Book 46: Impossible Things by Connie Willis

So, for once, when I’m making an entry about a book I will avoid the snark.

This collection of short stories was, for the most part, very well-put-together. All of the stories were at least interesting, and while there were a couple that I didn’t like as much, overall the collection really does contain good work Connie Willis has written.

If you like screwball comedies and science fiction (and they go together way better than you’d think) you’ll enjoy this book. Willis is also a wonderful social satire writer. Even though the book was written nearly fifteen years ago, most of the issues she discusses are relevant.

My favorites in the collection were “Even the Queen”, which deals with an issue faced by all women, “Spice Pogrom”, which is a seriously, seriously screwball story about aliens and miscommunication which actually portrays cute little girls as bratty, “Time Out”, which deals with motherhood and midlife crises and the chicken pox, “Chance”, which is about regrets and how one little event can change a person’s life forever, and “At the Rialto”, which I’d read before but which was just as funny the second time around.