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Though I typically remember how I come into the possession of a book, I cannot for the life of me remember how I came to own Woody Allen's "Mere Anarchy." It isn't surprising for me to have a Woody Allen book on my bookshelf (I actually have another I remember getting). I happen to like the man in a purely artistic way. I just don't remember buying or receiving "Mere Anarchy" as a gift.

Regardless of the unsolved mystery, I had Woody Allen on the brain recently because I had read Diane Keaton's semi-memoir "Then Again" not so long ago and she spoke fondly of Woody. So when it came time for me to pick books for vacation, I naturally plucked "Mere Anarchy" from my bookshelf.

"Mere Anarchy" is a perfect book for travel because it's a small book that contains a series of short stories. Each story lasts only a few pages long so one could easily pick up the book and drop it. As it so happened, I had a free afternoon outside and I ended up finishing the book in a few hours.

While the book may not have taken long to finish I wouldn't label it a breezy read. Allen often used complicated syntax when describing the simplest details. At times I felt like I could have benefited from using a dictionary. Still I was able to overcome Allen's rhetoric and plough through the book. And as in any collection of short stories, there were a few stories that stood out more than others. Then there was the rare story or two that made me pause and wonder how it could have made the final cut. But overall I found "Mere Anarchy" to be a mostly enjoyable, readable, and oftentimes humorous body of work. I'd say the best audience for this book would be a Woody Allen fan or at the very least a person who is familiar with Allen.