The Dearly Departed
By Elinor Lipman

I love Elinor Lipman. I love her humor and her writing, and I especially love that at the center of her fiction, including this novel, there is a strong woman. I can devour one of her books in about an afternoon. I swallow the characters whole—the women in her stories are always a little offbeat. I love how they make interesting choices, not conventional ones. And I love Lipman's quirky worldview.