Two of my podcast faves, Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman, have written a book on friendship. Not just theirs, everyone’s friendships and what it means to keep, nurture and sometimes let go of them.

In Big Friendship, the two “long-distance besties” talk about how they met, how their friendship grew and what happened when things started going wrong. What I love about this book is how honest they were about their feelings and what they did to keep the friendship from falling apart completely. Many of us who listen to the podcast think of Aminatou and Ann as “friendship goals,” but they give us the real deal, which I appreciated. No sugar-coated nonsense, but honesty that sometimes put them both in a bad light.

The book is an easy read, so it shouldn’t take long for readers to get into it. The only negative (and I can’t really call it that, to be honest) is the way Aminatou and Ann refer to themselves throughout the book. It’s a little weird for the first few pages, but once they explain why they decided to use this particular device, I was more comfortable with it and completely forgot about it as I kept reading. Although the book is based on the friends’ own experiences, Ann and Aminatou were very thorough with their research and include links and information to every book, article and video they mention. We love a thoroughly-researched book.

I’m glad I was able to read Big Friendship because it helped me think about my own friendships. I can honestly say most of my friends are the ones who have been there for me and (I hope) vice-versa. I’ve lost friends, some that I still think about to this day. But the friends I have now are the ones I have stretched for (when you read Big Friendship, you’ll know what I mean). I definitely recommend this book to my readers.

I received an advance copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Where to buy: The Lit. Bar Loyalty Bookstores Indiebound Amazon