By Lesley Dormen
192 pages; Simon & Schuster

"Fifty and holding"—such is the age and angst of Grace Hanford, narrator of Lesley Dormen's "novel in stories," The Best Place to Be (Simon & Schuster). Inexplicably happily married, the neurotic Grace binges on guilt—she "can't resist a thumbs-down," especially from her brother and his frozen daiquiri of a wife. Following Grace through the maze of midlife and youth, as she tangles with her vivacious mother, long-absconded father, and others, is a journey that is smack-your-forehead familiar, and so crazily funny you could cry.

— Cathleen Medwick