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    The Next Thing on My List: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Next Thing on My List: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Next Thing on My List: A Novel
    Audiobook8 hours

    The Next Thing on My List: A Novel

    Written by Jill Smolinski

    Narrated by Staci Snell

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Meet June Parker. She works for L.A. Rideshare, adores her rent-stabilized apartment in Santa Monica, and struggles with losing a few pesky pounds.

    But June's life is about to change.

    After a dark turn of events involving Weight Watchers, a chili recipe, and a car accident in which her passenger, Marissa, dies, June finds herself in possession of a list Marissa has written, "20 Things to Do By My 25th Birthday." Even though they barely knew eachother, June is compelled by both guilt and a desire to set things right and finish the list for Marissa.

    The tasks before her range from inspiring (Run a 5K), to daring (Go braless), to near-impossible (Change someone's life), and as June races to achieve each goal before the deadline, she learns more about her own life than she ever bargained for.

    Funny, engaging, and heartwarming, The Next Thing on My List features a loveable, relatable heroine and a story with plenty of humor and heart.


    From the Hardcover edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateAug 26, 2008
    ISBN9780739368824
    Unavailable
    The Next Thing on My List: A Novel
    Author

    Jill Smolinski

    Jill Smolinski is the author of the novels The Next Thing on My List and Flip-Flopped. Her work has appeared in major women’s magazines, as well as in an anthology of short stories, American Girls About Town. She lives in Los Angeles with her son. Visit her at JillSmolinski.com.

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    Reviews for The Next Thing on My List

    3.5/5

    237 ratings21 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Light, entertaining read.
    • 3/5
      I read this book in less than 5 hours. I say this with certainty since I was on an airplane while I read it. The topics were both heavy and enjoyable. The characters were likable. The real victory of this novel is what the reader takes away from the reading. By the time I got to the end, I definitely felt like revising my own list! More importantly, I felt motivated to actually DO the things I've had on my list. Definitely recommend this one, especially as a quick but meaningful read on a bus or plane trip.
    • 4/5
      The book was okay, but not one of my best reads. It was amusing, but it wasn't very well written in my opinion, but it was an easy, light read.
    • 4/5
      ** spoiler alert ** This is exactly the kind of book I enjoy - light, funny, real and with some deep-running undercurrents. The realness of it all was probably the best part. So often in fiction everything happens just like the protagonist plans it, a couple of snags along the way but in the end all dreams come true. Here things do work out, but not quite how June thought she wanted them to, which in itself is so real. She wants to date the hot guy who appears to want to date her, but... as soon as she tells him about her plans to adopt a baby fire turns to ice and he's not so eager any more. A teenager pregnant after a one-night stand, a child preparing to have a child; she is so grown up in planning to quit her regular classes and thinking about the realities of having to take care of a baby but at the same time she gets thrilled at the prospect of make-up and new clothes. A thirty-something woman seething in her cubicle when she gets passed over for the promotion she was waiting for. A middle-aged woman hiding the pain of losing her daughter and the fears of not being able to mend the ties behind the tough facade of a biker. A couple who have been trying to have a baby for years and who must face that nothing is working, leaving them broken-hearted and exhausted. The guy who at first comes across as extremely obnoxious and even disgusting turns out to be a genuinely good person, even if rough around the edges. The best of it though for me was the last chapter, when June has finished someone else's list and is beginning her own, beginning her own life after years of going with the flow and not taking her life into her own hands. She's sitting there and she still doesn't know what to put on that list, what it is she wants. She's just like so many of those of us who are great at following instructions but not necessarily writing them, even for ourselves. And yet she's gotten a taste of what it's like to finish something and what it's like to keep trying regardless of how far this trying takes her out of the cocoon of her comfort zone so she writes something down and surprises even herself with what it is. She'll do it too, I know it. There's plenty of laughs in this book. In fact I giggled through it, all the while thinking about these people who inspired June and Deedee and Bob and Troy and Marissa. They're out there, eating at restaurants, driving cars, making mistakes and trying new things. To me fiction is life, disguised as make-believe for the benefit of entertainment but it's all real, it all happened somewhere to someone to some degree. Even if the story is undeniably fantasy, there's real people in there underneath the blue skin and fur and antennae. Here Ms. Smolinski simply didn't go as far as antennae, she stopped at making them all real and you know when an author has done a good job when the next morning you're still thinking about the twists and turns and the outcome. I finished the book last night. Today mid-morning my text to a friend read "I still can't get over June and Martucci and that the girl didn't even call her to tell her she decided to not give up the baby!!". Enough said.
    • 3/5
      Predictable and girly but a fun read. I am even inspired to do my own list!
    • 4/5
      I must admit that I have never sat down and actually written a life list. Sure, I have goals that I want to achieve within my lifetime, but there really is something about putting those goals on paper that can be a bit condemning. After listening to this audiobook, I think a life list is something that we all need to do. From reading the summary of this book, I was expecting a book with a melancholy tone about it. And although the narrator did have that touch of sadness in her voice throughout the book, I found it very enjoyable and even laughed a couple of times.As stated in the summary above, the book starts out with June going to a Weight Watchers meeting. After offering to give Marissa a ride home, whom she just met, they are involved in a terrible accident with June as the only survivor. June doesn't know how to deal with her guilt until she finds a list of achievements that Marissa was working on. For some reason, June decides that she must complete these tasks for Marissa. A couple of items have been checked off, but she certainly has a long way to go.It seemed to me that as June was completing the tasks on Marissa's list, that new opportunities were made available to her. She finds herself meeting new people, building closer relationships with her own family members, and somehow connecting with Marissa's family. Although Marissa's family is still grieving the loss of a sister and daughter, they feel that June trying to complete Marissa's list is somehow a tribute to her memory.Some of the items on the list were quite comical and made me laugh, while others were pretty serious commitments. One of the tasks was 'To change someone's life.' As June was driving one day she happened to notice a billboard for the Big Brother, Big Sister program and it said on the billboard "Change Someone's Life Today." So she took this as a definite sign and headed directly to the office to get involved in the program right away. June had grand thoughts of helping a young, disadvantaged little girl find her way in life. Things did not quite work out as June had expected when she was paired up with a fourteen year old teenage girl named Didi. By helping Didi and her family, June was able to reconnect with her own brother and rebuild the relationship that had become stagnant many years before.It was so much fun getting caught up with June as she was trying to complete this list. I found myself even getting nervous at times when the idea that she wouldn't be able to complete a task came across my mind. This story had so many elements to it including how to move on with your life after a tragedy, which involves forgiving yourself and others. We can accomplish almost anything in this lifetime if we set our minds to it. I enjoyed this book and definitely recommend it.
    • 4/5
      A fun and quick read that I had a hard time putting down, this novel is the perfect pick me up. The main character June, is an everyday average single woman who is going through the motions of her own life until a car accident takes the life of a woman she just met. June becomes depressed and uses the list as a way to lighten the guilt she feels over Marissa's death. June is a wonderful character -- frank, funny, and wonderfully good. Throughout her journey, there is a lot of laughter and even some tears as she tries to make more of her life. The writing flows beautifully, the plot is a little outrageous at some points, but the message is clear -- live your life to the fullest.
    • 4/5
      This book is an insanely fast read, which is good since I read it from start to finish in one sitting. I didn't have any intention of reading this book when I did, but once I had picked it up to read the first sentence out of pure curiosity, I found myself staying up until 2am to find out what happened. The strange mix of sorrow, guilt, lighthearted humor, and hope was very appealing for a summer read.June Parker, 32 years old, offered a ride to a woman in uncomfortable shoes at her Weight Watchers meeting. Unfortunately, June gets in a car accident which kills the 24 year-old Marissa. To honor Marissa's life, June comes to the decision that she must complete Marissa's list of "20 Things To Do Before My 25th Birthday." Items on the list range from "kiss a stranger" and "get a massage" to "change someone's life" and the most problematic one, "make Buddy Fitch pay."This is a fast and lighthearted book that clearly wants the reader to think about life and what we do with it. There are lots of poignant moments that bring a tear to the eye, and several laugh-out-loud ones. The author plays with our expectations, but in the end delivers a resolution that feels like real change has been experienced. A fun and satisfying book that, while not the best I've ever read, nevertheless has the potential to make people examine their lives and maybe pursue some forgotten dreams.
    • 4/5
      The Next Thing on My List by Jill Smolinski is a very sweet book. I didn't know what to expect when I picked it but I'm so happy I did and now, almost a week after finishing the book, I'm still thinking about it.The story is about June Parker. She has a relatively boring life. She works all day and watches TV all night. Her world is small in many ways, and gosh I can relate to that feeling. After offering a fellow "Weight Watcher" a ride home one night, June is in a car accident that killed her passenger. June lets guilt eat away at her until she decides to finish Marissa's list of "25 Things to do Before I'm 25". Even though June is in her thirties. The list has a few simple tasks such as going braless and a few tough ones, such as changing someone's life. By taking chances and putting herself into the world, June discovers who she really is and wants to be.I enjoyed this book from the first page and it even kept me mostly occupied on my recent flights. I find myself challenged to start my own list. 25 has come and is *ahem* long gone for me but I have a birthday coming up in six months. I might just have to write my own list. I'm not sure I can dare to go braless but I think I can come up with some challenges that just might change my life a little.
    • 4/5
      The Next Thing on My list should make you laugh, and think a little. June just drifted along, until suddenly someone else gave her a purpose in life. The reader feels sorry for June, a woman who feels guilty that she lived, when she had nothing to live for, while Marissa had so much. Sometimes, it takes someone else's death to give a person a reason to live. Smolinski's The Next Thing on My list is warm and funny, and a little bit wise.
    • 4/5
      A book about forgiving yourself and discovering the meaning to living. This book was good overall. June is in an accident that kills her passenger (Marissa). She now must learn to live with that guilt. At first she is depressed, then at the 6 month death anniversary of her passenger she goes to the grave. To come face to face with Marissa's brother. June spontanisly decides to finish the 'List of Things to do by my 25 Birthday'. One of the things on Marissa's list was to change someones life. By the end of the book June realizes that completeing Marissa's list changed her life. I like this book not really because of the characters (I think they could have been a little more developed) but because of the overall story line. After reading this book I was inspried to make my own list.
    • 5/5
      The Next Thing on my List is the story of June who is just an average thirty something year old woman who has been drifting through life until the night she gave someone a ride home and killed them.... by accident that is in a car crash. She finds the girl Marissa's list of things to do before turning 25 and eventually becomes inspired to complete the list before her.This was such a fantastic book, it was a great example of the type of chick lit I love in which the heroine changes her life and happens to meet men along the way and date/fall in love or not. Highly Reccomended
    • 4/5
      A humorous and heartfelt novel about remembering the important things in life. It reminded me of Bridgett Jones' Diary in the way that the best made plans never work out like they are imagined.
    • 4/5
      When I began to read the novel, I had expect it to be quite predictable. SOme of the other chicklit novels I have read were transparent in the overall plot and the ultimate destination of the protagonist. The character grew over time and developed nicely. Not exactly a "modern" novel, but not quite smack dab in the romance genre. A delightful read.
    • 3/5
      Starts out surprisingly with the main character's role revealed. As the driver of a car in which a passenger died, she is filled with guilt. Interesting to watch the development of a character that starts out with such an unappealing past.
    • 4/5
      Very enjoyable audiobook. June is in an accident and her passenger is killed. June finds a 20 things to do before my 25th birthday and decides to complete the unchecked items for the dead girl, Marissa. Along the way she learns things about herself and changes. Well worth the read.
    • 3/5
      A fun, light-hearted holiday read.
    • 4/5
      Unterhaltsamer Frauenroman mit einer überraschenden Wendung am Ende.
    • 3/5
      The perfect beach book, this one is a very quick and easy read. Which may be exactly why I am giving it three stars. There is nothing notable, ground-breaking or revealing. You know she will finish the list. 1/2 way through you foresee the guy she will eventually choose, and you know things with DeeDee will probably not turn out as expected. What I did like about the the book is how she finally crosses off #3: Change Someone's Life. That was worth reading alone.
    • 4/5
      June Parker is 30-something, works in a job where she hopes to become upwardly mobile, enjoys her life and her friends, is looking for love and struggles with losing the ten pounds that always manage to creep up on her. As she is leaving a Weight Watchers meeting, she offers a ride to a fellow group member. Unfortunately, they are involved in an accident, which kills her passenger Marissa. The accident that was in no way June’s fault but as any of would, she still blames herself. She finds a list that fell out of Marissa’s purse – a sort of “Bucket List” of things she wanted to do before she turned twenty-five. Although she realizes that it will not bring Marissa back, June makes it her mission to complete the list since Marissa cannot. Not only does this prove challenging, but June learns a good many things about herself along the way.

      I picked up this book because I enjoyed “Objects of My Affection” so much, and this book did not disappoint. Ms. Smolinksi has a new fan here. Yes, it’s probably classified as a light read, but a light read that makes a point. I defy anyone to read this book and not even so much as ponder a “list” of his or her own.
    • 4/5
      June Parker gives a ride to a stranger and it changes her life. The passenger, a young woman named Marissa, is killed in a freak accident, leaving June feeling responsible. When returning Marissa’s purse to her grieving family, June discovers that Marissa had a list of things she wanted to accomplish by her 25th birthday. June decides that she will finish Marissa’s list for her. Kissing a total stranger, going braless, and eating ice cream in public are the easy ones. Changing someone else’s life will be the challenge. Yet, June, with the help of friends and co-workers tackles the list with determination. As she marks things off her list, she discovers it just might be her own life she changes. My book club (The Pikes Peak Bookworms) selected The Next Thing On My List because we wanted a light read after having read two rather dark selections. It was certainly a light, quick read. What I liked about the book: It was easy for me to connect with this book because I am working on my own Life Celebration list. It’s a feel good story – a welcome break after the rather somber reading I’ve been doing the last several months. The pacing was just perfect for a summer beach read. And though the book does make you think about your life and where it’s going, it’s not so deep that it feels like “assigned reading.” Smolinski has a light, witty writing style that will appeal to most readers, especially those who enjoy “Chick Lit.” The author includes discussion questions at the back of the book along with activities to help readers create their own list. Since this is a book club read, I found this to be rather helpful. What I didn’t like about the book: I didn’t like the romantic twist at the end. Not that this takes away from the book. It just didn’t end the way I expected or had hoped. However, upon reflection, Smolinski did include clues about where the romance was going. I just failed to pick up on them. If you enjoy Chick Lit or if you are looking for a quick, easy read for travel or the beach, this is a book you should slip into your travel/beach tote.