Ninety-Nine Stories of God

"This is the worst book I have read in years," wrote one early Amazon reviewer, and if Joy Williams's idea of God doesn't match yours, you might agree. Fresh on the heels of last year's career-spanning story collection, The Visiting Privilege, Williams has released this compact psalter of miniature fables, jokes, koans, and other anecdotes of people, animals, and a Lord who is as confused and regretful as anyone else. Reading it feels somewhat like being ushered into a half-ruined chapel by someone who slips away while you're not looking, making a bitter little joke under her breath as she leaves. Which might be just what you need to pray.