One Day

I read about this book on eonline; apparently, Anne Hathaway is starring in the film version of this hugely popular British novel.  Thinking to myself, "I like books.  I like movies.  I should find a way to combine the two," I picked the novel up from the DC library and read it in about two days.  It's the perfect end-of-summer read: light enough to read quickly, enough substance to bring to work without looking like a literary lightweight.
The premise is simple: each chapter is a snapshot of two people's lives on July 15, and there are about 20 chapters.  Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley begin their stories on the day of their college graduation, after spending a whole night talking and getting to know each other.  Over the next twenty years, we read about Dexter's life in the public eye as a television presenter, and his inevitable downfall, and Emma's disastrous 20s that end with her being a well-known young adult author.  Although the chapters do not always include the two of them spending July 15 together, Nicholls gives the reader enough information to see how their lives evolve over the years.
It's an easy read, one that won't have you scratching your head or looking up complex words.  There is enough disappointment and frustration to keep the characters from being cookie-cutter, and Nicholls does not make their lives easy.  The author writes the same way as Nick Hornby and Jonathan Tropper, meaning it could be construed as chick-lit or literature for sensitive men.  Either way, it's a good way to cleanse the palette after reading something as heavy as The Passage.