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Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules
by Sedaris, David (Editor)
Takes One to Know One
It is fitting that David Sedaris has compiled some of the stories that he feels deserve attention, for while he describes himself as “a comparative midget” in relation to the authors of these stores, he is a master of short, memorable pieces himself (hence the title of this review). |
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Fascination
by Boyd, William
Multivitamin Stories
William Boyd captures all the depth and breadth and variety of anguished human sexuality in these 14 stories. |
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Rear View
by Duval, Pete
Pete Duval's stories have grimy fingernails
In his debut collection of short stories, Pete Duval resurrects the ghosts of Raymond Carver and Andre Dubus...with mixed results. |
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All Fires the Fire (Todos los fuegos el fuego)
by Cortázar, Julio
World-making stories
Whether or not Cortázar still matters for American readers of world literature, whether or not his novels will become canonical, some of his stories continue to reward reading. |
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Resistance
by Lopez, Barry
Angry Bystanders
Don't let the "Office of Inland Security" stop you from reading Barry Lopez's book of short stories. Reading Lopez might just make you a better person. |
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Antipodes
by Padilla, Ignacio
Postcards From the Other Side of the Century
The story as steamer-trunk sticker. We know where the characters have been, but we don't know why they got there. |
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Natasha and Other Stories
by Bezmozgis, David
From Russia With Hope
In his debut short story collection, David Bezmozgis delivers simple, unadorned stories about Russian refuseniks settling in Toronto in the 1980s. The full impact sinks in after we've stopped reading. |
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Means of Escape, The
by Fitzgerald, Penelope
The final gleaning of Penelope Fitzgerald fiction
Penelope Fitzgerald wrote, "Getting old is a crime of which we grow more guilty each day." In her case, not starting sooner and dying might also be indictable offenses. But whyever she proceeded as she did, she managed to produce a shelf of terrifying and exhilarating novels — and a few strong stories, too. |
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Ten Little Indians
by Alexie, Sherman
This is What It Means to Say Sherman Alexie
If Sherman Alexie falls in a forest, and there's nobody there to hear him, does he make a funny sound? |
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Slow Monkeys and Other Stories
by Nichols, Jim
In the Jungle of 17,000 Books, Slow Monkeys is the One to Read
Jim Nichols' collection of short stories is easy to overlook but impossible to forget. |
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