A friend lent me this collection of short stories by Jincy Willett, Jenny and the Jaws of Life. One story, "The Best of Betty," features a sassy and sarcastic advice columnist whose transformation of sorts is reflected through her advice to increasingly hostile, angry, and crazy readers.

My friend liked this story because she used to cut out those Ask Heloise columns - she was convinced Heloise was losing her mind, since Heloise would suggest increasingly bizarre uses for various household items.

In the story, there's this reader, Petunia, who writes in with a lot of gardening ideas and tips, and it's just really funny. When Betty is accused by a reader of being presumptuous and patronizing when Petunia asks Betty for "suggestions as to what I can do with a ten-foot length of old garden hose," Betty responds, "Look, we know for a fact she's a cornball. No one who asks what she should do with a ten-foot length of hose could possibly have a sense of humor."