Janice Shapiro’s BUMMER

Janice Shapiro’s book of stories BUMMER was released by Soft Skull today. I’ve been waiting along time for this, so that I can tell people to go read this book (which I had the opportunity to read as a manuscript). It’s really excellent. These stories read like natural narratives, like looking at the knots in a piece of wood to figure out what you’re going to carve rather than nailing together a bunch of blocks to make a sculpture. The women who narrate these stories, as the title suggests, are having a tough time. What really compels me in reading Janice’s stories is the autonomy that they tap into, the way these women assert control over seemingly desperate or numbing situations. Go here to learn more.