Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf: Lauren Mechlilng

21.1.10

Dream Life Blog Tour

Today I have a very special guest visiting Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf. Who is it, you may ask. Well, it’s no one other then Claire Voyante, the main character in Lauren Mechling's Dream Life and Dream Girl.

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Greetings and salutations, book lovers! I’m Claire Voyante, the main character of Dream Life, Lauren Mechling’s rip-roaring detective novel (and no, it is not immodest to say that about a book you didn’t write but in which you star—I checked in one of my grandmother Kiki’s etiquette books).

Dream Life is all about what happened after I found out my best friend Becca had just joined a super-exclusive, centuries-old secret society called the Blue Moons. I figured out how to wiggle my way into the club, and, of course, much drama ensued. I warmly invite you to check Dream Life out—it’s available at a bookstore or Internet site near you.

When Dream Girl, the first book in the series, came out, my creator Lauren fielded questions from bloggers and journalists. Lauren is currently underground working on a secret project so I offered to step in and relief pitch. I’m taking a page from Ann Landers's book and writing an advice column. The questions came from fans of the series. The answers came from the heart.

(Warning: I don't have a degree in psychotherapy--use at your own risk!)

Dear Claire,

My uncle and aunt are having a baby and if it’s a girl they want to name it Andromeda. And my math teacher just gave birth to a boy who she called Xander. What the heck is going on? Whatever happened to names like Tom or Brittany?

Lia Who Used To Think Her Name Was Somewhat Interesting

Clinton, Iowa

Dear LWUTTHNWSI,

Okay, that wasn’t really an advice question. More like a Seinfeld joke. But I’m happy to take this on—I totally agree that something weird is afoot.

I live in a building for NYU professors and their families, and I haven’t met a single baby with a normal name in the past few years. There’s Virgil, Artemis, Finn, Tigris, Ethel, and Maker. Swear to Zeus. Oh wait--there's also a Zeus.

My theory is the people who are having babies these days—mostly people in their late twenties or thirties—were named in the ‘70s, when guys with names like Richard and Jimmy were president, pop stars were named Judy and Barbara, and extremely boring names were popular. Lauren, my 70s-born author, went to a party recently where every single guy she met was named Matt or Jason or Jessica or Lauren. Every. Single. One.

So now that these Laurens and Jasons are bringing babies into the world, it’s their turn to right the balance and name their kids after planets or ancient gods. Must stink to be a kindergarten teacher and have to remember all those names!

We can comfort ourselves with the knowledge that everything goes in cycles, and in fifty years or whatever, our kids won’t grow up to say to people at cocktail parties, “Hi, my name is Mesopotamia!” As for your uncle, well, it is his kid. Just remember you're free to have as many Jacks and Judys as you wish.

L’amour toujours!

Claire

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Thanks so much, Claire/Lauren!