A sobbing mess

I don't like when books, movies or TV shows catch me by surprise with a sudden tear jerker change of pace.

That happened to me last night as I was finishing up a book by Jennifer Weiner. The book is a sequel to one I already read "Good in Bed." The books fit squarely in the chick lit category and are not really all that great, but sometimes I want to read something other than "The New Yorker" at bedtime. These are books that don't take a lot of thought and they are usually amusing enough to get me through to the end.

But Weiner pulled a fast one on me when I got to the homestretch of "Certain Girls" last night. With less than 30 pages left to read - SPOILER ALERT - one of the main characters died. It came out of nowhere, and personally I don't think it did a whole lot to move the plot forward. I could have imagined other ways to do it.

I have to admit that I have a streak of sentimentality that is about a mile wide though I often hide it from others with my sarcastic streak. Let's just say there are certain country songs I can't listen to without getting teary eyed. That is one of the reasons I thought "Nights in Rodanthe" wasn't very good - it has a thoroughly depressing ending, but didn't draw one tear out of me.

I don't mind when I expect something sad to happen in a movie or a book, like "Beaches" or "Terms of Endearment" or "Bridge to Terabitha." I just don't like when I am caught off guard by it, like in the Disney Pixar movie "Up." Who expects to bawl at a cartoon?

For now, I will seek out some laughs to make up for the crying jag last night.