Curtis Sittenfeld’s short story collection, You Think It, I’ll Say It, is the sort of book that might dull the pain of waiting around in an airport or a hospital. The characters are not particularly memorable,wise, or likable. These people don’t handle their own modern enlightenment all that well. But even a so-so book can make you feel like you’re getting a good but allowable peek into somebody’s diary. Or think of it as mind-reading at Starbucks.

You’ll meet a gender studies professor who might have a fancy degree, but not much street smarts.

Or a lawyer who knows her husband could have found a better woman. The clues about why he married her are disquieting.

Or a middle-aged mom who calls an old private-school classmate for reasons she can’t even figure out.

These stories are about the humiliations and mistakes we make, hunting for love. The characters give away pieces of themselves to people who don’t deserve them, although at least one gets a happy ending.

There are cow patties. I skipped pages, and even quit reading one story.

Photo credit: Daniel Lippmann on Visual Hunt / CC BY-NC-ND