The Delinquent Virgin

by Laura Kalpakian
Read August 2008

I somehow came across this book when looking in the catalog at the library for another book. I can't remember what search terms I used that brought this up. At the time, I read the title story, "The Delinquent Virgin." It was about a Nativity scene that kept getting stolen from a little Catholic church. There's a poignant message, which I can't remember now.

I didn't read the rest at the time because I was only interested in the one story. I picked it up again the summer of '08 as something to read for the adult summer reading program (short story category?). All of the stories take place in the same town in California. Some of them are from the begining days of Elmo, Calif. and others are set in present times.

I really liked this book a lot. While I like short stories, I usually don't choose to read books of short stories because I want a whole book experience, if that makes sense. I think the fact that all of the stories centered around the same community kept me going. There were some Catholic themes in the book, which also interested me.

I love it when I stumble across good reads like this one.