A Trip to the Hardware Store & Other Calamities by Barbara Venkataraman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Barbara Venkataraman‘s “A Trip to the Hardware Store & Other Calamities” is an amusing collection of short tales that leave you with a breath of fresh, much-needed laughter. This is the second of her “Quirky Essays for Quirky People” collection, and a must-read for anyone looking to really connect with an author’s writing style. I’ve read several of her books at this point, and these little stories clearly offer a candid look into the author’s life, imagination and ability to create characters. While I don’t know how much of them are really about her, I will say that she calls herself out a few times which leads me to believe it’s 100% Barbara… and that works for me. From sisterly bonding, to a poor suffering Dad who just wants his family to tell him he did a good job, these stories ranging for 1 page to 5 pages are cute insights into all of our lives. My only question is “did this all happen to the same person?” and oh, well, then my second question (just deal with it, I meant 2 questions)… is this really Barbara because if so, I want to meet her.