Some young, single New York women pour their hearts out in diaries; others are just so busy they don't think to record their daily movements. In a gimmicky twist, Borkowsky, whose Amy's Answering Machine
collected phone messages her mother left her, draws on her credit card statements to provide an exhaustive account of what she did for 12 years as a junior advertising executive by day, party girl by night. Written as a series of individual stories that illustrate the mundane (frequent gourmet coffee consumption), romantic (charges for dinner dates, gifts for boyfriends) and practical (her first new couch, mounting costs for baby gifts for friends) aspects of her existence, the record serves as a surprisingly vivid if eventually tedious portrait of the priorities in Borkowsky's personal life. Readers learn of her penchant for Chinese takeout and her various attempts at self-improvement through night classes and home improvement with a caulking gun. The grand finale, which Borkowsky wishes for all her readers, includes charges for a wedding dress, honeymoon resort, baby clothes and graduate school tuition. Most readers will learn more—and have a better time—by poring over their own bills and connecting the dots. Agent, Andrea Somberg.
(Aug.)
