Given two boxes full of books by BookCrosser Asrafrate. Thanks.

This one is going on my TBR mountain range.

I have only read one book by this author prior to reading this one which was The Autograph Man and decided to pick this one up after one of the couchsurfers staying here said that he really enjoyed what he'd read of White Teeth and wanted to read this one after me.

I found the author's note about the art of writing short stories and how the markets for them differ greatly between the UK and the US particularly interesting.

The first story in the collection is basically about a 22 year old English girl who is looking for a place to live through a realtor on the East Coast of the US (I think it could be set in New York but not quite sure if it is.. can't remember if there was anywhere in the story that said that). Of course the story itself has a far deeper meaning, very descriptive.

The second and final story in the book is the narrator writing to the daughter of a man he met one night 34 years before. It is both sweet in parts and sad but I found it very enjoyable, probably my favourite story out of the two.

A short read but it packs a lot of punch. I hope Matt and any other readers who it passes along to around the world enjoy it.

I just rediscovered this book that a very nice man called Matthew gave me in an airport in Bali several years ago Very embarrassed to say that I forgot about it and it has remained in a huge pile of books in my room since I returned to the UK Plan on passing it on tomorrow for someone new to enjoy as it was a really good read! x