I really, really liked Danielle Wood's Rosie Little's Cautionary Tales for Girls. It's a collection of short stories, each one relating to some aspect of a typical woman's experience, usually in the area of romance. And, amazingly, they all tie together in the end.
The stories themselves cover a range of emotions—some are sad, some funny, one even moves into surrealism. Ms Woods writes well, often with an economy of words that can precisely nail a character or type. "These women would be the type, Justine thought, to factor in the calories in the sugar-coating of their contraceptive pills." (page 75) Can't you just see them?
I strongly, unhesitatingly recommend.
