I always dreamed of writing a book when I grew up. Well I'm there (grown up) and haven't written a book (that'll come when my daughters go off to college) but I do get to write book reviews and articles about authors who write books.

And the most recent book I've reviewed is one that lets me live vicariously through the lives of three pop culture icons. Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon - and the Journey of a Generation is by Sheila Weller, and the research she's poured into this book is mind-boggling. (In fact, we had a phone conversation yesterday, and she told me she's got a huge box of tapes from all her interviews that is just too heavy to lift. Can't wait to write that up for my site next week.)

The book provides a fly-on-the-wall perspective of the three women's lives - from childhood to their lives today - and makes you sympathize with them in ways you wouldn't expect. None of them had easy lives (and as romantic as Carly's life with James Taylor seems on the outside, it's heartbreaking to read that he was essentially a hardcore heroin addict all the years they were together.)

It also situates their music within a socio-political time frame (just jargon for saying that Weller tells us what's going on in the world when each woman releaased major singles and albums that had an impact.)

The book reads like a novel and is not easily put down. I recommend it wholeheartedly. If you want to know more about it, read my blog or my review of Girls Like Us.

Underneath my post, I was self-indulgent enough to reference my favorite Carole King song. What's your favorite song of the three women? I'd love to take an informal poll to include in my article about Sheila Weller which I'll be working on this weekend.