Girlfriends: Invisible Bonds, Enduring Ties [Paperback] Berry, Carmen Renee and Traeder, Tamara

Product Description Almost any woman will tell you that her friendships with other women are among the most rewarding relationships she has. In this remarkable book, real-life girlfriends Carmen Renee Berry and Tamara Traeder explore the depths and complexities of women's relationships and the joy, sustenance, and power they bring. The ideal gift for special friends, Girlfriends celebrates the steadfast, wonderful women in our lives. Amazon.com Review As important as friends are to women--essential, after all, to their identity as human beings--other roles in their lives get most of the ink: their lovers, spouses, children, and family. Girlfriends lovingly--and somewhat exhaustively--spotlights female comradeship. This book (which screams, "Buy me as a gift!") is simply a collection of women speaking about aspects of their female friendships to the indefatigable interviewer-slash-authors. Major topics of the book include girlhood adventures, friendships during transitions such as marriage and children, remembering friends, et cetera. In an odd little postscript, Girlfriends lists methods of female bonding such as theme parties, things with quilts and teacups, and other rituals. After all the words that precede it, such a section seems like gilding the lily. Relationships with lovers (male or female) thrum with a sexual undertone that works against the special distanced intimacy of friendship. As Girlfriends never tires of pointing out, only another woman knows what it is like to be a woman. A powerful antidote to alienation, friendships are a prime ingredient in a woman's life well-lived. Review ...affirms the importance of forming female friendships and examines how they shape us. -- The Toronto Globe and Mail ...the little book that could. -- San Francisco Chronicle Celebrates female relationships through a mix of anecdotes and quotations about solidarity. -- Newsweek Friendship with other women contributes something men cannot: empathy, shared experience, understanding and role models.... Women's friendships are enjoying a resurgence of popularity.... Despite the demands of families and jobs, more and more women are rediscovering the joys of spending time with each other. -- The Minnesota Women's Press, feature story In an unsteady world, girlfriends endure.... Women need women in these personally stressful times.... They really need to make connections with other women who understand what they face and with longtime friends who know their stories. -- USA Today feature story The book [has] hit a chord with readers...it's something they can give to their friends to show their gratitude.... A success. -- The Quincy Herald-Whig, Quincy, IL There is no woman who could pick up this book, and not soon find herself within the pages. And no friend of mine that won't "oooh" and "aaah" over the beautiful cover design when she rips open wrapping paper and ribbon. It's a sound I should be hearing regularly, as I plan on wrapping up more than a few of these gems. -- Small Press Magazine What became clear in...the book is that your friends find you. These friendships emerge from your everyday life. -- the Poughkeepsie Journal, part of a friendship series While movies and books have long celebrated male bonding, those about women friends were rare. Now that is changing. Women are celebrating cherished female friendships as never before. The evidence is in bookstores...and in the everyday lives of women who value other women.... A good read. -- Daytona Beach News-Journal, Daytona Beach, FL About the Author Carmen Renee Berry is a New York Times–bestselling author who has written or cowritten more than 25 books, including Aunties: Our Older, Cooler, Wiser Friends; Girlfriends for Life; A Girlfriend’s Gift; Girlfriends Talk About Men; and When Helping You Is Hurting Me. Her books have been translated into Chinese, Hebrew, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish. She lives in Orange County, California. Tamara Traeder