Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer

I am delighted to have read this collection of short stories.  ZZ Packer has degrees from Yale, Johns Hopkins, and the Iowa Writers' Workshop.  This book was a PEN/Faulkner award finalist and selected by John Updike for the Today Show Book Club.  These tales feature African-American characters, set between the 1960s and present.  As the quote from Roots that introduces the book indicates, Packer wants to illuminate those on the periphery, those who might otherwise be overlooked or forgotten.  Indeed, I felt this is the most honest and truthful depiction of African-American culture that I have read in fiction.  Education, religion, civil rights, and more are covered in these evocative, entertaining short stories.