Small Worlds: 09/08/08

American Girls About Town ends on a sad note with "Small Worlds" by Gretchen Laskas. Marnie, depressed over a recent miscarriage has decided to fly to Orlando to have an affair with a man she's met over the internet.

Having never really traveled beyond her own town in West Virginia, the flight to Orlando is both scary and exhilerating. Marnie goes with high expectations for Chad. What she doesn't plan on is the trip causing her to rethink her marriage and for her to realize just how much she values it.

As this is the last story in the book, I'll close with my thoughts on the experience. These fourteen short storties are written by authors I've not read before as I'm not much of a reader of either "women's fiction" or "chick lit." There are some stories I enjoyed enough to want to read more by some of the authors. My favorite stories were by Claire LaZebnik, Adriana Trgiana, Judi Hendricks, Sarah Mlynowski and Jill Smolinski. I'm glad I took the time to read through the stories and the book has for the most part left a positive impression on me.

The stories in the book are: (Click on a title to read reviews).

• "A Day in the Life of My Great Brit Book Tour" by Adriana Trigiani.
• "Five" by Julianna Baggott
• "Leaving a Light On" by Claire LaZebnik
• "Moving Day" Cindy Chupack
• "Yoga Babe" Lauren Henderson
• "The Truth About Nigel" by Jennifer Weiner
• "Voodoo Dolls, C-Cups and Eminem" by Melissa Senate
• "The Bamboo Confessions" by Lauren Weisberger
• "Amore" by Laura Wolf
• "Andromeda on the Street of Ducklings" by Judi Hendricks
• "Bad Manners" by Chris Manby
• "The Two-Month Itch" by Sarah Mlynowski
• "I Know a Woman" by Quinn Dalton
• "Just Visiting" by Nancy Sparling
• "Forty Days" by Jill Smolinski
• "The Uncertainty Principle" by Lynda Curnyn
• "Small Worlds" by Gretchen Laskas

Comments (2)

Comment #1: Tuesday, September, 9, 2008 at 16:42:21

Claudia at Denver Cereal

How did you like the book as a whole? I have a friend who participates in these compilations a lot. It's good money, advance career, blah, but I always wonder how the books are as a whole... you know?

Great review -of course

Comment #2: Tuesday, September, 9, 2008 at 15:28:12

Pussreboots says:

Over all I liked the book. It introduced me to 14 authors I've never read before. Of those I think about half of them I'll want to read their novels sometime in the future.