Weekly Reads: Turtles All The Way Down

Turtles All the Way Down is the newest book by John Green. I've had it on hold at my library for months, and finally got my hands on the audiobook a few days after it was published. I wanted to read the book, but I was #4 on the list and didn't want to wait. Let me tell you, the audiobook is phenomenal. If Kate Rudd and this title don't win an Odyssey Award for narration, I will be shocked. I loved it, even when it made me uncomfortable (and it did that a lot; my anxiety would flare as hers would in the story) but it is such a great book. Must read.

My rating: 5 stars

Summary from Goodreads:

Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett’s son, Davis.

Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.

In his long-awaited return, John Green, the acclaimed, award-winning author of Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars, shares Aza’s story with shattering, unflinching clarity in this brilliant novel of love, resilience, and the power of lifelong friendship. 

Weekly Reads (Listens): Sourdough

Sourdough is the newest book by Robin Sloan, author of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore (my review here). I had the physical book and audiobook on hold at the library and the audio came in first. I thought I'd ditch it if I didn't love the narrator, but I immediately felt like I was listening to a movie playing out in my car. Yesssssss. It was quirky and awesome, and splashed with little bits of oddities and technology, and I just devoured it. Mmmm...... like a nice slice of sourdough bread..... <--see what I did there.

My rating: 4.5 stars

Summary from Goodreads:

Lois Clary is a software engineer at General Dexterity, a San Francisco robotics company with world-changing ambitions. She codes all day and collapses at night, her human contact limited to the two brothers who run the neighborhood hole-in-the-wall from which she orders dinner every evening. Then, disaster! Visa issues. The brothers close up shop, and fast. But they have one last delivery for Lois: their culture, the sourdough starter used to bake their bread. She must keep it alive, they tell her—feed it daily, play it music, and learn to bake with it.

Lois is no baker, but she could use a roommate, even if it is a needy colony of microorganisms. Soon, not only is she eating her own homemade bread, she’s providing loaves daily to the General Dexterity cafeteria. The company chef urges her to take her product to the farmer’s market, and a whole new world opens up.

When Lois comes before the jury that decides who sells what at Bay Area markets, she encounters a close-knit club with no appetite for new members. But then, an alternative emerges: a secret market that aims to fuse food and technology. But who are these people, exactly? 

Weekly Reads: Sharp Objects

I've read and enjoyed Gillian Flynn's other books, but hadn't yet read Sharp Objects. I feel like you have to be in a certain *mood* to read her books, if you know what I mean. They're so dark and twisted, that my brain needs to be in a pretty darn good place before I pick them up. I was in need of an audiobook the other day, and I saw this on the shelf as I was shelving at work, so I picked it up, planning to discard it if I disliked the narrator. But I didn't. I wasn't super in to it the first disc (12% of the story), but it really picked up and I was flying through the discs while driving back and forth to work. This book was so much darker than I was expecting, and since I was listening to it, I couldn't skim past some of the really intense parts. I'm not very squeamish but I was while reading (listening) to this, so that's saying something, I think.

My rating: 4 stars

Summary from Goodreads:

Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows, a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family's Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming. 

Weekly Reads: The Chemist

The Chemistis the newest book by teen vampire author Stephenie Meyer. It was billed as a Jason Bourne type thriller (although in one review it was listed as a budding romance... uh... no). I listened to it on audiobook, and despite it being 17 HOURS LONG, I still plowed through it in just a few weeks team. It was fast paced and entertaining. Some of the "twists" were pretty transparent. But overall a good read!

My rating: 3.5 stars

Summary from goodreads:

In this gripping page-turner, an ex-agent on the run from her former employers must take one more case to clear her name and save her life.

She used to work for the U.S. government, but very few people ever knew that. An expert in her field, she was one of the darkest secrets of an agency so clandestine it doesn’t even have a name. And when they decided she was a liability, they came for her without warning.

Now, she rarely stays in the same place or uses the same name for long. They’ve killed the only other person she trusted, but something she knows still poses a threat. They want her dead, and soon.

When her former handler offers her a way out, she realizes it’s her only chance to erase the giant target on her back. But it means taking one last job for her ex-employers. To her horror, the information she acquires only makes her situation more dangerous.

Resolving to meet the threat head-on, she prepares for the toughest fight of her life but finds herself falling for a man who can only complicate her likelihood of survival. As she sees her choices being rapidly whittled down, she must apply her unique talents in ways she never dreamed of.

In this tautly plotted novel, Stephenie Meyer creates a fierce and fascinating new heroine with a very specialized skill set. And she shows once again why she’s one of the world’s bestselling authors.

Weekly Reads: The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo

I listened to Amy Schumer's The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo on audiobook. I had just started listening to it on a trip down to visit my mom. Two days later she passed away. I spent a lot of time in my car driving back and forth to spend time with my dad and then come home over that next week. And every time I got in my car, Amy was there to cheer me up. I laughed out loud, teared up, and it was so good. She did not disappoint.

My rating: 5 stars.

Summary from goodreads:

In The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo, Amy mines her past for stories about her teenage years, her family, relationships, and sex and shares the experiences that have shaped who she is - a woman with the courage to bare her soul to stand up for what she believes in, all while making us laugh.

Ranging from the raucous to the romantic, the heartfelt to the harrowing, this highly entertaining and universally appealing collection is the literary equivalent of a night out with your best friends - an unforgettable and fun adventure that you wish could last forever. Whether she's experiencing lust-at-first-sight while in the airport security line, sharing her own views on love and marriage, admitting to being an introvert, or discovering her cross-fit instructor's secret bad habit, Amy Schumer proves to be a bighearted, brave, and thoughtful storyteller that will leave you nodding your head in recognition, laughing out loud, and sobbing uncontrollably - but only because it's over.

Weekly Reads: The Assistants

I had heard a lot of buzz about Camille Perri's The Assistants, so I snagged the audiobook of it from my library. SO GOOD! Perfect summer time read, fast paced, with some great Devil Wears Prada undertones. Such an entertaining read.

My rating: 4 stars



Summary from goodreads:

A wry and astute debut about a young Manhattanite whose embezzlement scam turns her into an unlikely advocate for the leagues of overeducated and underpaid assistants across the city.

Tina Fontana is the hapless but brazen thirty-year-old executive assistant to Robert Barlow, the all-powerful and commanding CEO of Titan Corp., a multinational media conglomerate. She’s excellent at her job and beloved by her famous boss—but after six years of making his reservations for restaurants she’d never get into on her own and pouring his drinks from bottles that cost more than her rent, she’s bored, broke, and just a bit over it all.

When a technical error with Robert’s travel-and-expenses report presents Tina with the opportunity to pay off the entire balance of her student loan debt with what would essentially be pocket change for her boss, she struggles with the decision: She’s always played by the rules. But it’s such a relatively small amount of money for the Titan Corporation—and for her it would be a life-changer . . .

The Assistants speaks directly to a new generation of women who feel stuck and unable to get ahead playing by the rules. It will appeal to all of those who have ever asked themselves, “How is it that after all these years, we are still assistants?”

Weekly Reads (Listens): A Modern Romance

I'm a huge fan of Aziz Ansari, so when his new book was announced, I immediately got on the list for the audiobook Modern Romance. I was surprised once I started listening to it, because it was actually a book chrnoicling his research on all things relationship. So I actually learned things. Whoa. Great read/listen.

My rating: 4 stars.

Summary from goodreads:


At some point, every one of us embarks on a journey to find love. We meet people, date, get into and out of relationships, all with the hope of finding someone with whom we share a deep connection. This seems standard now, but it’s wildly different from what people did even just decades ago. Single people today have more romantic options than at any point in human history. With technology, our abilities to connect with and sort through these options are staggering. So why are so many people frustrated?

Some of our problems are unique to our time. “Why did this guy just text me an emoji of a pizza?” “Should I go out with this girl even though she listed Combos as one of her favorite snack foods? Combos?!” “My girlfriend just got a message from some dude named Nathan. Who’s Nathan? Did he just send her a photo of his penis? Should I check just to be sure?”

But the transformation of our romantic lives can’t be explained by technology alone. In a short period of time, the whole culture of finding love has changed dramatically. A few decades ago, people would find a decent person who lived in their neighborhood. Their families would meet and, after deciding neither party seemed like a murderer, they would get married and soon have a kid, all by the time they were twenty-four. Today, people marry later than ever and spend years of their lives on a quest to find the perfect person, a soul mate.

For years, Aziz Ansari has been aiming his comic insight at modern romance, but for Modern Romance, the book, he decided he needed to take things to another level. He teamed up with NYU sociologist Eric Klinenberg and designed a massive research project, including hundreds of interviews and focus groups conducted everywhere from Tokyo to Buenos Aires to Wichita. They analyzed behavioral data and surveys and created their own online research forum on Reddit, which drew thousands of messages. They enlisted the world’s leading social scientists, including Andrew Cherlin, Eli Finkel, Helen Fisher, Sheena Iyengar, Barry Schwartz, Sherry Turkle, and Robb Willer. The result is unlike any social science or humor book we’ve seen before.

In Modern Romance, Ansari combines his irreverent humor with cutting-edge social science to give us an unforgettable tour of our new romantic world.

Weekly Reads: Challenger Deep

Challenger Deep is one of the most unique books I have ever read. It has already cropped up on many Mock Printz lists, and I was lucky enough to get an e-ARC of it to review prior to its publication, but I didn't get a chance before it expired. So I picked up the audiobook version of it. I have no doubt the audio will get accolades of some sort for the narration of the tale, but I don't know if I'd recommend listening to it on audiobook on the first read. That's right, this is one of those books that surely needs 2-3 reads to truly "get". So plan to read it the first time, listen the second, and then choose away for the third go through. I will be re-reading this closer to the Printz, but as of right now, I wouldn't be surprised if it won an honor at the very least.

My rating: 4 stars, which may change with a re-read.

Summary from goodreads:

Caden Bosch is on a ship that's headed for the deepest point on Earth: Challenger Deep, the southern part of the Marianas Trench.

Caden Bosch is a brilliant high school student whose friends are starting to notice his odd behavior.

Caden Bosch is designated the ship's artist in residence, to document the journey with images.

Caden Bosch pretends to join the school track team but spends his days walking for miles, absorbed by the thoughts in his head.

Caden Bosch is split between his allegiance to the captain and the allure of mutiny.

Caden Bosch is torn.

A captivating and powerful novel that lingers long beyond the last page, Challenger Deep is a heartfelt tour de force by one of today's most admired writers for teens.

Weekly Reads (Listens): The Girl on the Train

The Girl on the Train is easily the hottest book in my library right now. Last I checked there were well over 220 holds for the book. And seemingly everyone in my goodreads feed is reading it or has recently finished it. I listened to this one on audio, and really enjoyed it.

If you end up purchasing this book because you can't stand to wait for the hold list at your library, consider purchasing through the affiliate links above!

My rating: 4 stars. 

Summary from goodreads:

A debut psychological thriller that will forever change the way you look at other people's lives.

Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. “Jess and Jason,” she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

A compulsively readable, emotionally immersive, Hitchcockian thriller that draws comparisons to Gone Girl, The Silent Wife, or Before I Go to Sleep, this is an electrifying debut embraced by readers across markets and categories.

Weekly Reads (Listens): Not That Kind of Girl

Anytime we have a free HBO weekend, I get caught up on Girls. So when I saw that Lena Dunham was coming out with a humorous memoir, Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's "Learned", I was super excited to read (listen) to it. I waited for the audiobook version to come in at my library. There were tons of laugh outloud moments, but the more I heard her whine about her privileged upbringing, the more annoyed I became. I guess I thought that the premise for Girls was more fictional than based on her life, but now that I know that, I hope I can still enjoy it. Equal parts LOLZ to "I want to punch you in the face" moments. So take with that what you will I guess.

My rating: 3.5 stars


Summary from goodreads:

"There is nothing gutsier to me than a person announcing that their story is one that deserves to be told," writes Lena Dunham, and it certainly takes guts to share the stories that make up her first book, Not That Kind of Girl. These are stories about getting your butt touched by your boss, about friendship and dieting (kind of) and having two existential crises before the age of 20. Stories about travel, both successful and less so, and about having the kind of sex where you feel like keeping your sneakers on in case you have to run away during the act. Stories about proving yourself to a room of 50-year-old men in Hollywood and showing up to "an outlandishly high-fashion event with the crustiest red nose you ever saw." Fearless, smart, and as heartbreakingly honest as ever, Not That Kind of Girl establishes Lena Dunham as more than a hugely talented director, actress and producer-it announces her as a fresh and vibrant new literary voice. 

Weekly Reads (Listens): Yes Please

 PSA: If a funny person publishes a book and THEN happens to be the person to narrate said audiobook, please do yourself a kind and listen to the audiobook. Buy the book too if you must, but there's just something oh so special about hearing their written words coming straight out of their damn funny mouths.

I waited for the audiobook of Amy Poehler's new book Yes Please to come in at the library for me. It took much longer than the hardcover book, but it was worth the wait. I learned her name is pronounced Polar, not Peeler, and also I'm a moron for thinking that the 'o' would somehow be silent and the 'e' would take on a long vowel sound, but whatever. The book was hilarious. And honest. And I somehow love Amy Poehler even more than I already did.

My rating: 4 stars

Summary from goodreads:

In Amy Poehler’s highly anticipated first book, Yes Please, she offers up a big juicy stew of personal stories, funny bits on sex and love and friendship and parenthood and real life advice (some useful, some not so much), like when to be funny and when to be serious. Powered by Amy’s charming and hilarious, biting yet wise voice, Yes Please is a book is full of words to live by. 

Weekly Reads (Listens): Food A Love Story

I've loved Jim Gaffigan since the first time I heard his comedy routine on a long road trip to Chicago for spring break my junior year of college. I adored his last book My Dad is Fat, and I could not wait to get my heads on his newest Food: A Love Story. I received an e-ARC of this book to read and review honestly and/or suggest to my library customers during reader's advisory interactions, and instead of tearing into it immediately, I instead waited patiently for the audiobook version.

You see, Jim Gaffigan is hilarious. And I'm sure his written words are hilarious. But his written words spoken by him are pee-your-pants-funny. This story is all about food and his unhealthy relationship with it. And I so get it, and him. I've often said that if I wasn't a runner, I would be significantly overweight because I just love food oh so much. And so does Jim. So pick this up on audiobook for sure, and you'll spend your time in the car laughing outloud, or pick up the book version and prepare to awkwardly laugh outloud while you're hanging out alone. Either way, read it/listen to it, because it's totally worth it.

Hot pocket.

My rating: 3.5 stars

Summary from goodreads:

What are my qualifications to write this book? None really. So why should you read it? Here's why: I'm a little fat. If a thin guy were to write about a love of food and eating I'd highly recommend that you do not read his book." 
Bacon. McDonalds. Cinnabon. Hot Pockets. Kale. Stand-up comedian and author Jim Gaffigan has made his career rhapsodizing over the most treasured dishes of the American diet ("choking on bacon is like getting murdered by your lover") and decrying the worst offenders ("kale is the early morning of foods"). Fans flocked to his "New York Times" bestselling book "Dad is Fat" to hear him riff on fatherhood but now, in his second book, he will give them what they really crave--hundreds of pages of his thoughts on all things culinary(ish). Insights such as: why he believes coconut water was invented to get people to stop drinking coconut water, why pretzel bread is #3 on his most important inventions of humankind (behind the wheel and the computer), and the answer to the age-old question "which animal is more delicious: the pig, the cow, or the bacon cheeseburger?

Weekly Reads (Listens): Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography

When I first heard that NPH was coming out with an autobiography, Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography, I immediately put it on my to-read list. When I found out it was a choose your own adventure format, I was even more excited. And then when I learned that NPH himself was narrating the audiobook version, I died on the spot. JK, I didn't. But I did put in a purchase request to my library to order the audiobook. Wait for it.... best decision ever.

This was freakin' amazing. His narration was amazing. The way he tells his story is amazing. I somehow finished the book loving him even more than I already did. Buy this in audio. Buy this in print. You won't regret either.

My rating: 5 stars

Summary from goodreads:

Tired of memoirs that only tell you what really happened?
Sick of deeply personal accounts written in the first person? Seeking an exciting, interactive read that puts the “u” back in “aUtobiography”? Then look no further than Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography! In this revolutionary, Joycean experiment in light celebrity narrative, actor/personality/carbon-based-life-form Neil Patrick Harris lets you, the reader, live his life. You will be born to New Mexico. You will get your big break at an acting camp. You will get into a bizarre confrontation outside a nightclub with actor Scott Caan. Even better, at each critical juncture of your life you will choose how to proceed. You will decide whether to try out for Doogie Howser, M.D. You will decide whether to spend years struggling with your sexuality. You will decide what kind of caviar you want to eat on board Elton John’s yacht.

Choose correctly and you’ll find fame, fortune, and true love. Choose incorrectly and you’ll find misery, heartbreak, and a hideous death by piranhas. All this, plus magic tricks, cocktail recipes, embarrassing pictures from your time as a child actor, and even a closing song. Yes, if you buy one book this year, congratulations on being above the American average, and make that book Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography!

Weekly Reads (Listens): The Rosie Project

  While scanning edelweiss for new e-ARC books, I saw the sequel to The Rosie Project, The Rosie Effect, available (coming out in December, review to come!). I read the summary and remembered that one of my goodreads friends didn't like it. I thought it was Renee because I thought I remember her saying she only read it because her dog's name was Rosie. Well lo and behold, I pulled up her review and she loved it, and so did all my goodreads friends. Who the heck thought this was a bad book? Was it a different book with Rosie in the title?!! Am I loosing my mind?

I picked it up on audiobook and was surprised at how much I enjoyed the narrator. I enjoyed running my errands just because I wanted to listen to the narrator more. And the story was great too. Quirky, clever, funny. I loved it.

I'd highly recommend this to anyone who likes clever love stories, and I can't wait for the sequel.

My rating: 4.5 stars.

Summary from goodreads:

An international sensation, this hilarious, feel-good novel is narrated by an oddly charming and socially challenged genetics professor on an unusual quest: to find out if he is capable of true love.

Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful” husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical—most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.

Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligent—and on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don's Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms, forcing the scientifically minded geneticist to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that love is not always what looks good on paper.

The Rosie Project is a moving and hilarious novel for anyone who has ever tenaciously gone after life or love in the face of overwhelming challenges.

Weekly Reads (Listens): Dark Places

After listening to, and loving the narration in Fangirl and Eleanor and Park, I looked up all the books that Rebecca Lowman had narrated, and up popped Dark Places, that has been on my to-read list since I read the disturbing psychological thriller Gone Girl . I've heard that Dark Places and Sharp Objects are both even more disturbing. On one hand, that makes me super excited to read them, but I feel like I have to be in the right "mood" ya know? So I picked up the audiobook, and was hooked immediately.

The narration is great, told by three different narrators, as it's told from multiple character's perspective. I found myself leaving for work early and sitting in my car to spend more time listening to the story when I arrived at the library. In typical Gillian Flynn fashion, it was awesome and I wanted to devour it.

My rating: 4 stars.


Summary from goodreads:

"I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ."

Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” As her family lay dying, little Libby fled their tiny farmhouse into the freezing January snow. She lost some fingers and toes, but she survived–and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, Ben sits in prison, and troubled Libby lives off the dregs of a trust created by well-wishers who’ve long forgotten her.

The Kill Club is a macabre secret society obsessed with notorious crimes. When they locate Libby and pump her for details–proof they hope may free Ben–Libby hatches a plan to profit off her tragic history. For a fee, she’ll reconnect with the players from that night and report her findings to the club… and maybe she’ll admit her testimony wasn’t so solid after all.

As Libby’s search takes her from shabby Missouri strip clubs to abandoned Oklahoma tourist towns, the narrative flashes back to January 2, 1985. The events of that day are relayed through the eyes of Libby’s doomed family members–including Ben, a loner whose rage over his shiftless father and their failing farm have driven him into a disturbing friendship with the new girl in town. Piece by piece, the unimaginable truth emerges, and Libby finds herself right back where she started–on the run from a killer.

Weekly Reads (Listens): One More Thing

One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories is The Office's B.J. Novak's first novel. I picked up the audiobook version after failing to listen to Mindy Kaling and Tina Fey's books on audio instead of reading them. NEVER AGAIN will I make this mistake. This one was narrated by B.J. along with many guest narrators. The stories are all short stories, although there are some themes that run through several stories. I listened to this while running and there were moments when I was actually laughing out loud. And then there were times that the stories were just...okay.

Definitely worth a read or a listen.

My rating: 3 stars.

Summary from Goodreads:

From an actor, writer, and director of the hit TV comedy The Office (US version): a story collection that was "workshopped" at comedy clubs and bookstores on both coasts.

B.J. Novak's One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories is an endlessly entertaining, surprisingly sensitive, and startlingly original debut collection that signals the arrival of a welcome new voice in American fiction.

Across a dazzling range of subjects, themes, tones, and narrative voices, Novak's assured prose and expansive imagination introduce readers to people, places, and premises that are hilarious, insightful, provocative, and moving-often at the same time.

In One More Thing, a boy wins a $100,000 prize in a box of Frosted Flakes - only to discover that claiming the winnings may unravel his family. A woman sets out to seduce motivational speaker Tony Robbins - turning for help to the famed motivator himself. A school principal unveils a bold plan to permanently abolish arithmetic. An acclaimed ambulance driver seeks the courage to follow his heart and throw it all away to be a singer-songwriter. Author John Grisham contemplates a monumental typo. A new arrival in heaven, overwhelmed by infinite options, procrastinates over his long-ago promise to visit his grandmother. We meet a vengeance-minded hare, obsessed with scoring a rematch against the tortoise who ruined his life; and post-college friends who debate how to stage an intervention in the era of Facebook. We learn why wearing a red t-shirt every day is the key to finding love; how February got its name; and why the stock market is sometimes just... down.

Finding inspiration in questions from the nature of perfection to the icing on carrot cake, from the deeply familiar to the intoxicatingly imaginative,One More Thing finds its heart in the most human of phenomena: love, fear, family, ambition, and the inner stirring for the one elusive element that might make a person complete. The stories in this collection are like nothing else, but they have one thing in common: they share the playful humor, deep heart, inquisitive mind, and altogether electrifying spirit of a writer with a fierce devotion to the entertainment of the reader.