We haven’t been at the pool all week (except for a short time Sunday, when the rain sent us home), because my daughter has dance in the mornings; and by the time she’s home, we’ve been plagued by afternoon thunderstorms.   Right now, as I write this, it is pouring by the bucketfuls.  My kids are not too happy about our July weather; and even less happy by the fact that back-to-school is right around the corner (three weeks from today!) — meaning the amount of pool time for them is ever-shrinking. 

So, my last poolside read — finished this Sunday – was what?  “War Dances”, by Sherman Alexie.  A short story collection with poems sprinkled in between, this was a good poolside read without being brain mush.    At 209 pages, and with the way the book was structured, this was a very quick read, as well.

This is not my first experience with Sherman Alexie; see last September post discussing three of his books “Reading Sherman Alexie“.     “War Dances”, is Mr. Alexie’s most recent — having been published fall 2009 (Grove/Atlantic).  Although I believe that the paperback edition is officially out now, I’ve  had a trade paperback copy for a while – ordered from QPB.com.  I’ve been a long-time (since college!) member of QPB — how many of you know of QPB (Quality Paperback Bookclub)?

Anyway, back to “War Dances”.  There are only six short stories in this collection; and as I mentioned, also some poetry.  But also in between these two forms are several passages written in Question and Answer format.  I think Mr. Alexie is being experimental here in how this volume is put together.  But, by “experimental”, I don’t mean that this leaves the reader scratching his or her head wondering, what the heck did he mean here?  After all, I consider him to be a fairly straightforward writer. 

Here is how I would briefly describe each short story:

“Breaking and Entering” is about a Native-American who is a free-lance film editor that does his work at his home.  One day, his home is broken in by a young African-American man.  The film editor acts in self-defense.  The rest of the story deals with the aftermath and publicity, and looks at how minorities are often seen and portrayedin the media and real life.

“War Dances” is structured a little differently than a traditional short story; with some parallelism in there — but the basic premise is a man whose alcoholic and diabetic father is in the hospital nearing the end of his life.  The son notices that the hospital blankets are ridiculously thin and unable to keep his father warm, so the son goes out in search for other Native American patients, figuring that their family members might have heavy, warm Native-American blankets.  There is more to the story than this, but that incident really stood out for me. 

“The Senator’s Son” does not have a Native-American focus. It’s about a young man whose dad is a conservative politician.  In this story, the young man relates how he loses the friendship of his best friend, Jeremy.  When they are 16, Jeremy confesses that he  is gay.  This story is somewhat sad.

“The Ballad of Paul Nonetheless” is about a man who loses his desire for his gorgeous wife (after she has had children).  He flirts with women (and does more than that, too).  He meets a woman with red Puma shoes — hence the illustration on book’s cover — and flirts with her.  The repartee between them is amusing at times, although I didn’t  like Paul.

“Fearful Symmetry” shows how a screenwriter sees his project being destroyed and dumbed-down by an arrogant film producer.  The title of this short story is based on the screenplay which itself is based on a book about Native American smoke-jumpers.  “Fearful Symmetry” borrows its’ title from stanzas of a poem by William Blake (Tyger! Tyger! burning bright…).

The last story, “Salt”, is about a summer intern at a newspaper who ends up being requested to write the obituary for the obituaries editor.  He also gets a strange phone call from someone who wants to write an obituary for her dead husband — this is somewhat a bittersweet story.

Although I liked the book “War Dances”, I think if I were to recommend one Sherman Alexie book to start with; from what I’ve read so far of him — it would be the YA title, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”.

Have you read Sherman Alexie yet?

Now, I need to decide on my next poolside book (although I’m not sure when we’ll go again, because of this weather, and also having company arriving next week).  Would you like to help me decide?  I’m currently reading “Mudbound” by Hillary Jordan and “Beirut 39″,  a collection of translated Arabic writings edited by Samuel Shimon; but neither are really pool-side reads.

Here’s what I’m thinking of (I admit I narrowed them down to font appearance — some others seemed interesting, but not good for reading in the sun, even with sunglasses).  These are all novels:

• “On Beauty”, by Zadie Smith.  It’s described on the back cover as a “brilliant, hilarious send-up of the culture wars that define our age”.  There doesn’t seem to be very many chapter breaks, though.

• “The Fiction Class”, by Susan Breen.  About an author who teaches a fiction class, but her difficult mother decides to join the class.

• “The Pilot’s Wife” by Anita Shreve.  Picked up as an used book from the library sale shelf, this one is about a pilot widow who finds out her late husband had a secret life.

• “My Cousin Rachel”, by Daphne du Maurier.  I also have “Rebecca”, which I probably should read first, but “Rebecca” is a mass market paperback, too small for reading by the pool.

What do you think?

Disclosure:  As mentioned, “War Dances” was purchased from QPB.

A few months ago, walking the aisles in Barnes and Noble, this book’s cover caught my eye.  I just love that shredded-paper nest in the shape of a heart.  This is the trade paperback cover of “My Mistress’s Sparrow is Dead: Great Love Stories, from Chekov to Munro”, an anthology of short stories edited by Jeffrey Eugenides (author of “The Virgin Suicides and “Middlesex”).

I’ve since learned that the hardback cover looks like this (sorry for the small size, but it’s probably just as well):

In my opinion, the trade paperback cover wins hands down, aesthetically.  What do you think?

After I brought this book home, it took me a long time to read it.  There are 27 short stories in this anthology, and my copy totals 587 pages (including the introduction and the section that includes a brief biography of each contributor).

The book’s title is inspired from a passage by the Latin poet Catullus, who (according to the introduction) “was the first poet in the ancient world to write about a personal love affair in an extended way”.  Catullus was in love with a woman that he called “Lesbia”, but who was really named Clodia (although exactly who Clodia was is still debated).  Clodia was already married, and had a pet sparrow.  Catullus wrote poetry about this sparrow:

“My girl’s sparrow is dead,

Sparrow, my girl’s darling,

Whom she loved more than her eyes” 

This book has a wide range of authors, some I had already heard of and/or read (i.e. Vladimir Nabokov, Milan Kundera, Anton Chekov).  All are relatively contemporary short stories, having been written within the past 100 years or so.

These stories are not “boy-meets-girl, lives happily-ever-after” type.  Rather, they represent less than perfect people, who are often in less than perfect relationships.  As Eugenides states in the introduction:

“Love stories depend on disappointment, on unequal births and feuding families, on matrimonial boredom and at least one cold heart.  Love stories, nearly without exception, give love a bad name.

We value love not because it’s stronger than death but because it’s weaker.  Say what you want about love: death will finish it……the perishable nature of love is what gives love its profound importance in our lives.  If it were endless, if it were on tap, love wouldn’t hit us the way it does”.

This is not to say cynically that true love does not exist; and it is not to say that there is no such thing as happy, content, fulfilling relationships.   But, what makes stories memorable are those that have love that doesn’t end happily ever after, or that has flawed love.  Think Romeo and Juliet.  Think Scarlett and Rhett (“Gone With the Wind”).

So, how do the stories measure up, by literary merit?  As with any anthology, there were a few I didn’t care about (or did not find memorable), several that I thought were good, and a few that left quite an impression with me.  Anyone who reads “My Mistress’s Sparrow is Dead” will have their own favorites from this collection.  I’ll mention some of my favorites, with a quote from each one:

“First Love and Other Sorrows”, by Harold Brodkey.  This is one of a few teenage first-love stories in this anthology.  The narrator is in love with a girl, Eleanor; and he is jealous of a popular boy at their school, Joel Bush.   The narrator finds out that Eleanor went out on a date with Joel, and she describes this date to the narrator.  I think the below passage describes so well the process of thought that many angst-y teenagers might have:

” “We went out Sunday night…”  she began after a few seconds.  They had gone to Medart’s in Clayton, for a hamburger.  Joel had talked her into drinking a bottle of beer, and it had made her so drowsy that she had put her head on the back of the seat and closed her eyes.  “What kind of car does Joel have?” I asked.

“A Buick,” Eleanor said, surprised at my question.

“I see,” I said.  I pictured the dashboard of a Buick, and Joel’s handsome face, and then, daringly, I added Eleanor’s hand, with its bitten fingernails, holding Joel’s hand”.

Another teenage love story is “Natasha” by David Bezmozgis.  This teenager is of Russian heritage, living in Toronto; and is a self-described stoner.  An uncle of his has married again; this new wife, Zina, comes from Moscow bringing a daughter, Natasha, with her.   Although Natasha is only 14 years old, before moving away from Moscow, she had gotten herself involved in child pornography because she needed the money.  This teenage boy finds himself emotionally (and physically) involved with Natasha.  They were basically thrown together by their families:

“Since I was home by myself I would be conscripted into performing an essential service.  I was alone and Natasha was alone.  She didn’t know anyone in the city and was making a nuisance of herself.  From what I could understand, she wasn’t actually doing anything to be a nuisance, but her mere presence in the apartment was inconvenient.  My family felt that my uncle needed time alone with his new wife and having Natasha around made him uncomfortable.” 

Not all the love stories in this anthology are heterosexual.  I liked “Some Other, Better Otto” by Deborah Eisenberg.  Otto is in a long-term relationship with his partner, William, who is a good-natured guy.   Otto finds himself constantly stressed by his family, that include several dysfunctional members.   Otto becomes increasingly fretful, even to the point where Otto starts nit-picking at William’s grammar.  Otto realizes, however, that he is fortunate to have William.  The quote below is the last paragraph of the story, but it doesn’t give anything away of the plot:

“A hand was resting on Otto’s shoulder.  “William,” Otto said.  It was William.  They were in the clean, dim kitchen.  The full moon had risen high over the neighbors’ buildings, where the lights were almost all out.  Had he been asleep?  He blinked up at William, whose face, shadowed against the light of the night sky, was as inflected, as ample in mystery as the face in the moon.  “It’s late, my darling,” Otto said.  “I’m tired.  What are we doing down here?”

As for short story beginnings, I think  “Red Rose, White Rose”, by Eileen Chang is an example of wonderful writing and a memorable introduction:

“There were two women in Zhenbao’s life: one he called his white rose, the other his red rose.  One was a spotless wife, the other a passionate mistress.  Isn’t that just how the average man describes a chaste widow’s devotion to her husband’s memory — as spotless, and passionate too?

Maybe every man has had two such women — at least two.  Marry a red rose and eventually she’ll be a mosquito-blood streak smeared on the wall, while the white one is “moonlight in front of my bed.”  Marry a white rose, and before long she’ll be a grain of sticky rice that’s gotten stuck to your clothes; the red one, by then, is a scarlet beauty mark just over your heart.”

This story by Eileen Chang (1920-1995)  spurred me to find out more about her.  Now I want to read  “Love in a Fallen City”; which is a collection of her novellas (there are other publications of her works also).  “Red Rose, White Rose” is also in this collection.  This is another example of a beautiful book cover:

I like reading anthologies, because I discover writers (or poets, or whatever) that I’d like to pursue further.   In addtion to Eileen Chang, I now want to read more of Alice Munro, whose “The Bear Comes Over the Mountain” concludes this anthology.  This story is about a man whose wife now suffers from a dementia-like illness; and she falls in love with a man at the nursing home where she now resides.  This story has some surprises throughout, and is also poignant, but not in a way that the reader might expect.

If you are intrigued by this short story anthology, you can go to Harper Collins’ Browse Inside feature to see inside the book.

I would recommend “My Mistress’s Sparrow is Dead”,  especially if you are not fazed by topics such as the ones covered above.   All these short stories have been previously published.  All proceeds from “My Mistress’s Sparrow is Dead” benefits 826 Chicago, a non-profit that supports creative writing by school-age children in the Chicago area.

Are there any great love stories in literature that comes to mind to you?  Any that actually have happy endings (the only one that comes to mind right now is “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen)?

 
An Experiment in Misery: Stories (Harper Perennial Classic Stories) by Stephen Crane was a win from a give-away by Jessica at The Bluestocking Society.  Thank you, Jessica!

Stephen Crane (1871-1900)  is best known for his novel, “The Red Badge of Courage” which I read many years ago; such a long time ago that I don’t really remember the details.  What I didn’t know was that Crane also wrote several short stories.  So, I was delighted at the opportunity to read this short story collection.   Harper Perennial has recently compiled other short stories collections by classic writers such as Oscar Wilde, Leo Tolstoy, and Willa Cather.

In this volume, nine short stories of Crane’s are included.  They are:

1.   The Monster :  A town doctor has to deal with the ramifications of his decision to take in a badly injured (African-American) servant that saved his son’s life; but do the members of his town accept this decision?

2. An Experiment in Misery:  The experiences of some bums and hobos; who would be called “homeless people” today.

3.  The Mystery of Heroism:  As the title implies, what is heroism?  Is it as simple as performing menial tasks towards the troops?  A Civil War story.

4.  An Episode of War:  A very brief short story where a lieutenant gets injured; another war story.

5.  The Upturned Face:  Yet another war-related story.  This one is about having to bury a dead solider.  This one is also very short.

6.  The Open Boat:  I didn’t really understand this one, and Crane must have felt it needed explanation, since it starts out with a introduction: “A Tale Intended to be after the Fact:  Being the Experience of Four Men from the Sunk Steamer Commodore”.

7.  The Pace of Youth:  A father — perhaps overly protective — does not like his daughter’s suitor.  They all work at a carnival. 

8.  The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky:   The town marshal of Yellow Sky goes to San Antonio to wed ; and brings his bride back to Yellow Sky.  The newly-weds have a lot to think (and talk) about on their train ride to Yellow Sky.

9. The Blue Hotel:  A card game goes bad.

I was struck at how well Crane wrote some of his short stories, especially considering his youth.  He was only 28 years old when he died of tuberculosis.

Here are some quoted passages :

From “A Mystery of Heroism”:

“For the little meadow which intervened was now suffering a terrible onslaught of shells.  Its green and beautiful calm had vanished utterly.  Brown earth was being flung in monstrous handfuls.  And there was a massacre of the young blades of grass.  They were being torn, burned, obliterated.  Some curious fortune of the battle had made this gentle little meadow the object of the red hate of the shells, and each one as it exploded seemed like an imprecation in the face of a maiden”.

When I read the above passage, I couldn’t help but think of the battle of Gettysburg; we had visited that historic site last year. 

From “The Pace of Youth”, the story of the two lovers that work at the carnival, who initially spend a lot of time glancing at each other:

“There had finally become established between the two in this manner a subtle understanding and companionship.  They communicated accurately all that they felt.  The boy told his love, his reverence, his hope in the changes of the future.  The girl told him that she loved him, that she did not love him, that she did not know if she loved him, that she loved him.  Sometimes a little sign saying “Cashier” in gold letters, and hanging upon the silvered netting, got directly in range and interfered with the tender message”.

My impression after reading this short story collection is that I should re-read Crane’s “The Red Badge of Courage”.    In addition, in doing research for this post, I learned that Stephen Crane had written several poems; all of his known poems  can be seen here at the American Poets website.

P.S. this volume also has a “bonus” short story titled “The Brainiacs” by the contemporary writer, Dennis Cooper, from his collection “Ugly Man”.   It seems so out of place in this volume; clearly an attempt by Harper Perennial to promote their collections of contemporary short stories.

And, P.P.S. ,  on the back cover of this volume, the publisher promote a website, Fifty Two Stories, which has several short stories (52 of them, I assume) posted; I’m intrigued and will look at it more closely soon.

Have you read anything by Crane recently?  Or any classic short stories?

This summer — at the Crazy Horse Memorial gift shop, of all places — I happened across “Ten Little Indians” by Sherman Alexie.   It is a collection of short stories, and the first story, “Search Engine” caught my eye; and with the added attraction of this book being on sale, I bought it and brought it home from vacation.

Then I found “The Toughest Indian in the World”, another (and earlier) collection of short stories at the library sale shelf, and brought that home also.

Finally, I decided to check out a non-short story collection by Alexie  and got his young adult (YA) novel, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”.

I didn’t read these three books all in a row, but in between other books.   After recently finishing the last one –the YA novel –  I thought I’d talk about these three books. 

Sherman Alexie  has written several books of poetry; along with other novels and additional short story collections.  In fact he has a new short story collection, “War Dances”, coming out next month.

Of the books I’ve read, almost all of the main characters are Native-Americans (or part), as Alexie is.  Alexie is a Spokane/ Coeur d’Alene Indian who grew up on a Spokane Indian reservation in Washington State — and so his Indian characters are often Spokane Indians.  He tends to refer to his characters as Indian, rather than Native-American.

In “Ten Little Indians”, there are nine short stories.  I liked the first one, “The Search Engine” the most.  In this story, Corliss is an university student who loves to read. 

As Corliss walks through her university library, looking for poetry books,

“She endured a contentious and passionate relationship with this library.  The huge number of books confirmed how much magic she’e been denied for most of her life, and now she hungrily wanted to read every book on every shelf.  an impossible task, to be sure, Herculean in its exaggeration, but Corliss wanted to read herself to death.  She wanted to be buried in a coffin filled with used paperbacks”.

Corliss discovers a book of poetry by an unknown poet who is also a Spokane Indian — and nobody seems to know what has become of him.  She is determined to hunt him down; and then when she finally finds him, he is not what she thought he would be like.

As with all short story collections, there were some in “Ten Little Indians” I liked more than others.

I didn’t like the short story collection, ”The Toughest Indian in the World” as much;  there were fewer stories that I liked.  I especially didn’t care for “The Sin Eaters”, a futuristic the-world-is-ending war-type story.   It’s not a bad collection of stories; just not as strong as “Ten Little Indians”.

On the other hand, I really liked “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”, which is Alexie’s first book in the YA category.  Does that mean I would recommend that teenagers read this book?  Well….it depends.    One has to know that this book addresses a lot of things.  Alcoholism.  Disabilities.  Bulimia.  Racism.  Sexuality (mainly about masturbation).  Teenage angst.  Poverty.  Domestic Violence.  Homophobia.  Swearing– and quite a bit of it.  And maybe some more that some people might have issue with.   Still, I think older teens (unless they are extremely sheltered) are already aware of all those things.  And, these issues are handled sensitively by Alexie, I think.  This book is reportedly drawn from some aspects of Alexie’s own life and background.

In a nutshell, this book is about Arnold Spirit, Jr., mainly known as Junior.  As the first sentence states, “I was born with water on the brain“; so he is already a misfit from the start because of that; and also because he is near-sighted and has had to wear glasses since he was three years old.  Nevertheless, in spite of growing up poor on a reservation, he decides to leave the reservation school (while still living on the rez) and start high school at the nearby mostly-white school (therefore, the title of the book).

So, this book is all about Junior’s experiences, adjusting to being the only Indian at a high school whose mascot is an Indian also; and what his life is like in general.  He says:

“It sucks to be poor, and it sucks to feel that you somehow deserve to be poor.  You start believing that you’re poor because you’re stupid and ugly.  And then you start believing you’re stupid and ugly because you’re Indian.  And because you’re Indian you start believing you’re destined to be poor….Poverty doesn’t give you strength or teach you lessons about perseverance.  No, poverty only teaches you how to be poor”.

Junior manages to make it through his first year, however.  He is dating a girl (who turns out to be bulimic); joins the basketball team and gets injured on purpose when he and his school plays against his reservation’s school; and while not popular, does make eventually some friends.  Being a teenager, Junior relates his experiences in a sometimes irreverent and sarcastic voice; and of course with a lot of language (bad words, for example) that many teenagers tend to experiment with.

This book probably paints a realistic picture of what it is like to be a modern-day Indian growing up on a reservation.  I think for that reason, it should be widely-read, but to be aware of what goes on in the book before handing it over to a young adult.

I should also note that Alexie’s short stories also cover a lot of the same issues addressed in “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”.  In the future I would like to read more of his works.    

Amanda at The Zen Leaf  has recently read and discussed this book, and includes links to reviews by others,  in her post here.  Incidentally, she was reading this book as part of a Banned Books reading challenge.

Have you read this book, or any other books that have been a Banned Book?

This is my favorite book that I’ve read so far this year. That would be  Unaccustomed Earth: Stories (Vintage Contemporaries) by Jhumpa Lahiri.  After reading “Hell-Heaven” (which is in “Unaccustomed Earth”) through DailyLit  and “The Treatment of Bibi Haldar” (which I’ve since found out is in “Interpreter of Maladies”) through Narrative, I made sure to bring “Unaccustomed Earth” with me on vacation last month. 

 I would not have expected a collection of short stories to be considered one of my favorite books, but that’s just what happened. 

 Jhumpa Lahiri is Indian-American; more specifically from a Bengali background.  She draws from this background as a basis for most of her short stories.  Most of the characters in her stories– in this book, anyway– are Bengalis that have moved to America, or at the very least are Indian.

I don’t think I’m not very good at describing, or analyzing, individual short stories.  I feel that if I try to describe them, it would take as long as the stories themselves! 

This book consists of two parts. 

Part One  consists of the five following stories:

“Unaccustomed Earth” :  A young mother hopes that her widowed father will move in with her and her growing family; but finds out he does not want to, and the reason why.

“Hell-Heaven”:  A young girl observes the relationship between her parents and a family friend, and comes to realize that her mother was actually in love with the family friend for many years.

“A Choice of Accommodations”:  A man attends the wedding of a girl he grew up with and adored.  The man’s wife also attends the wedding with him.

“Only Goodness”:  About a woman dealing with her alcoholic brother and coming to grips with how, and why,  he became that way.

“Nobody’s Business”:  About two roommates, male and female; and what happens when one is involved in an unhealthy relationship.

Part Two :  Hema and Kaushik

“Once in a Lifetime”

“Year’s End”

“Going Ashore”

Part Two, above, actually seems more like a novella to me.  It’s about Hema and Kaushik and was my favorite section of the book.  Their characters and their story really stayed with me, and I actually went right back and re-read Part Two after finishing it.

Hema and Kaushik were sort-of childhood friends:  Hema’s parents allowed Kaushik and his parents to stay at their house for a length of time while the latter were looking for a house to buy and move in.   After Kaushik and his parents move out, the two children lose touch over time.   Eventually, Hema and Kaushik meet again by chance, when they are adults and have had a lot of life experiences behind them.

The first part is told by Hema’s point of view.  The second part is then told by Kaushik’s point of view.  The last part is narrated objectively–that is, by neither of them.  Until the very last few paragraphs, when it is Hema telling the story.  The ending came somewhat as a shock to me.

Here is a passage,  from when Hema and Kaushik have run into each other again after all those years:

“After lunch he drove her back, inviting her to his place, in a quiet neighborhood where laundry hung between apricot-colored houses and old men sat in folding chairs on the streets.  The men watched, silently, as Kaushik unlocked the bolts and Hema waited at his side.  It was unquestioned that they would not part yet, unquestioned that though they had not seen or thought of each other in decades, not sought each other out, something precious had been stumbled upon, a new-born connection that could not be left unattended, that demanded every particle of their care”.

I loved Lahiri’s writing, the characters, the stories.  I’m eager to read her novel “The Namesake” and her other collection of short stories “Interpreter of Maladies”. 

So, what has been your favorite book so far this year? 

Jill at Fizzy Thoughts  also asks this question, and mentions her favorite book so far this year, and is even offering a chance to win a copy of it.  Go over there and see for yourself what her fave is!

Photo of Jhumpa Lahiri From NarrativeMagazine.com

It has been a while since I last posted (if you even noticed ).  We have only three and a half weeks of summer here.  It has been super busy here, and will continue to be so for what’s left of  the summer!  I will keep this blog post short and may not post again for a while. 

But, I wanted to say that I really enjoyed Jhumpa Lahiri’s short story, “Hell-Heaven”, featured  by DailyLit.  “Hell-Heaven” is in her book,  Unaccustomed Earth: Stories (Vintage Contemporaries).  I mentioned in my last blog post that I was reading this story in installments (which is DailyLit’s speciality).

Now, guess what?  Today, I got an e-mail  from Narrative Magazine  informing me that they are featuring a new short story by Lahiri, called “The Treatment of Bibi Haldar”.    As far as I can tell, this is a story that has not been published before.

You will be asked to create an account with Narrative Magazine,  if you do not already have one. 

I have to say that I went out and bought “Unaccustomed Earth” almost immediately after finishing “Hell-Heaven”.   It’s one of the books I’m going to take with me on our upcoming trip to California.

We’ll be in California the first week of August visiting my husband’s family, and other books I plan to take along are Olive Kitteridge: Fiction, by Elizabeth Strout and  Netherland (Vintage Contemporaries), by Joseph O’Neill (yes, the same novel Barack Obama was recently reading).

Once the kids start back to school, I hope to catch up on things here on this blog!  I also hope all of you are enjoying your summer.

Quite some time ago on this blog, I talked about DailyLit.   DailyLit’s key feature is sending installments of books via e-mail.  Most books offered are free.  I tried to read Nicholas Nickelby in this way, but it didn’t work out for me.  After about a month or two, I just could not keep up.  So I unsubscribed to Nicholas Nickelby.  411 installments via e-mail of this Charles Dickens novel was not ideal for me.  I’d rather read it in book form (the traditional way).

I still think DailyLit is a good concept.  It just has to be the right type of book at the right time for the reader.  I kept meaning to go back again to try out some of their other book installments.

Now I’ll give DailyLit a try again after they offered to send the short story “Hell-Heaven”, in ten installments, from the book “Unaccustomed Earth” by Jhumpa Lahiri.  You, too, can subscribe to receive this short story by going to this link here.

This should be a good way to sample Lahiri’s writing.  Have any of you read her before?

How was your weekend?  Aside from it being cold and cloudy and at times rainy here, mine was OK.  My daughter was gone all weekend for a girl scout camping trip.  My younger son was at a sleepover on Friday night.  That meant Friday night hubby, my older son, and myself had a nice dinner together at a pizza place/brew pub, Il Vicino.  We had fun telling stories to older son (he’s 13) about the “good old days” of early computers, early internet, and stuff like that.  So much has changed with information technology over the last few years, that it’s so easy to feel like old fogies in that regard.

Last night I finished “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel and plan to write about that soon.  Great book.  Husband picked up “Slumdog Millionaire” which we have yet to watch, so I may mention soon what I think of the movie vs. the book.

Here are a few things I’ve come across recently that I thought I’d share.

Interested in short stories?

Julie at On the Curve tells us why she likes “One Story”.   This intrigued me enough that I subscribed (they offer two free trial issues to start with).  Information on how to get there is in Julie’s post.

Want more of poetry even though National Poetry Month is over?  Today’s featured poem at www.poets.org is “Sorrows”, by Lucille Clifton, whose poem “Adam Thinking” I quoted in my poetry month wrap-up post.

Want a little bit of literary everything?  Although Gautami tells us about a fantastic short story (“Blue” by Yuri Zalkow) at Narrative Magazine, this online magazine has a little bit of everything: fiction, book excerpts (reading the excerpt of T.C. Boyle’s latest book “The Women” only makes me more eager to read it), cartoons, poetry, and more.  It’s free to sign up.  By the way, it took me a while to figure out that clicking on the red “Narrative” takes you back to their home page.

Are you a creative one who occassionally gets blocked?  Subversive Stitchers  has a good blog post today where it’s suggested that you ask, “What If?”.  Also, I love looking at the various features in this blog’s sidebar; be sure to scroll through it all; I’m sure there will be at least one thing there to pique your interest.