Sometime this summer the Internet developed a big, fat Web crush on Miranda July and the quirky little Web site she made pimping her short story collection No One Belongs Here More Than You. I gotta admit, I crushed too. I eagerly anticipated the release of the collection. But as the buzz built my trepidation grew. Buzz things worry me. They put one in an awkward position. If you love the buzzed, then you’re just another pathetic hipster following the herd. If you hate the buzzed, you’re just another pathetic hipster following the other part of the herd.

When I got the book as an anniversary gift, I carefully put it on the dining room table with all the other books that haven’t been read or put away. I told myself I’d read it when I had reached the point where I couldn’t remember what the hell the buzz about the book was.

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