Rose Tremain (again) and Jenny Allen

    Just for the record, to keep track of the books I have read, I am briefly noting a book of short stories by Rose Tremain and a book of humorous essays by Jenny Allen.
    I took out the Tremain from the library as I was so impressed by the novel of hers I read recently--see preceding post. And, yes, the 13 stories certainly showed the range of her talent. If you are into short stories, one of these a night before going to sleep would be my recommendation. The book is entitled "The American Lover," which is the title of the first story.
    As for Jenny Allen--well, I had never heard of her, but the cover of the book quoted Andy Borowitz as saying "One of the funniest writers in America," and I thought that if Andy B. says that then she must be funny. I was mildly disappointed. The collection has 35 essays, most just a few pages (there are 222 pages in total), and the humour is wry and charming with only the occasional LOL moments--some are VERY amusing, and of course others less so, and a few, I feel, just fail. Unfairly--I suppose---it did make me wonder how many writers Borowitz included in the phrase "the funniest writers in America."
The title is "Would Everybody Please Stop," and to be more generous, I should quote another blurb: "Jenny Allen gets to the heart of things in the most inventive, unexpected ways, and she's funny, really, really funny, wildly funny, and sometimes she breaks my heart."