The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted: And Other Small Acts of Liberation » (Bargain)

A former nurse with a caretaker's eye for the details of needing and being needed, Elizabeth Berg doesn't shy from the "women's writer" association. She writes with humor and sympathy about the small earthquakes upending women's lives and their extraordinary, human ways of setting things right again.

Exhilarating short stories of women breaking free from convention

Every now and then, right in the middle of an ordinary day, a woman rebels, kicks up her heels, and commits a small act of liberation.

What would you do, if you were going to break out and away? Go AWOL from Weight Watchers and spend an entire day eating every single thing you want–and then some? Start a dating service for people over fifty to reclaim the razzle-dazzle in your life–or your marriage? Seek comfort in the face of aging, look for love in the midst of loss, find friendship in the most surprising of places?

Imagine that the people in these wonderful stories–who do all of these things and more–are asking you: What would you do, if nobody was looking?

The Washington Post - Carolyn See

If these short stories were dresses, and if you complimented Elizabeth Berg on them, you get the feeling she'd answer, "Oh, this old thing? I've had it for ages!" Or, "I picked it up for just $5 at Ross. Imagine!" When, in fact, she would have picked out the finest material, designed her own pattern and stitched every seam by hand. Berg seems to be modesty itself, but she's using her prodigious skill to mess with your unsuspecting mind.

The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted     3
Returns and Exchanges     14
The Party     29
Over the Hill and into the Woods     35
Full Count     55
Rain     76
The Day I Ate Nothing I Even Remotely Wanted     100
Mrs. Ethel Menafee and Mrs. Birdie Stoltz     107
Double Diet     132
The Only One of Millions Just Like Him     151
Truth or Dare     165
How to Make an Apple Pie     207
Sin City     219
Acknowledgments     253