"This Telling" by Cheryl Strayed: 4 stars. A really solid story about a girl who gives up a daughter to adoption.

"Graceful Burdens" by Roxane Gay: 4.5 stars. One of my favorites in this entire collection. Gay writes of a dystopian future where reproduction is tightly regulated based on someone's genetic fitness, and women who aren't deemed good enough to have children can check out a baby from the library.

"Sweet Virginia" by Caroline Kepnes: 2 stars. MC was awful, ending was weird. Nothing really fit here or worked for me.

"The Contractors" by Lisa Ko: 4 stars. Two women who share the same name working for the same social media content moderation contractor on opposite ends of the globe start emailing each other.

"Halfway to Free" by Emma Donoghue: 4.5 stars. My other favorite here. A really great story of a future world where in an effort to control climate change, being childless is heavily rewarded and society is built around a world without children. Well thought out and thought-provoking.

"Bear Witness" by Mary Gaitskill: 3 stars. A rape case told from three POVs. There's a lot crammed in here and it was unsettling.

"Shine, Pamela, Shine!" by Kate Atkinson: 1.5 stars. My least favorite of the bunch here. Very strange, and I'm still not sure what to make of that ending. ( )