Maybe my favorite book of all time. Lorrie Moore says everything that we're all thinking - much better, much funnier than any of us could say it (let's be real). Anagrams gives us Benna and Gerard, two people who sometimes mean everything to each other and sometimes mean nothing at all. At one point in the book, this is what they mean to each other: "On the community school's application form where it had asked 'Are you married?' (this was optional information), I had written an emphatic 'No' and next to it, where it asked 'To whom?' I'd written ' A guy named Gerard.'"
Maile is a master of quiet momentum. She is exact but never dry. Her characters are nuanced and human to a degree that few other writers are able to accomplish. You'll love them...half-love. Also, two of these stories are adapted on film in Kelly Reichardt's beautiful film, Certain Women - a must must see.