice before? Bridget and Eric is obvious of course, but Lena and Kostos? Effie and her summer fling? Noo 14/17 and 15/18 is absolutely almost as bad as 15/19.

Bridget definitely has bipolar disorder we just weren't allowed to say it in 2003 I guess.

Eric's monologue to Bridget is so much worse then I remembered. Like you know she's 15 and still say "you've been in my bed every night?" STRAIGHT TO JAIL.

Bridget's and Lena's constant statements about boys their age and older men sexualizing them all the time are so upsetting but also realistic, why are men disgusting?

Carmen's dad was really On Some Shit to not tell her he was engaged and had a whole new family. And like did Lydia just not? Ask to meet her fiance's daughter at any point? Truly wild.

The Tibby/ Bailey story is every bit as devastating as it was when I was a teen, maybe more, this one still wrecks me.

Some of the writing in this is so poetic and captures the magic of that age and I can understand why these books made an impression and why they have stayed with me for so long.