Show Don't Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld

In high school and college, we are routinely assigned short story collections to read. However, adulthood does not come with similar assignments. Far too may short story collections go unread in favor of soapier romances or more complicated historical fiction books with a movie deal. So here is a shout out to a new short story collection from novelist Curtis Sittenfeld. "Show Don't Tell" centers around the themes of marriage, family, relationships and all of the messiness associated with middle age. Take the cast of "Thirtysomething" and age them 25 years, and this cast will come to life. The characters are extremely relatable, and yes many went to prep school. If you don't know the person directly, you probably met her or him at your last college reunion. These people are either us right now, us yesterday, or us tomorrow. In the capable hands of writer Sittenfeld, we want to follow them anywhere just to see where they will end up. Smart, funny, well-educated and complicated is how the stories in "Show Don't Tell" paint portraits of our aging selves. We try to raise our children, take care of our parents and strive for love, sex and happiness in the middle of it all. This is a highly entertaining collection of short stories written by one of the best and the brightest of her generation. Here's to reading more shorty story collections this summer on the beach. To buy this book on Amazon click here.