In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin

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In Other Rooms, Other Wonders (W.W. Norton, 2009) is Daniyal Mueenuddin's debut collection, a set of eight linked stories set mainly in Pakistan. Among other things, the book was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Award finalist, and a New York Times bestseller.

This is a pretty phenomenal collection overall, and it is difficult to single out individual pieces, but my favorite stories were the bookends: "Nawabdin Electrician" and "A Spoiled Man."

He flourished on a signature capability, a technique for cheating the electric company by slowing down the revolutions of electric meters, so cunningly done that his customers could specify to the hundred-rupee note the desired monthly savings.
--From "Nawabdin Electrician," pp. 13-28 in the paperback version, originally published in The New Yorker (August 27, 2007) and later in Best American Short Stories 2008.

There he stood at the stone gateway of the Harounis' weekend home above Islamabad, a small bowlegged man with a lopsided battered face. When the American wife's car drove up, turning off the Murree road, Rezak saluted, eyes straight ahead, not looking at her.
--From "A Spoiled Man," pp. 221-247, originally published in The New Yorker (September 15, 2008).

(If I absolutely had to choose a third, it would be "Our Lady of Paris," pp. 143-168, originally from Zoetrope: All Story, Volume 10, Number 3 (Fall 2006). Sohail and Helen had begun dating two years earlier, at Yale, where she was an undergraduate and he at the law school. After graduating the previous summer he had returned to his home in Pakistan, while she completed her senior year.)

However, the collection is really more than the sum of its parts. "A Spoiled Man" is incredible on its own, but every bit of the story, even of the title, is more nuanced and meaningful when read with the other stories. It was, I thought, a perfect ending to the book.

"Indulgence" by Susan Perabo

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My mother was thrilled to be dying of brain cancer after a lifetime of smoking. She had dodged the bullet of lung cancer after all, she triumphantly announced to me on the phone that summer afternoon. All those years my brothers and I had hassled her, lectured her, begged her, berated her (“Don’t you want to see your grandchildren graduate from college?”)—and for what? Her lungs were fine! . . .

"Indulgence," a short story by Susan Perabo, published in One Story, Issue Number 178 (May 3, 2013). The link has a sample of the story and a Q&A with Susan Perabo. (The editor's notes mention this, but I will, too: there are some spoilers in the Q&A.) This was a really poignant story.

The Spring 2013 issue of the Apple Valley Review (April 2, 2013)

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The Spring 2013 issue of the journal features short fiction by Jessica Rafalko, Daniel Ellis, Scott David, and Paul Pekin; a series of three short essays by Laura Vrcek; poetry by Lyn Lifshin, Sharlene Teo, Priscilla Atkins, Christina Frei, Jada Ach, Iain Macdonald, Claudia Serea, Pádrí Veum, and Gail Peck; and artwork by modern Russian landscape painter Dmitry Levin.

The Apple Valley Review is a semiannual online literary journal. The current issue, previous issues, subscription information, and complete submission guidelines are available at www.applevalleyreview.com.

Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls

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Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls: Essays, Etc. by David Sedaris (Little, Brown and Company, 2013).

My favorite essay was "A Guy Walks into a Bar Car" (pp. 123-137), which was originally published in The New Yorker as "Guy Walks into a Bar Car" on April 20, 2009.

My other favorites were "Memory Laps" (pp. 27-41), "Easy, Tiger" (pp. 77-86) and "Laugh, Kookaburra" (pp. 87-99), which were also originally published in The New Yorker.

"The Thing Is" by Ellen Bass

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The Thing Is

to love life, to love it even
when you have no stomach for it
and everything you've held dear
crumbles like burnt paper in your hands . . .

"The Thing Is," a poem by Ellen Bass, continued online in The Writer's Almanac or in print in her collection Mules of Love (BOA Editions, 2002).

A few poems for April

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The lake freezes, the lake closes its eyes
and a minor paralysis comes upon us.
From the knees, I stand in landfall, landfill. . . .

From "This Body of Water Is Not Meant to Move," a poem by Jane Wong, published in Linebreak (April 3, 2013).

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After work I'd go to the little bars
along the bright green river, Chloe's Lounge,
Cloverleaf, Barleycorn, it was like dying
to sit at five p.m. with a Bud so cold
it had no taste, it stung my hand,
when I returned home I missed my keys
and rang until my wife's delicate head
emerged in her high window . . .

From "The Bars," a poem by D. Nurkse, published in A Night in Brooklyn (Alfred A. Knopf, 2012) and presented by Knopf Poem-a-Day on April 4, 2013.

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I am dreaming of a letter
that I am writing to my
dead sister. The text
appears word for word
before me and I find that
it is the coming accounting
of her eulogy or this poem. . . .

From "Our Hair," a poem by Barbara Gravelle, published in Salome Magazine (April 1, 2013).

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I wanted to give you something —
no stone, clay, bracelet,
no edible leaf could pass through. . . .

From "The Present," a poem by Jane Hirshfield, published in Come, Thief (Alfred A. Knopf, 2011) and presented by Knopf Poem-a-Day on April 11, 2013.

Four short stories, a poem, and an essay

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"As Dreams of Poets," a short story by Timothy Dyke, Drunken Boat (Number 15).

"I Am Thinking of Starting My Own Religion," a short story by Timothy C. Dyke, Spork Press.

"What Happened When She Moved In," flash fiction by Steven D. Stark, Fleeting (February 27, 2013).

"Cortes Island," a short story by Alice Munro, The New Yorker (October 12, 1998) and reprinted in her story collection The Love of a Good Woman (Vintage 1998, pp. 117-145).

"Russian Beggarwoman II," a poem by Gail Peck, Ekphrasis (2008).

"The Poverty Clinic," an essay by Paul Tough, The New Yorker (March 21, 2011, pp. 25-32).