nomadreader

As I've been home for more than two months, I've found myself (finally) reading through my backlog of comics I've checked out from the library (thank you extended due dates!) It's fun to dip into a book I can read in a single sitting, and it helps keep my reading momentum going. Here are three I've read this month: Stepping Stones  by Lucy Knisley Y'all know I love Lucy Knisley's graphic memoirs and comics, so I was excited to read her debut middle-grade graphic novel, which is inspired by her childhood. When Jen's parents get divorced, she has to leave New York City and moves to an upstate farm with her mom and her mom's boyfriend. His two daughters only live with them every other weekend. All three help sell at the farmer's market. As always, Knisley's art is lovely. I struggled with this graphic novel because I found it to be very sad. Because we only see things from Jen's perspective, and she's so young, the wisdom and persp...

The basics:   "A sharp, funny, delightfully unhinged collection of stories set in the dark world of domesticity, American Housewife features murderous ladies who lunch, celebrity treasure hunters, and the best bra fitter south of the Mason Dixon line."--publisher My thoughts: I knew from the first line of the first story in this collection that it was exactly what I needed to be reading: "Inspired by Beyonce, I stallion-walk to the toaster." I was hooked. I devoured this collection in a single morning. I read voraciously and was rather despondent when I finished. I didn't know what I could possibly read after that could stand up to Ellis's voice (my only option was to pick up something completely different.) While the stories in this collection have some similarities and share some common themes, my reading experience was filled with surprises and delight. I read with glee. Favorite passage: "You are so bad!" is Southern Lady code for: Th...

The backstory: A History of the Present Illness  was longlisted for the 2014 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize . The basics: A History of Present Ilness  is a collection of short stories, some very loosely linked with characters, that examines different aspects of the contemporary health system in San Francisco. Louise Aronson has both an M.D. (from Harvard) and an M.F.A. My thoughts: Regular readers know I am not a huge fan of short stories, but when I read them, I prefer collections to be thematically linked. Thus, the premise of A History of the Present Illness  excited me. Through these stories, Aronson beautifully explores humanity. As I read, I found myself stopping after most stories to ponder them. Aronson manages to explore many themes in these stories, and her variety was a pleasant surprise. The collection's second story, "An American Problem," tells the story of a family of Cambodian immigrants and firmly establishes the ambition of this collection: “In ...

The backstory: Redeployment , the debut short story collection by Phil Klay, has been honored twice by the National Book Award . It's on the 2014 shortlist, and it's also a 5 Under 35 pick. The basics: This thematic collection of short stories focuses on soldiers fighting in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. Klay served in the U.S. Marine Corps and in the Iraq War. My thoughts: There's been a surge of fiction about the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars in the past few years. I've read and reviewed several titles here: Eleven Days by Lea Carpenter, Unremarried Widow  by Artis Henderson, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk  by Ben Fountain, The Yellow Birds  by Kevin Powers, and You Know When The Men Are Gone  by Siobhan Fallon. Just as I've come to compare books about World War II to one another, I've also apparently reached the threshhold where stories about the Iraq and Afghanistan cause me to reflect and compare them against one another. In this sense, Phil Klay...

The basics: The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher  is a collection of unrelated short stories. My thoughts: Hilary Mantel is an author who intimidates me. Although many rave about her two most recent novels, Wolf Hall  and Bring Up the Bodies , both of which won the Booker Prize , I don't find myself as drawn to them. Still, I wanted to read Mantel, and her new collection of stories presented the perfect opportunity. The title story and book cover are audacious, and I was eager to dive in. There is no link, thematically or otherwise, to these stories. In that sense, the collection doesn't feel like a collection. If pressed, I wouldn't even guess the same person wrote all of them. As is typical, I enjoyed some more than others. The standout story in this collection is "The Heart Fails Without Warning," which tackles anorexia by examining the perspectives of each member of a family with two daughters, one of whom is anorexic. It's haunting and beautifull...

The backstory: After thoroughly enjoying Paula Bomer's debut novel, Nine Months  ( my review ), and her debut short story collection, Baby & Other Stories  ( my review ), earlier this summer, I was excited to read her newest collection of stories, Inside Madeleine . The basics: Inside Madeleine  includes eight short stories and the titular novella. My thoughts: When I read Bomer's first collection of stories, I said, "When I do enjoy short stories, I like a boldness of story telling: use the medium for its benefits. Bomer did not disappoint." Yet Inside Madeleine  is even more bold than Baby & Other Stories . I even think it's more bold than Nine Months . Bomer has emerged as one of my favorite writers this summer, and I'm surprised to say I enjoy her short fiction as much, if not more than, her novel. She's an astonishingly brave writer. I thoroughly enjoyed each of the stories in this collection, but "Inside Madeleine" really ta...

The backstory: After loving   Nine Months , Paula Bomer's first novel , I was so enchanted with her writing, I wanted to read her short stories (and y'all know short stories are not typically my thing. Except when they   are   awesome .) The basics: This collection of stories is somewhat thematic, but not entirely so. Many of the stories feature parents of young children and/or pregnant women. In some stories these attributes are the focus, but in others they aren't. My thoughts: One of the reasons I was curious about this collection was because I found Nine Months  so bold. When I do enjoy short stories, I like a boldness of story telling: use the medium for its benefits. Bomer did not disappoint. The first story in the collection, The Mother of His Children" is raw and bold, but it's also a beautiful exploration of love and humanity. As is often the case with collections (of short stories or essays), I enjoyed some more than others. What I loved about the...

The backstory: The UnAmericans, Molly Antopol's debut short story collection, was named one of the National Book Award's 5 Under 35 last year . The basics: This collection of stories addresses themes of home, immigration, and history. My thoughts: Longtime readers of this blog know that short stories are not my favorite medium, but the reviews were so universally glowing for Molly Antopol that I've been anticipating this collection since I first heard about it. The collection's first story, "The Old World," is among its best. It absolutely blew me away, and perhaps it set my expectations for the rest of the collection too high. As my reading continued, I found the collection to somewhat uneven, except the highs were exceptional stories and the lows were still good stories. There was one story that I found relatively ordinary, but as a collection, it's impressive. I often struggle with assessing story collections as a whole because the order matters ...

The backstory: Thumbprint  is a graphic novel adaptation of Joe Hill's short story. The basics: Mallory Grennan is back from the Iraq War, where she took part in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison abuse. She's tending bar and trying to forget the past, but signs keep popping up that someone is here and trying to remind her. My thoughts: When I picked up Thumbprint , I didn't know anything about it, and I was immediately pulled into its narrative. Mallory Grennan is a haunting and fascinating character. Admittedly, part of my fascination with her stems from her gender (and Hill's treatment of it.) In the flashbacks to Iraq, it seemed inconsequential, yet when she's home bartending, the one male patron in particular sees her only as a woman, rather than as a person. Her story is grim, and the graphic novel's tone follows suit. In this sense, the graphicness of the illustrations force the reader to see the horrors of war rather than simply imagine them. It's ...

Welcome to Short Story Saturday, a returning semi-regular feature. The project stems from a desire to read more short stories. It's not a secret I prefer novels to short stories, but I'm working to stretch myself as a reader, and part of that will be reading more short stories. When I have read short story collections, I've often found them hard to review as a whole. This feature will allow me to review collections as a whole or separately, but I'll also be reviewing individual stories. The backstory: This Is How You Lose Her, the second story collection from Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner Junot Diaz, was a finalist for the 2012 National Book Award . Update: it was also a finalist for the 2013 Carnegie Medal . The basics: This Is How You Lose Her  is a somewhat thematic story collection. The stories are all about love or a relationship to some extent. Most of the stories are narrated by Yunior, the narrator of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao ( my review .)...

The backstory: Although I'm not a big fan of short story collections, I am a big fan of Emma Donoghue and her varied work (my reviews of Room  and The Sealed Letter .) The basics: Astray is a diverse collection of stories.The characters and locations spread across centuries and continents. What unites them is a sense of theme: each story features a character who is somehow astray. My thoughts: The first story in Astray  didn't particularly captivate me. It's the story of a British circus elephant and his trainer as they prepare to move to the United States. It was enjoyable enough, but what really enchanted me was the unexpected author's note at the story's end. The story was rooted in history and based on real characters and events. As I continued to read, I looked forward to these author's notes. It was a fascinating glimpse into both what intrigues Donoghue and how much history the characters were rooted in. The collection's second story, "Onwa...

The backstory: Accordion Crimes  was shortlisted for the Orange Prize in 1997. The basics: Accordion Crimes  traces the lives of immigrants from a variety of countries  throughout the 1900's as a single green accordion ties the stories loosely together. My thoughts: From the very first pages, I was enchanted with the writing of E. Annie Proulx. I vaguely recall reading Close Range  in college, but I can't remember if I even liked her writing or stories. I'll remember her now. The downside to my love of her writing was her brilliant characterization, as I didn't realize when I started this book that it  was a series of (long) short stories. When the first story came to an end, I was devastated. In some ways, the book never quite recovered for me. Despite the significance of the accordion to both the characters and stories, the accordion was perhaps my least favorite aspect of this novel. As a narrative device, it worked beautifully. I loved the idea of an ob...

The backstory: Communion Town  has been longlisted for the 2012 Booker Prize . The basics:  The tagline for Communion Town  is "A City in Ten Chapters." Aside from setting the stories have little in common, but instead they give ten different perspectives on the city of Communion Town. My thoughts: I was immediately intrigued by the premise of this novel. I imagined the stories to have some overlapping characters and places. Instead, the more I read, the more convinced I became this book is not really a novel. Ultimately, it's a collection of stories that take place in the same city. I confess I enjoyed this book less as it went on, but Thompson's writing is superb. There were a few stories I didn't care for at all, but for the most part, the writing carried throughout the stories I liked and didn't like. Throughout the first three stories, I kept searching for the common threads, either in character, location or theme. I didn't find much, but there ...

The backstory: Binocular Vision: New and Collected Stories  is a finalist for the 2011 National Book Award . The basics: This collection of short stories is not connected by a common theme. The stories dart through history and feature numerous locations worldwide. Most stories do, however, feature Judaism or take place in Boston, and sometimes both. My thoughts: Mr. Nomadreader and I are huge fans of The Next Iron Chef,  the reality competition show to pick the next Iron Chef. (Stay with me here.) A recurring theme on the show is the danger of making duos and triples with the secret ingredient because it allows the judges to judge you against yourself rather than your competitors. As the only short story collection to be a finalist for the National Book Award, at times it felt Edith Pearlman is competing against herself, and it wasn't always successful for me. Pearlman is a brilliant writer and storyteller, yet my lack of fondness for short stories came th...

Welcome to Short Story Saturday, a semi-regular feature. The project stems from a desire to read more short stories. It's not a secret I prefer novels to short stories, but I'm working to stretch myself as a reader, and part of that will be reading more short stories. When I have read short story collections, I've often found them hard to review as a whole. This feature will allow me to review collections as a whole or separately, but I'll also be reviewing individual stories from a variety of sources. The basics: You Know When the Men Are Gone is a loosely interconnected set of stories about soldiers and their families at Ft. Hood in Texas. My thoughts: Although I'm not always a fan of short story collections, I'm beginning to think I do enjoy collections with a strong theme. After reading so many glowing reviews of this collection, I grabbed it off the shelf at the library one day and started reading. The first (and titular) story was engrossing...

Welcome to the first installment of Short Story Saturday, a new semi-regular feature. The project stems from a desire to read more short stories. It's not a secret I prefer novels to short stories, but I'm working to stretch myself as a reader, and part of that will be reading more short stories. When I have read short story collections, I've often found them hard to review as a whole. This feature will allow me to review collections as a whole or separately, but I'll also be reviewing individual stories from a variety of sources. First up: "Home" by George Saunders, which appeared in the 2011 Summer Fiction issue of The New Yorker. The backstory: When I went to see Karen Russell and Julie Orringer earlier this year , I asked them about who and what they were reading and how their reading habits differed while writing. Both mentioned George Saunders as a perennial source of information. I've never read Saunders (largely because he doesn't write nov...

The backstory: In Other Rooms, Other Wonders  was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Literature and a 2009 National Book Award Finalist. The basics: This set of interconnected short stories examines life in Pakistan from many perspectives and utilizes a variety of narrators. My thoughts: It's relatively well known around here that short stories are not my favorite medium, but I do have a fondness for interconnected short stories because they can often contain novel-like elements. The interconnection in these stories comes from the casual mention of mostly minor characters in other stories. Together, however, these stories help paint an ambitious portrait of people in a place.  Mueenuddin's writing style is straightforward but powerful. His characterizations of people and their actions are complex, but the language he uses is not: These new powers changed him. Because he had no higher ambitions, he became impartial. By temperament orderly, within this isolated...

The backstory:  How to Escape from a Leper Colony was one of the 5 Under 35 selections from the National Book Foundation this year. My thoughts: This book is dubbed a novella and stories, but I would classify it as including two novellas. As always with collections, however, it's difficult to describe. The common themes among the stories are their Virgin Islands setting and ideas on colonialism. I found overtones of ideas from Monique Roffey's White Woman on a Green Bicycle ( my review ), which looked at an ex-patriot British couple living in Trinidad. I don't mean to equate colonial literature about two different countries, but there were some thematic similarities. Regular readers know I am not a huge fan of short story collections, but I do often enjoy them. I adored Tiphanie Yanique's writing, and she skillfully evoked strong characters and a setting, which was especially impressive in the shorter stories. "Movies are like so much art. They can start a ...

This statement will be sacrilege to many of you: I do not normally read short stories. I am a devoted New Yorker reader, and I often don't finish the short story in each issue. I don't seek out short story collections to read. I'm not quite sure why I have an aversion to short stories, and I'm trying to be better. Personal backstory: I discovered Elizabeth Crane, one of my favorite authors, when her first book of short stories, When the Messenger is Hot , was first published. I read a glowing review in Entertainment Weekly and immediately requested it from the library. When I picked it up, I realized it was short stories. I reread the review, and I decided to read it. To this day, it's one of my favorite books. I eagerly read her second collection of stories, All This Heavenly Glory , and I finally got around to reading her third collection, You Must Be This Happy to Enter . Review: Short story collections are difficult to review. I'll say this: the firs...