Five Things I Can't Live Without

Nora, a non-committal 29-year-old suffering from ho-hum career and relationship angst, is the star of Shumas's rocky debut. In short order, Nora impulsively quits her job at a San Francisco animal shelter, moves in-perhaps prematurely-with boyfriend Dan (she didn't really like her roommate all that much, anyway) and ends up ghostwriting bios for Internet daters. She's also deeply involved in her ""meta-life,"" in which she constantly (and, on many occasions, annoyingly) analyzes the way she feels about how she's feeling about what she's doing. Nora begins to learn from her clients, but her nagging uncertainty about figuring what she wants threatens to sabotage her relationship. It takes her a while, and the process isn't always riveting reading, but Nora gets herself sorted out. To her credit, Shumas extracts from Nora's self-involvement a handful of funny moments.