I recently listened to this. It has the following stories, including my MOST FAVORITE EVER!!! Listen to it, and laugh. A lot.

Yma Dream by Thomas Meehan (MY FAVORITE!!)
Gorilla, My Love by Toni Cade Bambara
The Fix by Percival Everett
The H Street Sledding Record by Ron Carlson (This would be my second favorite from this collection.)
The Third and Final Continent by Jhumpa Lahiri
Valor by Richard Bausch
Enough by Alice McDermott

13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Some of you have already read this one, but I thought for those of you that haven't I would throw this out there again. It is a stunner. The premise is suicide, so for those of you sensitive to that you may get pretty pissed off at the character, and may want to bypass this one. But, for me, one of the attractions of this story was how the author was able to portray the emotions and perspectives of Hannah, the girl who does the deed (not giving anything away here folks). So, anyway, just to give a wee morsel of the book, Clay--teenage boy, somewhat shy and gawky, but cool--comes home from school and finds a box on his doorstep. Excited, he rushes in, opens the box, and inside finds 7 cassette tapes, numbered 1 through 13. Curious, he goes to the garage, pops the tape in the player, and hears Hannah--who killed herself 2 weeks earlier. The tapes are her last words, and her 13 reasons why she killed herself. The problem is, these tapes are only being sent to those 13 people; but Clay loved Hannah--so why did he get the tapes? And does he have the courage to listen to them?

Paper Towns

After a reading slump, I am back in the saddle.  I've been whipping through about one YA novel a day.  Up first is my beloved John Green.  Reading John Green is like hanging out with all my favorite guy friends from high school and college.   John's latest book "Paper Towns" is about Quentin "Q" Jacobsen and the adventures that follow after his next door neighbor Margo Roth Spiegelman climbs in his window one night.  John Green tells coming of age stories for the geeky, witty boy.  As those are my favorite types of boys, I love everything he writes.  He is crass.  But he is exactly as crass as all those high school and college boys I was hanging out with, so it works for me.  

My two favorite quotes from this book, (Although much of it had me laughing aloud last night.  After the fifth outburst, Todd gave up asking why I was laughing.):

"Getting you a prom date is so hard that the hypothetical idea itself is actually used to cut diamonds"

AND

Boys discussing how to kiss a girl- "As far as I can tell, there are two basic rules: 1. Don't bite anything without permission, and 2. The human tongue is like wasabi: it's very powerful, and should be used sparingly."

Oh, that John Green had been writing 15 years ago so some of my former boyfriends could have benefitted from such wisdom!

On a side note, the same themes keep popping up in John Green's books.  An idea that was underdeveloped in the last book becomes fully developed in the next one.   I just mention it because I could see being annoyed by that.  I think with Green the equation either works for you or doesn't.  I don't think you're likely to love one of his books and hate another.     

The House

I've spent the last few years trying to let go of author snobbery.  There are many authors who I considered too popular to read.  I've spent the last several years getting over it.

With this in mind at the library a few weeks ago, I picked up this book by Danielle Steel.  I've never read anything by her since I also have a thing about authors whose names are bigger than the title.  (I'm against it, in case you're wondering.)  But this story was about San Francisco and the restoration of a turn of the century home.  I am fans of both of those things, so I figured 'What the heck?'.

I think I may stick to my guns on my author snobbery from now on.  This book was awful.  A friend asked me if it was a trashy bodice ripper.  The answer is no.  There's nothing trashy in the story.  It's just poorly written.  Everything was said and said and said again.  She could have shaved off 75 pages by not repeating herself every other page.

Maybe she has better books, but I'm not sure I'm willing to try any more to find out.

Falling In Love

I listened to this collection of "Selected Shorts: A Celebration of the Short Story" while doing chores.  One story was about equal to one room.  When we were in NJ and devotees of WNYC, we listened to Selected Shorts every Sunday morning.  We just recently found it broadcast here in Columbus, and are so excited to have it again.  Check it out wherever you are and enjoy the readings.  

This particular collection was called "Falling in Love" and included:

"Fires" by Rick Bass

"The Winnowing of Mrs. Schuping" by Padgett Powell

"The Lone Pilgrim" by Laurie Colwin

"Melisande" by E. Nesbit (and read by Jane Curtain.  My boys listened to and really enjoyed this one with me.)

"Violets" by Edna O'Brien

"Travis, B."  by Maile Maloy

Selected Shorts is an award-winning series of classic and contemporary short fiction read by acclaimed actors.  The readings are recorded live at Peter Norton Symphony Space in New York City.  The Selected Shorts radio series is a co-production of Symphony Space and WNYC, New York Public Radio, and is heard on public radion stations nationwide.