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5 of 28

Favorite Books of the Year—So Far

Bring Your Baggage and Don’t Pack Light: Essays, by Helen Ellis

Despite how often I type the letters “LOL,” it actually takes a lot for me to laugh out loud. But I found myself doing so at least once a chapter while reading the Alabama native Helen Ellis’s new essay collection, Bring Your Baggage and Don’t Pack Light. In-between hilarious tales of ride-or-die friendships, Birmingham garage sales, and poker trips to Biloxi, she drops important distinctions like this: “A hoot is a naturally funny woman. A character is a woman who’s funny because she’s tipsier than a Gibson’s pickled pearl onion.” —Amanda Heckert, G&G deputy editor

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