I picked up a copy of ZZ Packer’s Drinking Coffee Elsewhere before I left for Las Vegas. I have always associated her with the McSweeney’s crowd but I don’t know why. She has nothing to do with them. I find the McSweeney’s crowd pretentious most of the time, though it did not stop me from visiting the Pirate Store at 826 Valencia in San Francisco. Anyway, I started reading this book the other day and it is wonderful so far. I love the characters in the three stories i have read so far. I wish I knew what they were doing when the stories end. I wish each story were a long novel expanding each story so I could get to know the characters even better. In “Every Tongue Shall Confess” does Clareese accept Cleophus Sanders after he comes all the way to church to see her? Maybe that is ZZ Packer’s brilliance—leave the reader wanting more, imagining what might happen. All I know is I can’t wait to read more. Maybe she is working on a book right now.