I Can't Complain (All Too) Personal Essays

I can't believe I haven't come across Elinor Lipman's writing before.  Her latest collection of essays, I Can't Complain (All Too) Personal Essays (#456) took me no time at all to read.  It's like eating peanuts; you can't read just one.  Maybe I found them so charming and entertaining because she writes about universal truths, but also because she writes about my former neck of the woods with her Merrimack Valley connections.  I worked in Lowell, Massachusetts for many years (The street that ran between buildings at the hospital where I worked was named after my grandmother's family.) so it was very easy to picture the settings and the people she talks about.  I'm also roughly the same age, so I could relate to many of her situations.  (I haven't thought about Big Brother Bob Emery in years, but I distinctly remember dutifully drinking my glass of milk every day as Hail to the Chief played and we all saluted the picture of President Eisenhower!).

I can't think of a better way of spending a few hours than in Ms. Lipman's company.  I don't think you'll complain, either.  Go get yourself a copy.  I know I'll be hunting down her novels myself.  It'll be the perfect project for the New Year.