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by Rebecca, May 26, 2005 5:54 PM
Just last night, someone asked me to name my favorite author. Gimme a break. I had to pick one? In the end, of course, I couldn't pick just one. But one of the first names that sprang to mind when the question was popped was Lorrie Moore. She is my favorite contemporary short story writer. I'm recommending Like Life, but Birds of America is just as good. I think Lorrie Moore must go to hundreds of cocktail parties with a tiny hidden tape recorder, and she must slip under people's beds and record their most intimate thoughts. And I know she's got phones tapped, because she's got it down. I mean, she's got us down, we humans in all our fallible glory. And her words reach right out and tap you on the noggin. Her writing is sharp and funny, her humor dry and sardonic. But her stories are not void of tenderness, quite the contrary ? it's just that the spots that hit home come unexpectedly in the smallest, most amazing details. When I first started reading Lorrie Moore, I used to write down all the terrific turns-of-phrase, but my hand started to cramp. You get the picture.
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