Many works of fiction deal with the topic of women’s friendships – the emotional drama, the depths of connection, and the betrayals. However, a recent non-fiction book, MWF Seeking BFF, looks at women’s friendships in a more analytical way. Rachel Bertsche, the author, dedicates a year of her life to finding her new BFF. It’s an interesting premise. For 52 weeks, she goes on a series of “friend-dates” with women she meets in a variety of ways: at work, through other friends, even through a personal ad. Besides providing a play-by-play of her friend-dates, Bertsche intersperses many bits of research about friendship. Did you know there’s something called Dunbar’s Number? It states that humans can have a social network consisting of 150 people. (How does that compare with the number of friends you have on Facebook?)

My book club read this book, and it raised some great discussion about friendships: how easy (or hard) it is to make new ones, or to sustain old ones. Rachel is 27 in her book, but everyone in the book group has at least 10 years on her, so our take on friendship was a little more, shall we say, mature. (As in: how on earth does she have time for so many friends?) MWF Seeking BFF is a quick read, and it will make you think about your own friendships. It might even inspire you to pick up the phone and call that good friend you haven’t spoken to in years!

-Andrea Larson, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

P.S.  Meet Rachel Bertsche at Bliss Wine and Gifts in Wauconda on Thursday, May 25 at 7:00 pm.  For more information, go to http://www.lakeforestbookstore.com/event/rachel-bertsche-bliss-wine-and-gifts.