I’m not usually a big fan of short stories, since I really like to become attached to the characters in the books I read, but I really ended up getting into this book of stories by Lorrie Moore. I was looking for a light, fun read, since I’d just finished wading through all the relatively boring material for my last architectural test, and this fit the bill. It was not particularly challenging or complex, but each of the stories was clever and well-written, with characters that I really started to “get to know” in the space of just 10 or 20 pages.  Moore’s wit and sarcasm showed through in passages like this (from “You’re Ugly, Too”):
“She had to learn not to be afraid of a man, the way, in your childhood, you learned not to be afraid of an earthworm or a bug. Often, when she spoke to men at parties, she rushed things in her mind. As the man politely blathered on, she would fall in love, marry, then find herself in a bitter custody battle with him for the kids and hoping for reconciliation, so that despite all his betrayals she might no longer despise him, and in the few minute remaining, learn, perhaps, what his last name was and what he did for a living, though probably there was already too much history between them.”
Her characters are human and screwed up (my favorite kind of characters). Don’t expect literary genius, but expect a thoroughly enjoyable collection of stories.
