Re-read in December 2016: Nothing particularly new to say, just love. 
 Re-read in December 2015: Landline is a new Christmas tradition for me. This time around, I got swept up in how precise Rainbow can be with her writing. The image of Georgie sitting on the curb in Critter Corner so she can work out script problems while her family plays at Disneyland is so great. Neal with his fresh haircut that still feels spiky in the back. Heather and her wrong pizzas. I love everything about it. I still desperately want this to be a movie (and to write the screenplay) and this time around I pictured Brie Larson as Georgie. My agenda for the day...listening to "Celebrate Me Home" on repeat and putting my loved ones* first. 
 *My husband, while I was reading this: "That's your favorite author, right? Should I get you a lock of her hair for Christmas?" Ha. 
 Re-read in July 2014: As per usual, Rainbow Rowell has written a book that feels like it was written for me and me alone. I'm sure that the rest of you will appreciate it, too. But this one is mine. 
 Georgie McCool reads like a compendium of my least-favorite traits about myself. She's selfish and acerbic and obsessive and knows what she wants to the point of neglecting everything else in her life to get it. Oof. On the bright side, she's also fiercely loyal and clever and loves her family deeply. (Her physical description also sounds a great deal like me, which kinda weirded me out.) The only discernible difference between Georgie and myself is that Georgie kisses boys first. Ahem. 
 If you've heard of this book even in the slightest, you know the premise about a woman finding out that her landline telephone can connect her to her husband, only seventeen years in the past. It's sorta wacky, but a little magical realism never hurt anybody. The story takes place in the week prior to Christmas, with Georgie choosing to stay in LA to work on the script for a newly optioned TV show with her writing partner instead of going to Omaha with her husband and kids as planned. I know, I know. But this is her BIG BREAK. Georgie falls apart and stays at her mom's house. Her mom believes that Georgie's marriage is in shambles, when really her marriage is tenuous. Fragile. Taut. This leads to a few awkward (and funny!) conversations between Georgie and her family. Ah, the holidays. Neal isn't picking up his phone and Georgie's cell is just about ruined, which is when she takes to the infamous yellow rotary phone. It's Neal that picks up...but Neal with an alive father and a slightly less jaded attitude, even in the aftermath of their 1998 almost-breakup. Now she's convinced that she's really losing it. But she keeps calling him and keeps remembering why they fell in love and why they decided to make their relationship work. Plus, there's the matter of their Christmas Day engagement back in 1998. What if that wasn't supposed to happen at all? 
 The book works because it's not just modern-day Georgie and from-the-past Neal. It's modern-day Georgie and modern-day Neal, plus their adorable daughters. It's from-the-past Georgie and from-the-past Neal and a whole lot of amazing falling in love stuff. (You though the hand-holding scene in Eleanor & Park was epic? Wait until you read Georgie and Neal's almost-kiss scene. I mean, DANG.) It's also past and present Seth, who acts as Georgie's writing partner and best friend and that's a whole other thing. I liked Seth--and the Seth parts of the plot--better on the second reading, for what it's worth. This isn't a book about falling in love, though. It's a book about choosing to stay in a relationship and paying attention to what your partner needs and making the occasional grand gesture. 
 Also, it's freaking hilarious. You should read it for that reason alone. 
 Fan casting! Let's do this. 
 Young cast: 
 Georgie: Bailey Buntain (Let's add some wave to her hair and she's perfect.) 
 Neal: Dan Byrd (Oh, this times a million. He is Neal, as far as I'm concerned.) 
 Seth: Ian Harding (I've only watched one episode of PLL, but he's definitely the man for the job.) 
 Current-day cast: 
 Georgie: Kate Hudson (But with an extra 30 pounds.) 
 Neal: Mark Ruffalo (I honestly don't know for this one. This is only a maybe? I'm so dead set on Dan Byrd that I can't get anyone else in my head. Let's invent time travel so Dan can play both Young Neal and Current Neal.) 
 Seth: Ryan Reynolds (Duh.) 
 Georgie's Mom: Goldie Hawn (Ha. Wouldn't this be a trip?) 
 Kendrick: Forest Whitaker (No brainer. I love Kendrick.) 
 Heather: Bridgit Mendler (I really loved Good Luck, Charlie, okay?) 
 Initial Review: This killed me. In the best possible way.