Have just finished Follies, a collection of short stories by Ann Beattie.  The back cover of the book summarises it well:  "[Beattie] looks at baby boomers in their maturity, sorting out their own lives and struggling with parents who are eccentric, unpredictable, and increasingly dependent."  The stories all have a tinge of sadness, a sense of regret, about them.  And I understand these people, being, in a very real sense, one of them.

I'm going to hold back listing the book I read before the Beattie for a few days.  It's on its way to someone as a present, and I don't want to spoil the surprise.