Overview

""Lipman is always in top form as an essayist."" - New York Times Book Review In her two decades of writing, Elinor Lipman has populated her fictional universe with characters so utterly real that we feel like they're old friends. Now she shares an even more intimate world with us--her own--in essays that offer a candid, charming take on modern life. Looking back and forging ahead, she considers the subjects that matter most: childhood and condiments, long marriage and solo living, career and politics. In these stories you'll find the lighthearted as well as the serious and profound. Whether for Lipman's longtime readers or those who love the essays of Nora Ephron or Anna Quindlen, I Can't Complain is a diverting delight. ""Engaging and moving . . . Whether or not one is a Lipman fan before reading this collection, he or she most certainly will be by the time the final page is turned."" - Publishers Weekly ""Full of wit and charm, along with some trenchant observations.""- Seattle Times ""A feast of bite-sized morsels of humor and wisdom."" - Kirkus Reviews

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9780544227903

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Reviews

Lipman's acuity as a social observer makes her voice seem to belong to a wise and funny friend. --The Boston Globe More addictive than that bag of peanut M&M's... [Lipman] is always in top form as an essayist...Her essays celebrate an uncommon virtue: common decency. Lipman is eloquent and loving. --The New York Times Book Review Endearingly personal...The essays are full of wit and charm, along with some trenchant observations. --The Seattle Times [Lipman's] good nature twinkles on virtually every page of I Can't Complain...Lipman is unfailingly funny, and comic flashes illuminate even her saddest essays...Lipman portrays our most painful emotions coexisting with the humor that makes them bearable. --The Washington Post Engaging...Good-natured confessions run throughout the pieces in I Can't Complain. --The Miami Herald Funny, witty, gracious and knowing personal essays that make a reader want to have lunch with the author. --Milwaukee Journal Sentinel The essays in I Can't Complain bring warmth and insight to topics ranging from soap operas to the death of [Lipman's] beloved husband. --Parade In each piece, no matter how brief, Lipman tackles the subject at hand with Dorothy Parker-esque wit and verve. The author's good-spirited openness and self-awareness shine through...A feast of bite-sized morsels of humor and wisdom. --Kirkus Reviews As if readers are sitting down to sip a glass of wine with their best friend (if that best friend happened to be incredibly witty, intelligent, self-aware and encouraging-and also a bestselling author), this collection feels like the very best gabfest imaginable...Very highly recommended. --Book Reporter Charming...Whether or not one is a Lipman fan before reading this collection, he or she most certainly will be by the time the final page is turned. --Publishers Weekly--No Source

Lipman's acuity as a social observer makes her voice seem to belong to a wise and funny friend. --The Boston Globe More addictive than that bag of peanut M&M's... [Lipman] is always in top form as an essayist...Her essays celebrate an uncommon virtue: common decency. Lipman is eloquent and loving. --The New York Times Book Review Endearingly personal...The essays are full of wit and charm, along with some trenchant observations. --The Seattle Times [Lipman's] good nature twinkles on virtually every page of I Can't Complain...Lipman is unfailingly funny, and comic flashes illuminate even her saddest essays...Lipman portrays our most painful emotions coexisting with the humor that makes them bearable. --The Washington Post Engaging...Good-natured confessions run throughout the pieces in I Can't Complain. --The Miami Herald Funny, witty, gracious and knowing personal essays that make a reader want to have lunch with the author. --Milwaukee Journal Sentinel The essays in I Can't Complain bring warmth and insight to topics ranging from soap operas to the death of [Lipman's] beloved husband. --Parade In each piece, no matter how brief, Lipman tackles the subject at hand with Dorothy Parker-esque wit and verve. The author's good-spirited openness and self-awareness shine through...A feast of bite-sized morsels of humor and wisdom. --Kirkus Reviews As if readers are sitting down to sip a glass of wine with their best friend (if that best friend happened to be incredibly witty, intelligent, self-aware and encouraging-and also a bestselling author), this collection feels like the very best gabfest imaginable...Very highly recommended. --Book Reporter Charming...Whether or not one is a Lipman fan before reading this collection, he or she most certainly will be by the time the final page is turned. --Publishers Weekly --

Author Information

Elinor Lipman is the award-winning author of sixteen books of fiction and nonfiction, including The Inn at Lake Devine, Isabel's Bed, I Can't Complain: (All Too) Personal Essays, On Turpentine Lane, Rachel to the Rescue, and Ms. Demeanor, a finalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor. Her first novel, Then She Found Me, was adapted into a film directed by and starring Helen Hunt, with Bette Midler, Colin Firth, and Matthew Broderick. Lipman was the 2011-12 Elizabeth Drew Professor of Creative Writing at Smith College and divides her time between Manhattan and the Hudson Valley.

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