One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories by B.J. Novak

  One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories is a collection of short stories and jokes.  Some of the stories were familiar - I think I heard them performed on NPR or on a podcast.  It was a fun collection.  It was easy to imagine the stories as short films.  I know that Novak works in television or film and that comes through in his writing.

My favorite stories were: (1) No One Goes to Heaven to See Dan Fogelberg where a grandson discovers that his grandmother's life involves more than simply being his grandmother, (2) Kellogg's (or: The Last Wholesome Fantasy of the Middle-School Boy) where a boy's joy at winning a cereal box prize is tempered by the possibility that the prize could destroy his family, and (3) Closure where a scorned woman finds the ultimate (and scary) way to vent her frustration over an ex-boyfriend.

One More Thing was light and entertaining, but a ultimately a forgettable read.  I enjoyed it while reading it but knew that as soon as I finished the last page it wouldn't stay with me.  It is definitely worth a trip to the library but not to the bookstore.