Ask Your Mother: Family Life and Other Impossible Situations

The wry cast of these vignettes by a parent who is also a New York lawyer offers glimpses of the absurdities, trivialities and perplexities of contemporary family life. Trowbridge, whose brief essays appear frequently on the op-ed page of the New York Times , is a family man, comfortable relating his experience of tonsils, athletic shoes, hamsters, holiday rituals and birthday parties. The author also muses on such conundrums as adult language (e.g., ``Let's have lunch someday'' translates as ``The conversation is over now''), his first job interview with a law firm, and the perils in choosing a suitable dinner wine. Good humored self-deprecation flows through these mellow recollections. (June)