Someday This Will Be Funny

13 of 27
Someday This Will Be Funny
160 pages; Red Lemonade
Straight from the I-wish-I'd-said-that school of writing come the sometimes acerbic, often poignant, and always meaningful pieces in Lynne Tillman's Someday This Will Be Funny (Red Lemonade). Never mind the ostensible topic of any given story—Tillman's ruminations are about much more than you start off thinking they will be. For example, mourning doves alighting on her fire escape to mate lead the author to observe, "I like most people, love many, despise one person, though I don't want to hate anyone." These stories may be short on word count, but they could hardly be longer on wisdom. 

— Sara Nelson