"We teach our children little virtues instead of the great ones; thrift instead of generosity, caution instead of courage, shrewdness not frankness, tact rather than love. I think they should be taught the great ones," writes Natalia Ginzburg in this superb collection of her finest short works. Each essay is a gem, written in Ms. Ginzburg's unique style and tone: practical, sometimes even brusque, understated in the midst of the sorrows and joys of life it recounts.