The News from Gridleyville

Well, I do love Robin Black’s incredible book of short stories. I’ve refrained from blogging about it because (a) Robin wrote a nice prepublication blurb for my own novel, and my ridiculously fraught conscience felt that a return rave from me would seem too quid pro quo, even for the incestuous literary world, despite the fact that (b) my opinion of Robin’s work would hardly have the same zing as hers of mine, and (c) with Oprah on her side, she hardly needs my support. Nevertheless, I want to say that, having just reread If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This, I believe it’s even better the second time through. Most of the books I come across aren’t even interesting at first glance. Hell, even the promotional copy doesn’t usually appeal to me.

If you haven’t read this book yet, you need to. It’s in hardcover, paperback, and Kindle, and if you don’t want to read, you can listen to an audio book. It’s not a fun collection—too honest for that, with too much loss and suffering—but it will do your soul good. Especially the second time.