Elizabeth Berg’s collection of short stories reminds the reader of a photo album of wacky relatives and acquaintances.

There’s the grandmother who locks herself in the bathroom for a little peace and quiet for a week. There’s the undemonstrative father pinned to the TV set. And the 11-year-old who likes to play matchmaker with her elderly neighbors.

The collection of stories in “Ordinary Life” are quirky and amusing, but more often poignant.

In the first and longest story, “Ordinary Life: A Love Story,” Mavis McPherson, 79, locks herself in the bathroom for a “retreat.” Her perplexed, hard-of-hearing husband has trouble grasping this sudden change in their lives and stands nervously at the other side of the door, trying to persuade her to come out.

Mavis uses the time reclining in the bathroom to reflect on her life.

As in much of Berg’s writings, it’s the ordinary touching aspects of everyday life that seem to carry the most impact: Mavis’ recollection of giving her infant son a bath, old flowered mixing bowls she stored leftovers in years ago, and her father’s old baggy gray sweater.