Since I've not quite finished An End of an Error by Mameve Medwed, I'll report on another of my vacation reads. All is Vanity by Christina Schwarz was pure fun, a stunning satire. After a decade or so teaching English in a private high school in New York City, Margaret decides to take a year off to write a novel. She has a best friend from childhood in Los Angeles with whom she corresponds by e-mail.

Margaret suffers from every form of procrastination and manifestation of writer's block known, and to exaggerated effect. It's laugh-out-loud funny in places, but while I was laughing, I was in pain, recognizing some of my own foibles.

Margaret doesn't become immersed in writing until she"lifts' the details of her friend's life and incorporates them into her (Margaret's) novel. I will not say more, for fear it will dampen the enthusiasm of a reader who hasn't read this yet. It's worth the time to pick this one up. Writers especially will be amused.