<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<GoodreadsResponse>
	<Request>
		<authentication>false</authentication>
		    <method><![CDATA[]]></method>
	</Request>
	
<book>
  <id>3610371</id>
  <title><![CDATA[The Best Place to Be: A Novel in Stories]]></title>
  <isbn><![CDATA[1416532625]]></isbn>
  <isbn13><![CDATA[9781416532620]]></isbn13>
  <image_url>http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg</small_image_url>
  <description><![CDATA[<strong>&quot;I looked out the window and was filled with contentment. I was on a train. There was no landscape, ugly or beautiful, to demand my attention . . . None of the passengers within my view were badly dressed. I had the right book with me . . . I was happily married but alone, nothing in the immediate past to regret, nothing in the immediate future to fear. In between -- the best place to be.&quot;</strong><p>At fifty, Grace Hanford has lived long enough to be a daughter, a stepdaughter, a girlfriend, a sister, a sister-in-law, a wife, a stepmother, and an orphan. She has fallen in and out of love -- with troublesome men, with her glamorous mother, with her wild best friend, and with New York City -- more times than she can count. Still, Grace is more comic than melancholic, and a gifted confessor. She lives life as if every day is a movie in which her role is yet to be determined -- and her audience loves her for it.<p>In <em>The Best Place to Be</em>, we follow Grace from her fatherless childhood through her years at an all-girls college to adulthood in the city and her many dating escapades (and escapes) as an urban sophisticate. Wherever she may be, Grace tries to find her place in the world with humor and the blunt surprise of truth. And always, in the background, there is Grace's mother, brother, and the man she could or might or will call husband, out of reach -- until she reaches.<p>In the tradition of Melissa Bank's <em>The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, The Best Place to Be</em> is at once funny, moving, and deeply provocative, a love letter to the self-determined woman that shimmers with hilarious insight and graceful wit.</p></p></p>]]></description>
  <work>
  <best_book_id type="integer">722805</best_book_id>
  <books_count type="integer">2</books_count>
  <desc_user_id type="integer" nil="true"></desc_user_id>
  <id type="integer">709039</id>
  <media_type nil="true"></media_type>
  <original_language_id type="integer" nil="true"></original_language_id>
  <original_publication_day type="integer" nil="true"></original_publication_day>
  <original_publication_month type="integer" nil="true"></original_publication_month>
  <original_publication_year type="integer">2007</original_publication_year>
  <original_title>The Best Place to Be: A Novel in Stories</original_title>
  <rating_dist>total:36|5:5|4:11|3:13|2:7|</rating_dist>
  <ratings_count type="integer">36</ratings_count>
  <ratings_sum type="integer">122</ratings_sum>
  <reviews_count type="integer">60</reviews_count>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">12</text_reviews_count>
</work>

  <average_rating><![CDATA[3.39]]></average_rating>
  <ratings_count><![CDATA[4]]></ratings_count>
  <text_reviews_count><![CDATA[0]]></text_reviews_count>
  
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3610371.The_Best_Place_to_Be_A_Novel_in_Stories]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3610371.The_Best_Place_to_Be_A_Novel_in_Stories]]></link>
  <authors>
    <author>
    <id>247205</id>
        <name><![CDATA[Lesley Dormen]]></name>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-200x266.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/247205.Lesley_Dormen]]></link>
    <average_rating>3.42</average_rating>
    <ratings_count>38</ratings_count>
    <text_reviews_count>12</text_reviews_count>
  </author>
  </authors>
    <reviews start="1" end="20" total="60">
      <review>
  <id>4779647</id>
    <user>
    <id>290968</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Barbara]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/290968-barbara]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1187550192p3/290968.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1187550192p2/290968.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">722805</id>
  <isbn>1416532617</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781416532613</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">12</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Best Place to Be: A Novel in Stories]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202m/722805.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202s/722805.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/722805.The_Best_Place_to_Be_A_Novel_in_Stories</link>
  <average_rating>3.41</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>32</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<strong>&quot;I looked out the window and was filled with contentment. I was on a train. There was no landscape, ugly or beautiful, to demand my attention . . . None of the passengers within my view were badly dressed. I had the right book with me . . . I was happily married but alone, nothing in the immediate past to regret, nothing in the immediate future to fear. In between -- the best place to be.&quot;</strong><p><p>At fifty, Grace Hanford has lived long enough to be a daughter, a stepdaughter, a girlfriend, a sister, a sister-in-law, a wife, a stepmother, and an orphan. She has fallen in and out of love -- with troublesome men, with her glamorous mother, with her wild best friend, and with New York City -- more times than she can count. Still, Grace is more comic than melancholic, and a gifted confessor. She lives life as if every day is a movie in which her role is yet to be determined -- and her audience loves her for it.<p><p>In <em>The Best Place to Be</em>, we follow Grace from her fatherless childhood through her years at an all-girls college to adulthood in the city and her many dating escapades (and escapes) as an urban sophisticate. Wherever she may be, Grace tries to find her place in the world with humor and the blunt surprise of truth. And always, in the background, there is Grace's mother, brother, and the man she could or might or will call husband, out of reach -- until she reaches.<p><p>In the tradition of Melissa Bank's <em>The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, The Best Place to Be</em> is at once funny, moving, and deeply provocative, a love letter to the self-determined woman that shimmers with hilarious insight and graceful wit.<p><p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="recentgoodones" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Aug 19 16:04:20 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Aug 19 16:11:02 -0700 2007</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[These stories are pretty loosely connected, so it's more a book of short stories than it is a novel, and some stories are better than others. (I like the title story best.)I really like Leslie Dorman's voice. I feel like she would be an interesting, intelligent friend. Here is my favorite passage:<br/>...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4779647">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4779647]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4779647]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>16190812</id>
    <user>
    <id>638192</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Abby]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Toledo, OH]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/638192-abby-sominski]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1259764691p3/638192.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1259764691p2/638192.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">722805</id>
  <isbn>1416532617</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781416532613</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">12</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Best Place to Be: A Novel in Stories]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202m/722805.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202s/722805.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/722805.The_Best_Place_to_Be_A_Novel_in_Stories</link>
  <average_rating>3.39</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>36</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<strong>&quot;I looked out the window and was filled with contentment. I was on a train. There was no landscape, ugly or beautiful, to demand my attention . . . None of the passengers within my view were badly dressed. I had the right book with me . . . I was happily married but alone, nothing in the immediate past to regret, nothing in the immediate future to fear. In between -- the best place to be.&quot;</strong><p><p>At fifty, Grace Hanford has lived long enough to be a daughter, a stepdaughter, a girlfriend, a sister, a sister-in-law, a wife, a stepmother, and an orphan. She has fallen in and out of love -- with troublesome men, with her glamorous mother, with her wild best friend, and with New York City -- more times than she can count. Still, Grace is more comic than melancholic, and a gifted confessor. She lives life as if every day is a movie in which her role is yet to be determined -- and her audience loves her for it.<p><p>In <em>The Best Place to Be</em>, we follow Grace from her fatherless childhood through her years at an all-girls college to adulthood in the city and her many dating escapades (and escapes) as an urban sophisticate. Wherever she may be, Grace tries to find her place in the world with humor and the blunt surprise of truth. And always, in the background, there is Grace's mother, brother, and the man she could or might or will call husband, out of reach -- until she reaches.<p><p>In the tradition of Melissa Bank's <em>The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, The Best Place to Be</em> is at once funny, moving, and deeply provocative, a love letter to the self-determined woman that shimmers with hilarious insight and graceful wit.<p><p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
</book>

    <rating>2</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Tue Feb 26 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Feb 23 14:09:52 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Apr 25 09:19:27 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[These connected stories felt more like connected thoughts and not all that interesting ones.  I realized the stories weren't in chronological order and all that did was make her whining about being single and lonely less bearable because you knew she ended up with someone eventually. ]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/16190812]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/16190812]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>2370221</id>
    <user>
    <id>137468</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Kerrilynn]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Brooklyn, NY]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/137468-kerrilynn-pamer]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">722805</id>
  <isbn>1416532617</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781416532613</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">12</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Best Place to Be: A Novel in Stories]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202m/722805.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202s/722805.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/722805.The_Best_Place_to_Be_A_Novel_in_Stories</link>
  <average_rating>3.39</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>36</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<strong>&quot;I looked out the window and was filled with contentment. I was on a train. There was no landscape, ugly or beautiful, to demand my attention . . . None of the passengers within my view were badly dressed. I had the right book with me . . . I was happily married but alone, nothing in the immediate past to regret, nothing in the immediate future to fear. In between -- the best place to be.&quot;</strong><p><p>At fifty, Grace Hanford has lived long enough to be a daughter, a stepdaughter, a girlfriend, a sister, a sister-in-law, a wife, a stepmother, and an orphan. She has fallen in and out of love -- with troublesome men, with her glamorous mother, with her wild best friend, and with New York City -- more times than she can count. Still, Grace is more comic than melancholic, and a gifted confessor. She lives life as if every day is a movie in which her role is yet to be determined -- and her audience loves her for it.<p><p>In <em>The Best Place to Be</em>, we follow Grace from her fatherless childhood through her years at an all-girls college to adulthood in the city and her many dating escapades (and escapes) as an urban sophisticate. Wherever she may be, Grace tries to find her place in the world with humor and the blunt surprise of truth. And always, in the background, there is Grace's mother, brother, and the man she could or might or will call husband, out of reach -- until she reaches.<p><p>In the tradition of Melissa Bank's <em>The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, The Best Place to Be</em> is at once funny, moving, and deeply provocative, a love letter to the self-determined woman that shimmers with hilarious insight and graceful wit.<p><p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Jun 25 14:05:41 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Dec 16 22:40:13 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Just read this in an afternoon. I know the author and think she's wonderful. This novel makes me think of her and smile, she comes across in this book as herself, a woman who has seen a lot and has wisdom and inspiration to offer up to younger women. So readable and so enjoyable, just like her.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2370221]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2370221]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>3699013</id>
    <user>
    <id>212115</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Taije]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Philadelphia, PA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/212115-taije-silverman]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1185153408p3/212115.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1185153408p2/212115.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">722805</id>
  <isbn>1416532617</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781416532613</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">12</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Best Place to Be: A Novel in Stories]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202m/722805.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202s/722805.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/722805.The_Best_Place_to_Be_A_Novel_in_Stories</link>
  <average_rating>3.39</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>36</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<strong>&quot;I looked out the window and was filled with contentment. I was on a train. There was no landscape, ugly or beautiful, to demand my attention . . . None of the passengers within my view were badly dressed. I had the right book with me . . . I was happily married but alone, nothing in the immediate past to regret, nothing in the immediate future to fear. In between -- the best place to be.&quot;</strong><p><p>At fifty, Grace Hanford has lived long enough to be a daughter, a stepdaughter, a girlfriend, a sister, a sister-in-law, a wife, a stepmother, and an orphan. She has fallen in and out of love -- with troublesome men, with her glamorous mother, with her wild best friend, and with New York City -- more times than she can count. Still, Grace is more comic than melancholic, and a gifted confessor. She lives life as if every day is a movie in which her role is yet to be determined -- and her audience loves her for it.<p><p>In <em>The Best Place to Be</em>, we follow Grace from her fatherless childhood through her years at an all-girls college to adulthood in the city and her many dating escapades (and escapes) as an urban sophisticate. Wherever she may be, Grace tries to find her place in the world with humor and the blunt surprise of truth. And always, in the background, there is Grace's mother, brother, and the man she could or might or will call husband, out of reach -- until she reaches.<p><p>In the tradition of Melissa Bank's <em>The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, The Best Place to Be</em> is at once funny, moving, and deeply provocative, a love letter to the self-determined woman that shimmers with hilarious insight and graceful wit.<p><p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Jul 28 07:50:40 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Jul 28 07:50:40 -0700 2007</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[wickedly funny, sad, self-aware, and delicious.  The morphologies of a city, love, and self happen around and inside each other through the voice of a narrator who has renewed my affection for irony.    ]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3699013]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3699013]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>21668679</id>
    <user>
    <id>69506</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Anne]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Brooklyn, NY]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/69506-anne]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1178575097p3/69506.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1178575097p2/69506.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">722805</id>
  <isbn>1416532617</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781416532613</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">12</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Best Place to Be: A Novel in Stories]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202m/722805.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202s/722805.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/722805.The_Best_Place_to_Be_A_Novel_in_Stories</link>
  <average_rating>3.39</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>36</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<strong>&quot;I looked out the window and was filled with contentment. I was on a train. There was no landscape, ugly or beautiful, to demand my attention . . . None of the passengers within my view were badly dressed. I had the right book with me . . . I was happily married but alone, nothing in the immediate past to regret, nothing in the immediate future to fear. In between -- the best place to be.&quot;</strong><p><p>At fifty, Grace Hanford has lived long enough to be a daughter, a stepdaughter, a girlfriend, a sister, a sister-in-law, a wife, a stepmother, and an orphan. She has fallen in and out of love -- with troublesome men, with her glamorous mother, with her wild best friend, and with New York City -- more times than she can count. Still, Grace is more comic than melancholic, and a gifted confessor. She lives life as if every day is a movie in which her role is yet to be determined -- and her audience loves her for it.<p><p>In <em>The Best Place to Be</em>, we follow Grace from her fatherless childhood through her years at an all-girls college to adulthood in the city and her many dating escapades (and escapes) as an urban sophisticate. Wherever she may be, Grace tries to find her place in the world with humor and the blunt surprise of truth. And always, in the background, there is Grace's mother, brother, and the man she could or might or will call husband, out of reach -- until she reaches.<p><p>In the tradition of Melissa Bank's <em>The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, The Best Place to Be</em> is at once funny, moving, and deeply provocative, a love letter to the self-determined woman that shimmers with hilarious insight and graceful wit.<p><p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[Jenni]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sun May 11 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon May 05 18:04:11 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu May 15 11:49:32 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[4 stars for each individual story; 3 stars for the book as a whole<br/><br/>I first read Dormen's work in the December 2001 Atlantic Monthly (<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200112/dormen" title="http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200112/dormen">http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200112/do...</a>), as assigned by my wonderful writing teacher at the time, Greg Lichtenberg. [side note: If I could afford it, I...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/21668679">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/21668679]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/21668679]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>45148555</id>
    <user>
    <id>957174</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Terri]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Cedar Key, FL]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/957174-terri]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1259506040p3/957174.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1259506040p2/957174.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">722805</id>
  <isbn>1416532617</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781416532613</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">12</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Best Place to Be: A Novel in Stories]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202m/722805.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202s/722805.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/722805.The_Best_Place_to_Be_A_Novel_in_Stories</link>
  <average_rating>3.39</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>36</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<strong>&quot;I looked out the window and was filled with contentment. I was on a train. There was no landscape, ugly or beautiful, to demand my attention . . . None of the passengers within my view were badly dressed. I had the right book with me . . . I was happily married but alone, nothing in the immediate past to regret, nothing in the immediate future to fear. In between -- the best place to be.&quot;</strong><p><p>At fifty, Grace Hanford has lived long enough to be a daughter, a stepdaughter, a girlfriend, a sister, a sister-in-law, a wife, a stepmother, and an orphan. She has fallen in and out of love -- with troublesome men, with her glamorous mother, with her wild best friend, and with New York City -- more times than she can count. Still, Grace is more comic than melancholic, and a gifted confessor. She lives life as if every day is a movie in which her role is yet to be determined -- and her audience loves her for it.<p><p>In <em>The Best Place to Be</em>, we follow Grace from her fatherless childhood through her years at an all-girls college to adulthood in the city and her many dating escapades (and escapes) as an urban sophisticate. Wherever she may be, Grace tries to find her place in the world with humor and the blunt surprise of truth. And always, in the background, there is Grace's mother, brother, and the man she could or might or will call husband, out of reach -- until she reaches.<p><p>In the tradition of Melissa Bank's <em>The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, The Best Place to Be</em> is at once funny, moving, and deeply provocative, a love letter to the self-determined woman that shimmers with hilarious insight and graceful wit.<p><p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Mon Feb 02 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Feb 02 10:27:01 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Feb 02 10:27:08 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I met this author at a recent writers conference, so I purchased her book.  I really enjoyed it a lot.  The character of Grace is finely drawn and as a female baby boomer, I could really resonate with the stories and I loved the nostalgia the author's writing brought back to me.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/45148555]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/45148555]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>57561976</id>
    <user>
    <id>254392</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Julie]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Redford, MI]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/254392-julie]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">722805</id>
  <isbn>1416532617</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781416532613</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">12</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Best Place to Be: A Novel in Stories]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202m/722805.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202s/722805.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/722805.The_Best_Place_to_Be_A_Novel_in_Stories</link>
  <average_rating>3.39</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>36</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<strong>&quot;I looked out the window and was filled with contentment. I was on a train. There was no landscape, ugly or beautiful, to demand my attention . . . None of the passengers within my view were badly dressed. I had the right book with me . . . I was happily married but alone, nothing in the immediate past to regret, nothing in the immediate future to fear. In between -- the best place to be.&quot;</strong><p><p>At fifty, Grace Hanford has lived long enough to be a daughter, a stepdaughter, a girlfriend, a sister, a sister-in-law, a wife, a stepmother, and an orphan. She has fallen in and out of love -- with troublesome men, with her glamorous mother, with her wild best friend, and with New York City -- more times than she can count. Still, Grace is more comic than melancholic, and a gifted confessor. She lives life as if every day is a movie in which her role is yet to be determined -- and her audience loves her for it.<p><p>In <em>The Best Place to Be</em>, we follow Grace from her fatherless childhood through her years at an all-girls college to adulthood in the city and her many dating escapades (and escapes) as an urban sophisticate. Wherever she may be, Grace tries to find her place in the world with humor and the blunt surprise of truth. And always, in the background, there is Grace's mother, brother, and the man she could or might or will call husband, out of reach -- until she reaches.<p><p>In the tradition of Melissa Bank's <em>The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, The Best Place to Be</em> is at once funny, moving, and deeply provocative, a love letter to the self-determined woman that shimmers with hilarious insight and graceful wit.<p><p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Wed May 27 19:09:14 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed May 27 19:10:22 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I like this for all the symbolism, but hated it for the same thing.  Maybe I'm just not smart enough to get it, or maybe there's not much to get.  Still, it was somewhat enjoyable and just a little tedious.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/57561976]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/57561976]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>31052985</id>
    <user>
    <id>362843</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Jennifer]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Newburyport, MA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/362843-jennifer]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1250041958p3/362843.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1250041958p2/362843.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">722805</id>
  <isbn>1416532617</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781416532613</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">12</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Best Place to Be: A Novel in Stories]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202m/722805.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202s/722805.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/722805.The_Best_Place_to_Be_A_Novel_in_Stories</link>
  <average_rating>3.39</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>36</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<strong>&quot;I looked out the window and was filled with contentment. I was on a train. There was no landscape, ugly or beautiful, to demand my attention . . . None of the passengers within my view were badly dressed. I had the right book with me . . . I was happily married but alone, nothing in the immediate past to regret, nothing in the immediate future to fear. In between -- the best place to be.&quot;</strong><p><p>At fifty, Grace Hanford has lived long enough to be a daughter, a stepdaughter, a girlfriend, a sister, a sister-in-law, a wife, a stepmother, and an orphan. She has fallen in and out of love -- with troublesome men, with her glamorous mother, with her wild best friend, and with New York City -- more times than she can count. Still, Grace is more comic than melancholic, and a gifted confessor. She lives life as if every day is a movie in which her role is yet to be determined -- and her audience loves her for it.<p><p>In <em>The Best Place to Be</em>, we follow Grace from her fatherless childhood through her years at an all-girls college to adulthood in the city and her many dating escapades (and escapes) as an urban sophisticate. Wherever she may be, Grace tries to find her place in the world with humor and the blunt surprise of truth. And always, in the background, there is Grace's mother, brother, and the man she could or might or will call husband, out of reach -- until she reaches.<p><p>In the tradition of Melissa Bank's <em>The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, The Best Place to Be</em> is at once funny, moving, and deeply provocative, a love letter to the self-determined woman that shimmers with hilarious insight and graceful wit.<p><p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="2007" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Aug 24 08:49:12 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Aug 24 08:52:01 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This is a life told in first person through short story chapters.  Grace is likable and the stories feel honest and recognizable.  Some great lines are sprinkled throughout the book.  &quot;The problem with spending most of your time in books is you can produce words for any occasion - You just don'...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/31052985">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/31052985]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/31052985]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>2131127</id>
    <user>
    <id>125666</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Marjanne]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Salt Lake City, UT]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/125666-marjanne]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1183668006p3/125666.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1183668006p2/125666.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">722805</id>
  <isbn>1416532617</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781416532613</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">12</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Best Place to Be: A Novel in Stories]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202m/722805.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202s/722805.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/722805.The_Best_Place_to_Be_A_Novel_in_Stories</link>
  <average_rating>3.39</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>36</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<strong>&quot;I looked out the window and was filled with contentment. I was on a train. There was no landscape, ugly or beautiful, to demand my attention . . . None of the passengers within my view were badly dressed. I had the right book with me . . . I was happily married but alone, nothing in the immediate past to regret, nothing in the immediate future to fear. In between -- the best place to be.&quot;</strong><p><p>At fifty, Grace Hanford has lived long enough to be a daughter, a stepdaughter, a girlfriend, a sister, a sister-in-law, a wife, a stepmother, and an orphan. She has fallen in and out of love -- with troublesome men, with her glamorous mother, with her wild best friend, and with New York City -- more times than she can count. Still, Grace is more comic than melancholic, and a gifted confessor. She lives life as if every day is a movie in which her role is yet to be determined -- and her audience loves her for it.<p><p>In <em>The Best Place to Be</em>, we follow Grace from her fatherless childhood through her years at an all-girls college to adulthood in the city and her many dating escapades (and escapes) as an urban sophisticate. Wherever she may be, Grace tries to find her place in the world with humor and the blunt surprise of truth. And always, in the background, there is Grace's mother, brother, and the man she could or might or will call husband, out of reach -- until she reaches.<p><p>In the tradition of Melissa Bank's <em>The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, The Best Place to Be</em> is at once funny, moving, and deeply provocative, a love letter to the self-determined woman that shimmers with hilarious insight and graceful wit.<p><p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[adult women]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Jun 19 14:38:35 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Jun 19 14:41:15 -0700 2007</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I really enjoyed the format of this book. It was like reading several short stories, though the main character was the same, just at a different point in life. I felt like the character was developed, though maintained a bit of mystery. It is a good short read.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2131127]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2131127]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>34927608</id>
    <user>
    <id>1512655</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Melrose]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Melrose Park, IL]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1512655-melrose]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-U-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">722805</id>
  <isbn>1416532617</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781416532613</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">12</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Best Place to Be: A Novel in Stories]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202m/722805.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202s/722805.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/722805.The_Best_Place_to_Be_A_Novel_in_Stories</link>
  <average_rating>3.39</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>36</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<strong>&quot;I looked out the window and was filled with contentment. I was on a train. There was no landscape, ugly or beautiful, to demand my attention . . . None of the passengers within my view were badly dressed. I had the right book with me . . . I was happily married but alone, nothing in the immediate past to regret, nothing in the immediate future to fear. In between -- the best place to be.&quot;</strong><p><p>At fifty, Grace Hanford has lived long enough to be a daughter, a stepdaughter, a girlfriend, a sister, a sister-in-law, a wife, a stepmother, and an orphan. She has fallen in and out of love -- with troublesome men, with her glamorous mother, with her wild best friend, and with New York City -- more times than she can count. Still, Grace is more comic than melancholic, and a gifted confessor. She lives life as if every day is a movie in which her role is yet to be determined -- and her audience loves her for it.<p><p>In <em>The Best Place to Be</em>, we follow Grace from her fatherless childhood through her years at an all-girls college to adulthood in the city and her many dating escapades (and escapes) as an urban sophisticate. Wherever she may be, Grace tries to find her place in the world with humor and the blunt surprise of truth. And always, in the background, there is Grace's mother, brother, and the man she could or might or will call husband, out of reach -- until she reaches.<p><p>In the tradition of Melissa Bank's <em>The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, The Best Place to Be</em> is at once funny, moving, and deeply provocative, a love letter to the self-determined woman that shimmers with hilarious insight and graceful wit.<p><p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
</book>

    <rating>0</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="staff-picks" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Oct 09 13:52:43 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Oct 09 13:52:59 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Another satisfying character study, told as a novel-in-stories. Readers can sit back and enjoy fifty-year-old Grace Hanford’s reflections and recollections of life and love in New York City.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/34927608]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/34927608]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>17315248</id>
    <user>
    <id>120520</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Margaret]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[San Francisco, CA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/120520-margaret]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1239898364p3/120520.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1239898364p2/120520.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">722805</id>
  <isbn>1416532617</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781416532613</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">12</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Best Place to Be: A Novel in Stories]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202m/722805.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202s/722805.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/722805.The_Best_Place_to_Be_A_Novel_in_Stories</link>
  <average_rating>3.39</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>36</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<strong>&quot;I looked out the window and was filled with contentment. I was on a train. There was no landscape, ugly or beautiful, to demand my attention . . . None of the passengers within my view were badly dressed. I had the right book with me . . . I was happily married but alone, nothing in the immediate past to regret, nothing in the immediate future to fear. In between -- the best place to be.&quot;</strong><p><p>At fifty, Grace Hanford has lived long enough to be a daughter, a stepdaughter, a girlfriend, a sister, a sister-in-law, a wife, a stepmother, and an orphan. She has fallen in and out of love -- with troublesome men, with her glamorous mother, with her wild best friend, and with New York City -- more times than she can count. Still, Grace is more comic than melancholic, and a gifted confessor. She lives life as if every day is a movie in which her role is yet to be determined -- and her audience loves her for it.<p><p>In <em>The Best Place to Be</em>, we follow Grace from her fatherless childhood through her years at an all-girls college to adulthood in the city and her many dating escapades (and escapes) as an urban sophisticate. Wherever she may be, Grace tries to find her place in the world with humor and the blunt surprise of truth. And always, in the background, there is Grace's mother, brother, and the man she could or might or will call husband, out of reach -- until she reaches.<p><p>In the tradition of Melissa Bank's <em>The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, The Best Place to Be</em> is at once funny, moving, and deeply provocative, a love letter to the self-determined woman that shimmers with hilarious insight and graceful wit.<p><p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
</book>

    <rating>2</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Fri Feb 29 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Mar 08 10:42:24 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Mar 08 10:46:11 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[speaks to middle-aged women still having a life, new york scenes, an easy read]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17315248]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17315248]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>24509690</id>
    <user>
    <id>373204</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Rachael]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/373204-rachael]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1195859491p3/373204.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1195859491p2/373204.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">722805</id>
  <isbn>1416532617</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781416532613</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">12</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Best Place to Be: A Novel in Stories]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202m/722805.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202s/722805.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/722805.The_Best_Place_to_Be_A_Novel_in_Stories</link>
  <average_rating>3.39</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>36</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<strong>&quot;I looked out the window and was filled with contentment. I was on a train. There was no landscape, ugly or beautiful, to demand my attention . . . None of the passengers within my view were badly dressed. I had the right book with me . . . I was happily married but alone, nothing in the immediate past to regret, nothing in the immediate future to fear. In between -- the best place to be.&quot;</strong><p><p>At fifty, Grace Hanford has lived long enough to be a daughter, a stepdaughter, a girlfriend, a sister, a sister-in-law, a wife, a stepmother, and an orphan. She has fallen in and out of love -- with troublesome men, with her glamorous mother, with her wild best friend, and with New York City -- more times than she can count. Still, Grace is more comic than melancholic, and a gifted confessor. She lives life as if every day is a movie in which her role is yet to be determined -- and her audience loves her for it.<p><p>In <em>The Best Place to Be</em>, we follow Grace from her fatherless childhood through her years at an all-girls college to adulthood in the city and her many dating escapades (and escapes) as an urban sophisticate. Wherever she may be, Grace tries to find her place in the world with humor and the blunt surprise of truth. And always, in the background, there is Grace's mother, brother, and the man she could or might or will call husband, out of reach -- until she reaches.<p><p>In the tradition of Melissa Bank's <em>The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, The Best Place to Be</em> is at once funny, moving, and deeply provocative, a love letter to the self-determined woman that shimmers with hilarious insight and graceful wit.<p><p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
</book>

    <rating>0</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Thu May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Jun 14 17:35:26 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Jun 14 17:36:26 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I'd listen to this wise and wise-cracking narrator talk about anything.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/24509690]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/24509690]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>80895914</id>
    <user>
    <id>3039547</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Sharon]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Littleton, CO]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3039547-sharon-brychka]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">3610371</id>
  <isbn>1416532625</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781416532620</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">0</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Best Place to Be: A Novel in Stories]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3610371.The_Best_Place_to_Be_A_Novel_in_Stories</link>
  <average_rating>3.25</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>4</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<strong>&quot;I looked out the window and was filled with contentment. I was on a train. There was no landscape, ugly or beautiful, to demand my attention . . . None of the passengers within my view were badly dressed. I had the right book with me . . . I was happily married but alone, nothing in the immediate past to regret, nothing in the immediate future to fear. In between -- the best place to be.&quot;</strong><p>At fifty, Grace Hanford has lived long enough to be a daughter, a stepdaughter, a girlfriend, a sister, a sister-in-law, a wife, a stepmother, and an orphan. She has fallen in and out of love -- with troublesome men, with her glamorous mother, with her wild best friend, and with New York City -- more times than she can count. Still, Grace is more comic than melancholic, and a gifted confessor. She lives life as if every day is a movie in which her role is yet to be determined -- and her audience loves her for it.<p>In <em>The Best Place to Be</em>, we follow Grace from her fatherless childhood through her years at an all-girls college to adulthood in the city and her many dating escapades (and escapes) as an urban sophisticate. Wherever she may be, Grace tries to find her place in the world with humor and the blunt surprise of truth. And always, in the background, there is Grace's mother, brother, and the man she could or might or will call husband, out of reach -- until she reaches.<p>In the tradition of Melissa Bank's <em>The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, The Best Place to Be</em> is at once funny, moving, and deeply provocative, a love letter to the self-determined woman that shimmers with hilarious insight and graceful wit.</p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
</book>

    <rating>0</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
            <shelf name="to-read" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Dec 13 16:51:26 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Dec 13 16:51:31 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/80895914]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/80895914]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>76653288</id>
    <user>
    <id>302628</id>
    <name><![CDATA[D]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/302628-d]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1202710103p3/302628.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1202710103p2/302628.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">722805</id>
  <isbn>1416532617</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781416532613</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">12</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Best Place to Be: A Novel in Stories]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202m/722805.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202s/722805.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/722805.The_Best_Place_to_Be_A_Novel_in_Stories</link>
  <average_rating>3.39</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>36</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<strong>&quot;I looked out the window and was filled with contentment. I was on a train. There was no landscape, ugly or beautiful, to demand my attention . . . None of the passengers within my view were badly dressed. I had the right book with me . . . I was happily married but alone, nothing in the immediate past to regret, nothing in the immediate future to fear. In between -- the best place to be.&quot;</strong><p><p>At fifty, Grace Hanford has lived long enough to be a daughter, a stepdaughter, a girlfriend, a sister, a sister-in-law, a wife, a stepmother, and an orphan. She has fallen in and out of love -- with troublesome men, with her glamorous mother, with her wild best friend, and with New York City -- more times than she can count. Still, Grace is more comic than melancholic, and a gifted confessor. She lives life as if every day is a movie in which her role is yet to be determined -- and her audience loves her for it.<p><p>In <em>The Best Place to Be</em>, we follow Grace from her fatherless childhood through her years at an all-girls college to adulthood in the city and her many dating escapades (and escapes) as an urban sophisticate. Wherever she may be, Grace tries to find her place in the world with humor and the blunt surprise of truth. And always, in the background, there is Grace's mother, brother, and the man she could or might or will call husband, out of reach -- until she reaches.<p><p>In the tradition of Melissa Bank's <em>The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, The Best Place to Be</em> is at once funny, moving, and deeply provocative, a love letter to the self-determined woman that shimmers with hilarious insight and graceful wit.<p><p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
</book>

    <rating>0</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
            <shelf name="to-read" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Nov 03 19:44:47 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Nov 03 19:44:47 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76653288]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76653288]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>74001275</id>
    <user>
    <id>285098</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Kaye]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Dalton, GA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/285098-kaye]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1205283553p3/285098.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1205283553p2/285098.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">722805</id>
  <isbn>1416532617</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781416532613</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">12</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Best Place to Be: A Novel in Stories]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202m/722805.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202s/722805.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/722805.The_Best_Place_to_Be_A_Novel_in_Stories</link>
  <average_rating>3.39</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>36</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<strong>&quot;I looked out the window and was filled with contentment. I was on a train. There was no landscape, ugly or beautiful, to demand my attention . . . None of the passengers within my view were badly dressed. I had the right book with me . . . I was happily married but alone, nothing in the immediate past to regret, nothing in the immediate future to fear. In between -- the best place to be.&quot;</strong><p><p>At fifty, Grace Hanford has lived long enough to be a daughter, a stepdaughter, a girlfriend, a sister, a sister-in-law, a wife, a stepmother, and an orphan. She has fallen in and out of love -- with troublesome men, with her glamorous mother, with her wild best friend, and with New York City -- more times than she can count. Still, Grace is more comic than melancholic, and a gifted confessor. She lives life as if every day is a movie in which her role is yet to be determined -- and her audience loves her for it.<p><p>In <em>The Best Place to Be</em>, we follow Grace from her fatherless childhood through her years at an all-girls college to adulthood in the city and her many dating escapades (and escapes) as an urban sophisticate. Wherever she may be, Grace tries to find her place in the world with humor and the blunt surprise of truth. And always, in the background, there is Grace's mother, brother, and the man she could or might or will call husband, out of reach -- until she reaches.<p><p>In the tradition of Melissa Bank's <em>The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, The Best Place to Be</em> is at once funny, moving, and deeply provocative, a love letter to the self-determined woman that shimmers with hilarious insight and graceful wit.<p><p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
</book>

    <rating>0</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
            <shelf name="to-read" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Oct 09 14:09:31 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Nov 18 15:25:53 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74001275]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74001275]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>71090004</id>
    <user>
    <id>2731967</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Becca]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Silver Spring, MD]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2731967-becca]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">722805</id>
  <isbn>1416532617</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781416532613</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">12</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Best Place to Be: A Novel in Stories]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202m/722805.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202s/722805.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/722805.The_Best_Place_to_Be_A_Novel_in_Stories</link>
  <average_rating>3.39</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>36</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<strong>&quot;I looked out the window and was filled with contentment. I was on a train. There was no landscape, ugly or beautiful, to demand my attention . . . None of the passengers within my view were badly dressed. I had the right book with me . . . I was happily married but alone, nothing in the immediate past to regret, nothing in the immediate future to fear. In between -- the best place to be.&quot;</strong><p><p>At fifty, Grace Hanford has lived long enough to be a daughter, a stepdaughter, a girlfriend, a sister, a sister-in-law, a wife, a stepmother, and an orphan. She has fallen in and out of love -- with troublesome men, with her glamorous mother, with her wild best friend, and with New York City -- more times than she can count. Still, Grace is more comic than melancholic, and a gifted confessor. She lives life as if every day is a movie in which her role is yet to be determined -- and her audience loves her for it.<p><p>In <em>The Best Place to Be</em>, we follow Grace from her fatherless childhood through her years at an all-girls college to adulthood in the city and her many dating escapades (and escapes) as an urban sophisticate. Wherever she may be, Grace tries to find her place in the world with humor and the blunt surprise of truth. And always, in the background, there is Grace's mother, brother, and the man she could or might or will call husband, out of reach -- until she reaches.<p><p>In the tradition of Melissa Bank's <em>The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, The Best Place to Be</em> is at once funny, moving, and deeply provocative, a love letter to the self-determined woman that shimmers with hilarious insight and graceful wit.<p><p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="read-in-2008" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Mon Dec 29 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Sep 13 14:18:19 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Sep 13 14:18:49 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71090004]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71090004]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>67794380</id>
    <user>
    <id>2517594</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Blugrdnia]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Albuquerque, NM]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2517594-blugrdnia]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-U-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">3610371</id>
  <isbn>1416532625</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781416532620</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">0</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Best Place to Be: A Novel in Stories]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3610371.The_Best_Place_to_Be_A_Novel_in_Stories</link>
  <average_rating>3.39</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>36</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<strong>&quot;I looked out the window and was filled with contentment. I was on a train. There was no landscape, ugly or beautiful, to demand my attention . . . None of the passengers within my view were badly dressed. I had the right book with me . . . I was happily married but alone, nothing in the immediate past to regret, nothing in the immediate future to fear. In between -- the best place to be.&quot;</strong><p>At fifty, Grace Hanford has lived long enough to be a daughter, a stepdaughter, a girlfriend, a sister, a sister-in-law, a wife, a stepmother, and an orphan. She has fallen in and out of love -- with troublesome men, with her glamorous mother, with her wild best friend, and with New York City -- more times than she can count. Still, Grace is more comic than melancholic, and a gifted confessor. She lives life as if every day is a movie in which her role is yet to be determined -- and her audience loves her for it.<p>In <em>The Best Place to Be</em>, we follow Grace from her fatherless childhood through her years at an all-girls college to adulthood in the city and her many dating escapades (and escapes) as an urban sophisticate. Wherever she may be, Grace tries to find her place in the world with humor and the blunt surprise of truth. And always, in the background, there is Grace's mother, brother, and the man she could or might or will call husband, out of reach -- until she reaches.<p>In the tradition of Melissa Bank's <em>The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, The Best Place to Be</em> is at once funny, moving, and deeply provocative, a love letter to the self-determined woman that shimmers with hilarious insight and graceful wit.</p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
</book>

    <rating>2</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Mon Aug 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Aug 17 15:39:46 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Aug 17 15:40:13 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/67794380]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/67794380]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>63802877</id>
    <user>
    <id>53564</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Anna]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Brooklyn, NY]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/53564-anna-moore]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1253500162p3/53564.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1253500162p2/53564.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">722805</id>
  <isbn>1416532617</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781416532613</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">12</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Best Place to Be: A Novel in Stories]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202m/722805.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202s/722805.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/722805.The_Best_Place_to_Be_A_Novel_in_Stories</link>
  <average_rating>3.39</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>36</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<strong>&quot;I looked out the window and was filled with contentment. I was on a train. There was no landscape, ugly or beautiful, to demand my attention . . . None of the passengers within my view were badly dressed. I had the right book with me . . . I was happily married but alone, nothing in the immediate past to regret, nothing in the immediate future to fear. In between -- the best place to be.&quot;</strong><p><p>At fifty, Grace Hanford has lived long enough to be a daughter, a stepdaughter, a girlfriend, a sister, a sister-in-law, a wife, a stepmother, and an orphan. She has fallen in and out of love -- with troublesome men, with her glamorous mother, with her wild best friend, and with New York City -- more times than she can count. Still, Grace is more comic than melancholic, and a gifted confessor. She lives life as if every day is a movie in which her role is yet to be determined -- and her audience loves her for it.<p><p>In <em>The Best Place to Be</em>, we follow Grace from her fatherless childhood through her years at an all-girls college to adulthood in the city and her many dating escapades (and escapes) as an urban sophisticate. Wherever she may be, Grace tries to find her place in the world with humor and the blunt surprise of truth. And always, in the background, there is Grace's mother, brother, and the man she could or might or will call husband, out of reach -- until she reaches.<p><p>In the tradition of Melissa Bank's <em>The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, The Best Place to Be</em> is at once funny, moving, and deeply provocative, a love letter to the self-determined woman that shimmers with hilarious insight and graceful wit.<p><p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
</book>

    <rating>0</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
            <shelf name="to-read" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Jul 16 19:26:08 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Jul 16 19:26:08 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/63802877]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/63802877]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>61197793</id>
    <user>
    <id>1788840</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Phyllis]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Nashville, TN]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1788840-phyllis]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1244389789p3/1788840.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1244389789p2/1788840.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">722805</id>
  <isbn>1416532617</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781416532613</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">12</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Best Place to Be: A Novel in Stories]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202m/722805.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202s/722805.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/722805.The_Best_Place_to_Be_A_Novel_in_Stories</link>
  <average_rating>3.39</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>36</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<strong>&quot;I looked out the window and was filled with contentment. I was on a train. There was no landscape, ugly or beautiful, to demand my attention . . . None of the passengers within my view were badly dressed. I had the right book with me . . . I was happily married but alone, nothing in the immediate past to regret, nothing in the immediate future to fear. In between -- the best place to be.&quot;</strong><p><p>At fifty, Grace Hanford has lived long enough to be a daughter, a stepdaughter, a girlfriend, a sister, a sister-in-law, a wife, a stepmother, and an orphan. She has fallen in and out of love -- with troublesome men, with her glamorous mother, with her wild best friend, and with New York City -- more times than she can count. Still, Grace is more comic than melancholic, and a gifted confessor. She lives life as if every day is a movie in which her role is yet to be determined -- and her audience loves her for it.<p><p>In <em>The Best Place to Be</em>, we follow Grace from her fatherless childhood through her years at an all-girls college to adulthood in the city and her many dating escapades (and escapes) as an urban sophisticate. Wherever she may be, Grace tries to find her place in the world with humor and the blunt surprise of truth. And always, in the background, there is Grace's mother, brother, and the man she could or might or will call husband, out of reach -- until she reaches.<p><p>In the tradition of Melissa Bank's <em>The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, The Best Place to Be</em> is at once funny, moving, and deeply provocative, a love letter to the self-determined woman that shimmers with hilarious insight and graceful wit.<p><p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
</book>

    <rating>0</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
            <shelf name="literature" />
        <shelf name="to-read" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Jun 26 11:30:02 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Jun 26 11:30:16 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/61197793]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/61197793]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>58367406</id>
    <user>
    <id>769511</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Kristin]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Atlanta, GA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/769511-kristin]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">722805</id>
  <isbn>1416532617</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781416532613</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">12</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Best Place to Be: A Novel in Stories]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202m/722805.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177636202s/722805.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/722805.The_Best_Place_to_Be_A_Novel_in_Stories</link>
  <average_rating>3.39</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>36</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<strong>&quot;I looked out the window and was filled with contentment. I was on a train. There was no landscape, ugly or beautiful, to demand my attention . . . None of the passengers within my view were badly dressed. I had the right book with me . . . I was happily married but alone, nothing in the immediate past to regret, nothing in the immediate future to fear. In between -- the best place to be.&quot;</strong><p><p>At fifty, Grace Hanford has lived long enough to be a daughter, a stepdaughter, a girlfriend, a sister, a sister-in-law, a wife, a stepmother, and an orphan. She has fallen in and out of love -- with troublesome men, with her glamorous mother, with her wild best friend, and with New York City -- more times than she can count. Still, Grace is more comic than melancholic, and a gifted confessor. She lives life as if every day is a movie in which her role is yet to be determined -- and her audience loves her for it.<p><p>In <em>The Best Place to Be</em>, we follow Grace from her fatherless childhood through her years at an all-girls college to adulthood in the city and her many dating escapades (and escapes) as an urban sophisticate. Wherever she may be, Grace tries to find her place in the world with humor and the blunt surprise of truth. And always, in the background, there is Grace's mother, brother, and the man she could or might or will call husband, out of reach -- until she reaches.<p><p>In the tradition of Melissa Bank's <em>The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, The Best Place to Be</em> is at once funny, moving, and deeply provocative, a love letter to the self-determined woman that shimmers with hilarious insight and graceful wit.<p><p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Fri Jun 12 17:48:25 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Jun 03 19:35:28 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Jun 12 17:48:25 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/58367406]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/58367406]]></link>
</review>
    </reviews>
  <popular_shelves>
          <shelf name="to-read" />
          <shelf name="literature" />
          <shelf name="asked" />
          <shelf name="short-stories" />
          <shelf name="general-fiction" />
          <shelf name="staff-picks" />
          <shelf name="stories" />
      </popular_shelves>
  <book_links>
    <book_link>
  <id>8</id>
  <name><![CDATA[WorldCat]]></name>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=3610371</link>
</book_link>
  </book_links>
</book>
</GoodreadsResponse>