Short story Monday - May 11

It's Monday and that means short stories! Today's post, unfortunately, will follow a good news/bad news format. After two weeks of short story Tuesdays, the good news is that I'm writing this post on Monday. More good news - I bought The Best American Short Stories of the Century edited by John Updike. It was purely an impulse purchase, but now I have a fresh, new supply of stories. And finally, I sat down and read two stories as soon as I got home.

Now for the bad news...I didn't like either story. The first story is The Other Woman by Sherwood Anderson. It appeared in The Little Review in 1920 and opens:

"I am in love with my wife," he said - a superfluous remark, as I had not questioned his attachment to the women he had married. We walked for ten minutes and then he said it again. I turned to look at him. He began to talk and told me the tale I am now about to set down.

What follows is the brief account of an encounter that takes place shortly before the man's wedding and how it has affected him. He had never before spoken to the 'other woman' (who is ten years older), yet she captured his imagination. I'm not sure why I read this story, since I didn't really like Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio either...perhaps it was the title.

Next I read E.B. White's The Second Tree From the Corner. This story appeared in The New Yorker in 1948. It opens:

"Ever had any bizarre thoughts?" asked the doctor.
Mr. Trexler failed to catch the word. "What kind?" he said.
"Bizarre," repeated the doctor, his voice steady. He watched his patient for any slight change of expression, any wince. It seemed to Trexler that the doctor was not only watching him closely but was creeping slowly toward him, like a lizard toward a bug.

There are several more sessions. Trexler tends to identify with the doctor, virtually transferring himself to the doctor's seat. The story ends with Trexler's thoughts when the question "What do you want?" is posed. I've never read anything else E.B. White has written for adults, but I doubt I'll be searching for more.

Visit The Book Mine Set to see who else is sharing thought on short stories today.

TSS - It's Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day! I've finished off a delicious pancake breakfast, opened some gifts, and have now settled in with my laptop for a few minutes before preparing Mother's Day dinner for my mother.

I'm happy to report that this has been a somewhat more productive reading week. After two busy weekends on the road, we are finally spending one at home and I have finally finished a book! My review of The Home-Maker by Dorothy Canfield will be posted later this week. This week's short story, The Lady's Maid's Bell by Edith Wharton, was a wonderful surprise. I was expecting a story of New York's Gilded Age, but found myself wrapped up in a ghost story instead!

I started reading The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home by George Howe Colt. It is my bookclub's May selection and already has me wishing for a long, leisurely summer on the Cape. I also printed out Virginia Woolf's essay How Should One Read a Book? to read later this week.

Two new books were purchased this week. The first, The Best American Short Stories of the Century edited by John Updike, was totally an impulse purchase. If you've been reading this blog for any time at all, you'll know that I rediscovered short stories this year. A Short Story Monday post has become a regular feature here and I've discovered some very talented writers. This collection was just too appealing to leave behind. As soon as I got this book home, I sat down and read two stories for tomorrow's post.






The other purchase (the one that I went to the store armed with a 30% off coupon to make) is A Jury of Her Peers - American Women Writer's from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx by Elaine Showalter. This is a book I brought home from the library, but quickly decided I needed to own it instead. I'm not sure yet if this will be a book to read straight through, or whether I'll pick it up to read a chapter here and there. Either way, I know I'll enjoy working my way through it!

What are you reading this Sunday?

Booking Through Thursday - Graphic

Today's question:

Suggested by Vega:
Last Saturday (May 2nd) was Free Comic Book Day! In celebration of comics and graphic novels, some suggestions:
- Do you read graphic novels/comics? Why do/don’t you enjoy them?- How would you describe the difference between “graphic novel” and “comic”? Is there a difference at all?- Say you have a friend who’s never encountered graphic novels. Recommend some titles you consider landmark/”canonical”.


My answer this week is short and sweet. I have NEVER read a graphic novel! It's not that I don't like them, it's just that I am so overwhelmed with the choices and haven't got a clue where to start. I am also in the dark about the very basics - are graphic novels the same as manga?
I welcome your recommendations!

Visit today's BTT to see other responses and play along!

Library Loot - May 6

My trip to the library yielded exclusively non-fiction titles this week! I enjoy reading non-fiction and, prior to this year, usually had one in progress at all times to complement the current novel. Lately short stories (and the occasional essay) seem to have filled the nonfiction slot, but I'll be rectifying that this month.

The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home

by George Howe Colt

This is the May selection of my bookclub.

Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China

by Leslie T. Chang

I wish I could remember where I first read about this book, but it sounded fascinating. My hold finally came in.

A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx

by Elaine Showalter

My short story reading has lead to the discovery of two new writers (so far) - Tillie Olsen and Susan Glaspell (author of A Jury of Her Peers). BookPsmith pointed me to this book via Dovegreyreader. So far, it looks like a book I'll want to return to over often...and may end up purchasing!

What did you find at the library this week? Library Loot is hosted by Eva and Alessandra.

The Lady's Maid's Bell by Edith Wharton

I'm a day late with Short Story Monday again this week, but I suppose a Tuesday post is better than none at all, especially if it's a story by Edith Wharton! I found The Lady's Maid's Bell on line and decided to print it out and take it along on my travels last weekend. What I expected to be a story about New York's Gilded Age (like The Custom of the Country or The House of Mirth) turned out, instead, to be a ghost story.

Alice Hartley, a lady's maid recently recovered from a bout of typhoid, has trouble finding a new position until an old friend sends her to Mrs. Brympton. The new employer, herself youngish and somewhat of an invalid, lives year round in the country and is in need of a maid/companion following the death of her long-time maid Emma Saxon. Hartley is told that it will be a dull, gloomy job, but she will be fine as long as she stays clear of Mr. Brympton, who is rarely at home anyway.

Upon arriving at the house, we get the first hint that all may not be well. Hartley is shown to her room upstairs and notices another woman, also dressed as a maid, standing in the hallway. However, the housemaid leading the way doesn't seem to see her at all and is instead concerned that a door, meant to be locked, has been left open. We also learn that since the death of the beloved maid Emma, the Brymptons have had trouble keeping a lady's maid for more than a few days.

One night, the bells rings in Hartley's room (odd since Mrs. Brympton has said she does not use the bell). Unusual footsteps are heard in the hall and Hartley rushes to her mistress's side. Mrs. Brympton calls out for Emma and then claims to have been dreaming. She tells Hartley that the bell was not rung and instructs her to return to her room. Before she leaves, Mr. Brympton asks, "How many of you are there, in God's name?"

Soon afterwards, a photograph of Emma Saxon is found. She is the same woman Hartley saw in the hall, but nobody in the household seems willing to talk about her.

I won't say much more about the plot, except that some of the events seem to make little sense. Nonetheless, this was a very compelling Gothic style story. I have my idea of what happened and would love to hear yours if you decide to read this story.

During my reading, I was reminded of Henry James' The Turn of The Screw (1898). Of course, Wharton and James were great friends. The Lady's Maid's Bell was published in 1902, the same year Edith Wharton moved into her 'first real home', The Mount, in Lenox, Massachusetts. James spent a great deal of time there, even having his own guest suite, and it's fun to imagine the two of them strolling through the gardens discussing ghost stories!

To see other Short Story Monday posts visit The Book Mine Set.

TSS - Another Monday Edition 5/4

Another weekend on the road has lead to another Monday morning edition of The Sunday Salon. This time we were in Buffalo for the final tournament of Twin A's club volleyball season.

The highlight of the weekend was spending some time with my college roommate. She picked me up at the tournament sight on Saturday for a leisurely lunch (far away from the whistles and cheers of the court center!) and then we took a walk through her gardens to check out the latest projects and experiments. We don't see each other often enough, so this was a real treat! The girls played well in the tournament until finally getting eliminated in the semi-final round Sunday afternoon.

Between getting caught up from the previous weekend's travel and preparing for this one, not much reading happened last week. My car was in for repairs (with my audiobook of The Help inside), so there wasn't much progress on that front either. My reading goals for the week ahead are the same as last week's - finish The Home-Maker by Dorothy Canfield, continue listening to The Help by Kathryn Stockett, and read at least one short story or essay.

I did take a quick inventory of my challenges:

2009 Mini-Challenges 6 0f 12 completed

My Year of Reading Dangerously 3 0f 12 completed

Classics Challenge (April 1 -Oct. 31 ) 1 of 4 completed

Spring Reading Thing (April 1 - June 20)

- 2 of 7 books completed

-1 of 3 audiobooks completed

- weekly short stories read

-gradually working through my stack of New Yorker magazines

I plan to sign up for Molly's Summer Vacation Reading Challenge later this week and have also been eyeing Rose City Reader's Sunshine Smackdown: Battle of the Prizes. I resisted Trish's Non-Fiction Five Challenge that started May 1, but my non-fiction reading is way down this year and I may need this challenge to help me get back on track.

So, here's to a more productive week. Did you meet your reading goals last week?

The Shack, My Book Club, and Me

The Shack
By Wm. Paul Young
Windblown Media, 2007
248 pages

Publisher’s blurb:
Mackenzie Allen Philips' youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend.

Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack's world forever.

In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant "The Shack" wrestles with the timeless question, "Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?" The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You'll want everyone you know to read this book.


My book club met last Friday at the local coffee shop (which we tend to think of as our community living room) to discuss The Shack by William Paul Young. There were nine members present and seven had read the book. The discussion started off very tentatively. We knew this to be a book people have strong feelings about and were trying to gauge where others stood. As it turned out, the member that raved about the book and suggested we read it was not present. The rest of us were somewhere between mildly positive and take-it-or-leave-it.

Even though there were no especially strong/vocal opinions on the book, it ended up being one of the best discussions we’ve had in recent memory. We recognized how this could be perceived as an uplifting, even life-changing book for some and how it challenges our perception of God. A couple members even shared personal experiences they’ve had with God/Jesus. One talked about reading very quickly through the beginning of the book, then having to slow down and take a break to let it all ‘digest’ as things became more ‘philosophical’. I voiced the most negative comments – mostly having to do with the writing (which I thought was mediocre at best) and the ‘outer’ story. Within the first few pages, I had the urge to throw the book across the room, but quickly remembered that I was on an airplane, and this was for book club…so, instead, I read on. The ‘inner story’ presented many ideas to think about and discuss – why bad things happen to good people, the idea of God and heaven, what happens to people after they die, etc.

Christian/Inspirational fiction is a category I have very little experience with and would consider to be outside my normal comfort zone. Though this is a book I never would have picked up on my own, I am not sorry to have read it. In fact, I was very glad to be able to participate in the discussion. That said however, I will not be recommending The Shack to anyone (except possibly my mother).
My rating 3/5