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Best of the South: From the Second Decade of New Stories from the South (1996-2005), edited by Shannon Ravenel, with stories selected and introduced by Anne Tyler, has been on my nightstand for years now. It sounds silly, but there are certain books that I've looked forward to so much that I don't want to spoil the anticipation by actually reading them.
Anyway, I've read some real clunkers lately and needed something good. So I finally opened Best of the South yesterday, and immediately read a short story that I've read numerous times: "The Happy Memories Club" by Lee Smith. It was originally published in The Atlantic Monthly, and it's one of my all-time favorite stories.
The writing is good, of course--sharp, sometimes funny, perfectly wrought--but there is also something about this story that is just so poignant.
LINKS:
"The Happy Memories Club" at The Atlantic Monthly online
Lee Smith reading "The Happy Memories Club" in the audio archive for the WUNC 91.5 FM show "The State of Things"
News of the Spirit (a collection of short stories by Lee Smith), New Stories from the South (1996), and Best of the South (1996-2005), all of which include "The Happy Memories Club"
Monday, July 21, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
My Mistress's Sparrow Is Dead
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It's taken several weeks, but I've finally finished every story in the anthology I've been reading: My Mistress's Sparrow Is Dead: Great Love Stories, from Chekhov to Munro edited by Jeffrey Eugenides (HarperCollins, 2008).
Intimidated by Eugenides's introductory description of Robert Musil's "difficult and rather punishing 'Tonka,'" I read it last, though I mainly found the story intriguing. There were quite a few familiar stories in the anthology (Chekhov's "The Lady with the Little Dog," Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," Nabokov's "Spring in Fialta," Raymond Carver's "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love") combined with several authors/stories which were refreshingly new, at least to me (Eileen Chang's "Red Rose, White Rose," David Bezmozgis's "Natasha," Richard Ford's "Fireworks," Milan Kundera's "The Hitchhiking Game").
This was a strong collection overall, but my two favorites were "Something That Needs Nothing" by Miranda July and "The Bear Came Over the Mountain" by Alice Munro. One other story that stood out in my mind was "Jon" by George Saunders.
Amazon's page for the book includes Q & A with Jeffrey Eugenides, including a note about a story he selected but wasn't able to include ("Brokeback Mountain" by Annie Proulx) and information about the student writing programs offered by 826 Chicago (which will receive all author proceeds from sales of the anthology).
It's taken several weeks, but I've finally finished every story in the anthology I've been reading: My Mistress's Sparrow Is Dead: Great Love Stories, from Chekhov to Munro edited by Jeffrey Eugenides (HarperCollins, 2008).
Intimidated by Eugenides's introductory description of Robert Musil's "difficult and rather punishing 'Tonka,'" I read it last, though I mainly found the story intriguing. There were quite a few familiar stories in the anthology (Chekhov's "The Lady with the Little Dog," Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," Nabokov's "Spring in Fialta," Raymond Carver's "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love") combined with several authors/stories which were refreshingly new, at least to me (Eileen Chang's "Red Rose, White Rose," David Bezmozgis's "Natasha," Richard Ford's "Fireworks," Milan Kundera's "The Hitchhiking Game").
This was a strong collection overall, but my two favorites were "Something That Needs Nothing" by Miranda July and "The Bear Came Over the Mountain" by Alice Munro. One other story that stood out in my mind was "Jon" by George Saunders.
Amazon's page for the book includes Q & A with Jeffrey Eugenides, including a note about a story he selected but wasn't able to include ("Brokeback Mountain" by Annie Proulx) and information about the student writing programs offered by 826 Chicago (which will receive all author proceeds from sales of the anthology).
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