I found this fair-condition softcover among the charity-sale books at Hannaford's, and was glad for another release copy.

I'd enjoyed Leavitt's short stories in A Place I've Never Been and his novel The Lost Language of Cranes; this book's somewhere in between, a collection of three novellas. I enjoyed them all, though I think my favorite was "The Term Paper Artist," a pseudo-autobiographical tale in which the author, suffering severe writer's block, starts writing term papers for local college students in exchange for sex; interestingly enough it turns out to be the joy of doing a little scholarly work without having to worry about having it associated with his own name that most satisfies the character, although there are some entertaining side effects from his method of payment as well.

"The Wooden Anniversary" brings back some characters from other Leavitt stories, here in a vignette about loves lost, found, and ill-timed. And "Saturn Street" presents another blocked writer, grieving the death of his lover, who starts delivering meals to AIDS patients and finds himself growing attached to one of his clients. I enjoyed this one too, though its depiction of the inability to reach out was a bit unnerving.

Nice threesome, here.

I plan to leave this book on the book-swap shelf in the Tyngsboro post office lobby at around 1:30 or so; hope the finder enjoys it!

*** Released as part of the 2015 Oh the Places We Can Go challenge. ***