"Incisive, strange, and often philosophically compelling."--Time Out (Critics' Pick) "Short and sweet. . . . The pleasure of Guida's aphorisms is the way they illuminate the ridiculous, childlike, or reckless nature of our actions while simultaneously convincing us that we wouldn't know nearly as much about ourselves and others without our errors."--The Second Pass "It takes a rare gift to write in the aphoristic form, which must be witty and modest at once, and must state in a fresh, arresting way observations which the reader will recognize at once as true. It goes without saying that the aphorist must work out of an unusual perceptiveness and self-knowledge, and I am grateful to James Guida for this book which I have read from start to finish and shall read again."--Richard Wilbur "Like Oscar Wilde, Guida cultivates wryness. . . . Inventive and imaginative, erudite and atmospheric."--The Brooklyn Rail "The writing of ahporisms seems a lost art today . . . Marbles is] full of thought-provoking sayings: some clever, some sad, some funny, some scathing."--The New Yorker's Book Bench blog Author James Guida revives an old form, the aphorism, but turns his eye to twenty-first-century scenarios. The comedy of internet dating, e-mail fiascos, and improvised postmodern mores are featured here. Whatever the subject, Guida's conclusions are independent-minded and travel against the grain. This is a collection of lucid, whimsical, wise, succinct, and sometimes biting musings by a young Australian living in New York.