"The Nimrod Flipout " by Etgar Keret

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of short stories. I laughed my way through a lot of them and was touched by a few. "Fatso," the first story in the book, features a man in love with a beautiful woman who inexplicably turns into "a heavy, hairy man, with no neck, with a gold ring on his pinkie" every night. I was intrigued by "Dirt" which offers the following alternative: "So let's say I'm dead now, or I open a self-service laundromat." It goes on in this manner, offering two alternate fates...and leaves you wondering which one is true. My personal favorite was "Glittery Eyes" about a young girl who wants her eyes to be glittery. She gets the idea from a boy in her class who has glittery eyes. His explanation of why his eyes are glittery was heartbreaking. I wanted to give him a hug. Shrinking parents, lost dogs, twin brothers married to twin sisters...this book is full of crazy characters in wacky situations. His style reminded me of Douglas Adams and Tom Robbins, both of whom I'm a big fan. Next week...Allen Ginsberg's "Indian Journals" - a reread from college that I picked up at the library last week. I grabbed it in an attempt to reconnect with when I was at my most creative, writing-wise. Of course, I had a lot more free time on my hands then...but I'm trying to discipline myself to do more writing and less sitting in front of the television.