Cracks in My Foundation

I just finished Cracks in My Foundation, a book of essays and short stories by my girl, Marian Keyes. I am a total sucker for this woman's writing. I love the way she blends comedy and tragedy in her novels, and I enjoy her unique voice. Her essays about travel were especially funny. She actually made me think I'd like a trip to Russia after reading the way she delighted in the melodrama of it all. I could absolutely see little kernals of things she ended up writing about in her novels- the mud incident that later showed up in Last Chance Saloon, the Russian women talking about sex who later showed up in Angels.

My favorite thing in the book was a short story, "Mammy Walsh's Problem Page." It's an advice column, written by Mammy Walsh, the mother of the Walsh sisters who appear in several of her books. It is hysterical listening to her rantings and no nonsense approach to modern issues. One person wrote in to say that she is a vegetarian and her boyfriend wants her to make a roast for his parents. Should she do it? Mammy Walsh tells her to knock off this attention seeking vegetarian nonsense and just admit that meat is delicious.

Great fun. I'm sure I'll pick this up again and dip into different stories and essays.