Party Girl

Party Girl was also on Terry Teachout's list. Party Girl is a sort of modern-day (well, 1995) Breakfast at Tiffany's: Mary is a broke girl with no career except throwing illegal parties that occasionally get busted by the police. One of these raids leaves her owing her librarian godmother her bail money. She starts working as a librarian for her godmother in order to repay the debt. She works through her feelings of inadequacy in order discover a real interest in and desire to succeed as a librarian. And she falls for a Lebanese man who works at a food cart. The Lebanese man, a teacher before he moved to America, encourages her to find an occupation for herself and to be respectful of her friends. He is very different from her partying friends, but her friends, too, love her and encourage her in her new-found interest in libraries without quite being able to comprehend the way she's changing.

Mary is endearing--her clothes are really crazy. And she's devoted to them, organizing them precisely on the racks. She's apparently carefree--dancing around all the time--and passionate about attending parties. And she's capable--the way that she organizes parties is remarkable.

Her skills at organization benefit her when she decides to become a librarian, as does her passion--she throws herself into it, organizing even her roommates voluminous (I'm using that word to mean "including many volumes") record collection; she also gets rid of her wardrobe and dresses the part of librarian--adding an updo and glasses and even a broach.