Meg Wolitzer

You're listening to Selected Shorts, recorded live in performance at Symphony Space in New York City and at other venues nationwide.

Welcome back.

This is Selected Shorts, where our greatest actors transport us through the magic of fiction, one short story at a time.

I'm Meg Wolitzer.

This week on the show, we're listening to stories about special occasions in a show that was curated with Bellatrist Book Club.

Once again, here are Bellatrist co-founders Cara Price and Emma Roberts to present our final story, Bridal Body, which deals with that most indelible of save-the-dates, the wedding.

And more specifically, how women are trained to approach their wedding days.

That was Erin Hayes performing Bridal Body by Jen Spira.

I really enjoyed this story, maybe because I was someone who had the opposite kind of experience.

Before I got married, I ate whatever I wanted, continued my exercise regimen of a brisk walk into the next room of my apartment and back, and I wore my hair loose and flowing like Carole King.

For me back then, a blowout was merely something that could happen to a tire on your car.

So just as I enjoy hearing stories about people who go bungee jumping, I also enjoy hearing about women going to extreme lengths before a wedding.

Better them than me is my motto in life.

Now listen, I know our stories today about a party-avoidant introvert, a future divorcee, and a psychopathic bride-to-be probably don't make you want to run out and plan your next costume gala or neighborhood bake-off.

I get it.

But that said, I think even those of us who really get anxious at parties can see them as a potential force for good.

Parties bring us together with loved ones and strangers alike.

They can defy expectations if we give them a chance.

And quite often, as the past hour illustrated, they give us incredible stories that can inspire great fiction.

I'm Meg Wolitzer.