Moody Monday Book Review - Cathedral (short stories) by Raymond Carver

 For a mere fifty cents at the library book sale, I bought Cathedral by Raymond Carver. It's a collection of short stories from the early 1980s and considered some of his best work. 

jealousy, insecurity, isolation, detachment and connection

Old Raymond is a bummer to read. Then again, he captures a lot of quiet desperation against stark backdrops. 

Yes, the writing is good but it was a bit jarring here in 2022. The man was an alcoholic and every story, every character practically starts their day with a drink and continues from there. Plenty of smoking too. It seemed a bit dated, like watching some old black and white films. 

I try to revisit classics, but this was a tough one. 

Book Review - You Think It, I'll Say It

Curtis Sittenfield hit the world with Prep, American Wife, and Eligible. Now her short story collection brings to life modern day characters with interesting flaws.

Cover blurb – Throughout the ten stories in You Think It, I’ll Say It, Sittenfield upends assumptions about class, relationships, and gender roles in a nation that feels both adrift and viscerally divided. In “The World Has Many Butterflies” married acquaintances play a strangely intimate game with devastating consequences. In “Vox Clamantis in Deserto” a shy Ivy League student learns the truth about a classmate’s seemingly enviable life. And in the “Prairie Wife” a suburban mother of two fantasizes about the downfall of an old friend whose wholesome lifestyle empire may or may not be built on a lie.

I enjoy Curtis Sittenfield’s writing and she is quite deft in striking to the heart of an issue, stroking it with finesse, and completing the full story with grace. Her dialogue is current. Her characters are well developed. From the promise that was Prep, this author has emerged as a strong American writer who commands her art with wit and depth.

Arts and Letters Live - Selected Shorts

 When you are a kid, you enjoy being read to out loud. Well, turns out - it's a joy as an adult, too.
The latest Dallas Museum of Art's program Arts and Letters Live featured three selected short stories read aloud by three known actors. Truly inspirational. The theme was Surprised by Love, and yes, each story had a twist.

 

 

Jane Kaczmarek (known as the mother in Malcom in the Middle) read The Proxy Marriage by Maile Meloy.  She seemed touched by the story herself.

 

Mary Kay Place (from the Big Chill to Big Love) has a wry sense of humor and she brought her voice to Who Am I This Time? by Kurt Vonnegut. This was my favorite.

 

Rene Auberjonois (Broadway and Star Trek:Deep Space Nine) gave a rousing read of The Big Cat by Louise Erdrich. This story built slowly, but was rich in description.

 

This program turned out to be a very fun 1-1/2 hours. Check it out if Selected Short Stories comes to your area. As an author, I've read my own writing out loud - it makes you think about word choice, rhythm, and whether there is a flow.

 

 

Book Review: Family Furnishings by Alice Munro

Alice Munro won the Nobel Prize for literature in 2013, and the key to her writing is short stories.

The Nobel Prize presentation speech summed it up - Reading one of Alice Munro's stories is like watching a cat walk across a laid dinner table. A brief short story can often cover decades, summarizing a life, as she moves deftly between different periods. No wonder Alice Munro is often able to say more in thirty pages than an ordinary novelist is capable of in three hundred. She is a virtuoso of the elliptical and the master of the contemporary short story.

The Family Furnishings collection offers twenty-four accomplished tales. It is worth time and effort to read each story slowly, relish the details, and ponder her characters and their life choices.

I liked this line from the story Too Much Happiness - "Always remember that when a man goes out of the room, he leaves everything in it behind," her friend Marie Mendelson has told her. "When a woman goes out she carries everything that happened in the room along with her."

Observe life with Alice Munro. Read Family Furnishings.

Book Review: Hilary Mantel

Shocking title, isn't it?

From the cover blurb - Cutting to the core of human experience, Hilary Mantel brutally and acutely writes about marriage, class, family, and sex. Unpredictable, diverse, and sometimes shocking, The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher displays a magnificent writer at the peak of her powers.

This two time winner of the Man Booker Prize excels in this collection of short stories. I shall give some examples of superb writing, and then say "Go read the book as a master class of character, story arc, and unsettling brilliance."

p.47 There was a dull roasting sensation deep inside your limbs, but no sensation as you peeled yourself like a vegetable. You were sent to bed when you were sleepy, but as the heat of the bedclothes fretted your skin you woke again

p.143 Eccles House, was on a stifling scale of its own. I stood and breathed in- because one must breathe- tar of ten thousand cigarettes, fat of ten thousand breakfasts, the leaking metal seep of a thousand shaving cuts, and the horse chestnut whiff of nocturnal emissions

p.198 Render me the texture of flesh. Pick me what it is, in the timbre of voice, that marks out the living from the dead

p.201  I am willing, though, to tear up the timetable and take some new routes; and I know I shall find, at some unlikely terminus, a hand that is meant to rest in mine.

Gosh, I wish I had written that last line

Cover Reveal

I am very pleased to participate in the cover reveal for Annalisa Crawford's new story collection. I met her through an A to Z Blog Challenge, and have enjoyed her blog. I'm also a fan of her first collection That Sadie Thing and also her book Cat and the Dreamer.

So without further ado..........drum roll please..........

 

 

 

 

 

Title: Our Beautiful Child

Author: Annalisa Crawford

Release date: 10^th June 2014

Publisher: Battered Suitcase Press 

“The Boathouse collects misfits. Strange solitary creatures that yearn for contact with the outside world, but not too much. They sit, glass in hand, either staring at the table in front of them, or at some distant point on the horizon.”

… so says the narrator of Our Beautiful Child. And he’s been around long enough to know.

People end up in this town almost by accident. Ella is running away from her nightmares, Sally is running away from the memories of previous boyfriends and Rona is running away from university. Each of them seek sanctuary in the 18th century pub, The Boathouse; but in fact, that’s where their troubles begin.

Ella finds love, a moment too late; Rona discovers a beautiful ability which needs refining before she gets hurt; and Sally meets the captivating Murray, who threatens to ruin everything.

Three women. Three stories. One pub.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I live in Cornwall UK, with a good supply of beaches and moorland right on my doorstep to keep me inspired. I live with my husband, two sons, a dog and a cat.

Despite my location, I neither surf nor sail, and have never had any inclination to try. I much prefer walking along a deserted beach and listening to the waves crashing over rocks. For this reason, I really love the beach in the winter!

Links:

Website // Blog // Twitter // Facebook // Pinterest // Add to Goodreads

 

Thanks Annalisa for letting me in on the sneak peek. All the best to you, and let's support this talented writer.

 

Book Review: Dear Life by Alice Munro

From the cover blurb: Alice Munro's peerless ability to give us the essence of a life in often brief but always spacious and timeless stories is once again everywhere apparent in this brilliant new collection.

Indeed, chance encounters, twists of fate, small town gossip vs. big city anonymity, accidents, dangers, departures, and beginnings - all paint a radiant, indelible portrait of how strange, perilous, and extraordinary ordinary life can be.

I enjoyed this collection, Dear Life, and Munro is so graceful in her writing. It seems effortless, but at age 81 she's had quite a lot of practice. Her descriptions, settings, and characters are just so good. Why am I even commenting? I am not worthy. Truly - just not worthy. But I'm delighted to be a reader of her work.

Here are a few samples of her prose:

P. 10  Here nobody was safe. Judgement might be passed behind backs, even on the known and published. An air of cleverness or nerves obtained, no matter who you were.

P. 176  Jumping off the train was supposed to be a cancellation. You roused your body, readied your knees, to enter a different block of air. You looked forward to emptiness.

P. 319  We say of some things that they can't be forgiven, or that we will never forgive ourselves. But we do - we do it all the time.

For those who admire the short story, read Alice Munro's Dear Life and shake your head in awe of great writing.

U.K. Cover Reveal from Annalisa Crawford

Annalisa Crawford is a blog friend far across the pond in Cornwall, UK. I am fortunate to get to present her cover reveal for her collection of short stories. I hope my blog friends support this talented young writer.
Very cool cover, Annalisa. Thanks for letting me host a Texas debut.

A couple break up on a rainy night; a runaway longs to go home; a woman finds comfort from eating lunch as her best friend lies in hospital; a teenager feels oppressed by her father. All of the characters in these stories are trying to find their place in the world, attempting to find connections that matter with the people around them.

This collection brings together prize-winning and published stories from the past twenty years: the ‘greatest hits’.

That Sadie Thing and other stories will be available on

Kindle from Monday 25th February 2013.

Annalisa Crawford lives and writes in Cornwall with a good supply of beaches and moorland to keep her inspired. She finds endless possibilities in the relationships between people. As this collection testifies, she has been writing for twenty years - but doesn't feel a day over twenty-one.

Find her on her blog, Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads.