Help me find this possibly Young Adult novel.

October 21, 2009 12:28 PM

BookFilter: I'm looking for a novel that I read several times in the early '90s; despite having read and enjoyed it several times, I've forgotten the title and author!

I have some very fuzzy, and possibly misleading, details:

- It was published in the late '80s-early '90s, give or take a decade.
- The protagonist is a high school girl who falls for a college student.
- She has day of the week underwear.
- She thinks a one night stand is called a nightstand.
- The girl's older sister is named Sarah who has saved a condom in a jar.
- The college guy she falls for is named Moishe/Moshe; he goes to Columbia University and is a misanthropist of sorts.
- The girl and Moishe have a troubled relationship and eventually break up, possibly over a misunderstanding.
- He takes a college age girl to a dance he and the protagonist were supposed to attend together.

I'm pretty sure it's not by Norma Fox Mazer, Norma Klein or even Judy Blume. I've pored through MeFi archives, Google search, Wikipedia's lists of books by genre and year, and even some ALA lists.

Halp! I have a feeling I'll be horrified about having enjoyed it so much in my youth when I finally get my mitts on it again, but the complete blank in my memory has been nagging me for months!

posted by Skoloxia to writing & language (9 comments total)

I think Judy Blume as well, only because I think I have also read this book and she's the only one on the list that I've read. Hope that helps a little.
posted by mudpuppie at 1:34 PM on October 21

Could it be something by Paul Zindel maybe perhaps?
posted by smoke at 4:09 PM on October 21

You should try posting this to the Lost & Found thread on The Dairi Burger.
posted by xsquared-1 at 7:04 PM on October 21

I would second looking at the bibliography of Paul Zindel, if only because for some reason your description really reminds me of My Darling, My Hamburger, although unless you're mistakenly mashing two books together I don't think that's it.
posted by lwb at 12:04 AM on October 22

I read a ton of Judy Blume books back then (up to and including the level of Forever, which had a lot of sexual content) and this doesn't ring a bell.
posted by IndigoRain at 12:31 AM on October 22

The Smart Bitches Trashy Books website has a "Help a Bitch Out" (HABO) feature. They do focus on romance novels for the most part but there have been HABO queries posted in the past about young adult novels.
posted by Ziggy500 at 2:38 AM on October 22

Sorry, I effed up the link!

Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

Probably NSFW website
posted by Ziggy500 at 2:39 AM on October 22

This will help you find an answer.
posted by WCityMike at 11:34 AM on October 22

No help from me, unfortunately, in spite of an hour or two of extensive googling, but would you post the title here if you figure it out? Thanks.
posted by Captain Cardanthian! at 7:36 PM on October 28