[...] picked it because I like Dancy (having recently seen him as lead in Confessions of a Shopaholic), and his character is my favorite. He’s a rich techie who’s got a very practical [...]

“…This film could have been really timely in showing what responsible spending looks like…She solves her money problems not through hard work but through selling off her excessive purchases — a technique that no longer works in the real world, because everyone’s doing it, prices on used goods have dropped…”

I’ve seen a whole bunch of Shopaholic sequels in bookstores and libraries so my guess is the first novel in the series came out a while ago, before the current economic meltdown. Lemme look up Sophie Kinsella in the library database…hmm…there’s:

Confessions of a Shopaholic, 2001
Shopaholic Takes Manhattan, 2002
Shopaholic Ties the Knot, 2003
Shopaholic & Sister, 2004 (the Publishers Weekly review says “…Seems Dad had a fling with a train stewardess back in the 1970s-and Jessica was the result. Becky is over the moon, picturing heart-to-heart talks, shopping excursions, sisters’ nights out and so forth-so she’s totally unprepared for the actual Jessica, a frugal environmentalist who (gasp!) actually hates shopping…”)
Shopaholic & Baby, 2009

Meanwhile, this all reminds me a bit of another book I noticed a while ago, I’ll Take It : A Novel by Paul Rudnick (I haven’t read it but I have read his Social Disease). Here’s the paperback edition’s blurb:

“They came. They saw. They came and took what they saw. The Esker sisters are shoppers. Loving, caring, driven, merciless shoppers. Ida never ‘passes a store without slipping in and buying something to give away.’ Pola, who only buys in bulk, would have been good in foreign affairs: ‘If a nation acted up, Aunt Pola would buy it.’ And Hedy, dearest of them all, proved the whole thing was genetic. Or maybe environmental. Either way, she passed the bug of galloping consumption onto her son. Her son is Joe Reckler. Twenty-six. Yale grad. No job. No ties. Nothing to keep him from joining Mother and the aunts on a week-long shopping extravaganza disguised as a New England Autumn Leaves Tour that takes them everywhere from Bloomingdale’s to L. L. Bean. But soon Joe notices a difference between himself and his mega-shopping mentors. You see, he figures you’re supposed to pay.”

Johanna Says: “…Some of the best speeches in the movie are dedicated to the joy of shopping…”

That’s what libraries are for too! You don’t have to spend money (OK, apart from transportation costs) to get your shopping fix – you can browse the goods on offer and take some home with you without a price tag! :) It’s kinda like getting your animal fix by volunteering at an animal shelter when you can’t responsibly keep a dog, cat, parrot, horse, etc. at home. ;)