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The Wonder Garden
The Wonder Garden | Lauren Acampora
9 posts | 10 read | 20 to read
John likes to arrive first. He enjoys standing quietly with a house before his clients arrive, and today, although he feels pinned beneath an invisible weight, he resolves to savor this solitary moment. Its one of those overhauled ranches so common to Old Cranbury these days, swollen and dressed to resemble a colonial. White, of course, with ornamental shutters and latches pretending to hold them open. A close echo of its renovated sisters on Whistle Hill Road, garnished with hostas and glitzed with azaleas. He has seen too many of these to count A man strikes an under-the-table deal with a surgeon to spend a few quiet seconds closer to his wife than he's ever been; a young soon-to-be mother looks on in paralyzing astonishment as her husband walks away from a twenty-year career in advertising at the urging of his spirit animal; an elderly artist risks more than he knows when he's commissioned by his newly-arrived neighbors to produce the work of a lifetime. In her stunning debut collection, The Wonder Garden, Lauren Acampora brings to the page with enchanting realism the myriad lives of a suburban town and lays them bare. These linked stories take a trenchant look at the flawed people of Old Cranbury, incisive tales that reveal at each turn the unseen battles we play out behind drawn blinds, the creeping truths from which we distract ourselves, and the massive dreams we haul quietly with us and hold close. Deliciously creepy and masterfully complex The Wonder Garden heralds the arrival of a phenomenal new talent in American fiction.
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KatyAliceReads
The Wonder Garden | Lauren Acampora
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18 likes1 stack add
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MrBook
The Wonder Garden | Lauren Acampora
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#TBRtemptation post! A short story collection. John collects himself at a house-showing for a beautiful home before his clients arrive. A man strikes a deal to be closer to his wife for a few seconds. A young soon-to-be mother watches her husband quit 20 years in advertising at the beckoning of his animal spirit. An artist is commissioned by new neighbors to make something different. All are Old Cranbury residents. #blameLitsy #blameMrBook 😎

Notafraidofwords Ahhhhhh I totally loved this!!!!!! 9y
ValerieAndBooks Looks good! Your fault 😊! 9y
LitsyGoesPostal 😊👍🏻 9y
79 likes4 stack adds3 comments
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KatyAliceReads
The Wonder Garden | Lauren Acampora
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One of my Top Books of 2016

An all time favorite photo.

If you want to see more of my book photography check out my Instagram @thegirlinthegarret

britt_brooke Beautiful photo. 📷💕 9y
Megabooks Great book!! 9y
17 likes2 comments
review
JenniferJarrell
The Wonder Garden | Lauren Acampora
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Pickpick

Maybe my favorite short story collection of all time, though I don't even know that it's fair to call it a short story collection. It's more like chapters of the same book devoted to the POV of each of the inhabitants of Edward Scissorhand's village. Amazing slice of dark, twisted suburbia. Out of 5 stars it gets 6.

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Megabooks
The Wonder Garden | Lauren Acampora
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Someone else posted her Goodreads challenge, and I realized I met mine yesterday! Yay! Follow me on there if you're interested in longer reviews or just want a follow back. 😃👍🏻📖

MMFinck See you on GR! :) 10y
Kathrin Wow... That is awesome! I am pretty close to my goal too, but my goal was "just" 75 books. 10y
BookishFeminist That's awesome! Keep up the great work! I am nearing my 100 book goal, too. :) 10y
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MMFinck I can't fig it out! Grr. Will try to find you on there from my laptop. If you get to it first, I'm MM Finck. 10y
LauraBrook Congrats! Will figure out how to best post mine here too. 10y
OneLitChick Dang! That's awesome! 10y
Sue Yay, good work!! 10y
ReadingEnvy I passed my 150 goal sometime this month but it's a false goal really. I want to leave room for slim poetry and mighty tomes! I like how GoodReads also will let you compare your years in pages, not just books. 10y
Gezemice That's really awesome! Way to go! 10y
LitHousewife Way to go!!!! 10y
Megabooks @MMF I tried too. I think I have to be on my computer and not an app. ☹️ 10y
Megabooks @ReadingEnvy Congratulations! 👊🏻 10y
laurenm Yay! I just increased my challenge from 30 to 40 books today. At 22 now. Love this challenge! 10y
HeatherBookNerd I set a reading goal as usual this year, but so far this year, most of my books have been 700-800 pages, so I'm behind. Maybe I should have set a number of pages goal! 10y
Megabooks @HeatherBookNerd That sounds like a good idea. My average is a little over 300 pgs/book, so much shorter! 10y
denise Awesome, congrats!! 👏👏👏 10y
MLVReads Way to go!!! 10y
Tee Congrats!! 10y
SaraFair Giirrrllll, that's alotta books! 10y
91 likes19 comments
review
Megabooks
The Wonder Garden | Lauren Acampora
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Pickpick

4.5 🌟 Acampora deftly weaves the residents of small NYC suburb together through marriage, affairs, jobs & friendship. It's amazing that a year passes naturally from the 1st to last story. Each story is told from a single perspective, but other residents pop up. Her characters are amazing & natural.

LinaLovesLit Look at those flowers! 😍 10y
Notafraidofwords Have you read A Year Of Perfect Happiness by Haynes? 10y
Megabooks @Notafraidofwords No, but it sounds great! Unfortunately my library doesn't have it - not even to request. It's too expensive from Amazon, but I'm going to keep an eye out. Thanks! 10y
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Megabooks Thanks @Attila 💐 10y
Notafraidofwords @Ebooksandcooks no problem. I had seen a 1.99 deal on Amazon for it. If I see it again, I shall let you know. 10y
Megabooks @Notafraidofwords Thanks! Yeah, it's $12 now. A little too rich for my blood. 😉 10y
Notafraidofwords @Ebooksandcooks I'm the queen of bargain. I know 😀 10y
63 likes5 stack adds7 comments
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Megabooks
The Wonder Garden | Lauren Acampora
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There are only 2 things that can tear me away from a good book.
1. Star Trek 🖖🏻
2. The Week
The Week is a distillation of top national and international stories written from both sides of the aisle, plus tech, science, BOOK REVIEWS, TV, food, lifestyle, etc. Awesome! I ❤️ it!

SusanInTiburon I take The Week too, and I like it a lot. 10y
Laura317 What is the Week? I've not heard of this. 10y
Dogearedcopy Oh! I've been looking for something like The Week (articles from both sides!) very nice, though I wish they had a digital-only subscription available :-/ 10y
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Megabooks @Dogearedcopy They do on Kindle! That's what I'm reading it on now. I don't know about other platforms. 10y
Carol A lot of public libraries carry subscriptions to The Week, too. It's not the best option but if someone wanted to read a few before buying that's the way to go. 😁 10y
BookishFeminist This looks great! I've never heard of this magazine before, but I love me some politics so I'll have to check it out. 10y
Megabooks @BookishFeminist I first read about it in Lisa Genova's books. It has 17-18 pages of national and international news. The rest of the 39-43 pgs is tech, science, books, finance, obits, lifestyle, etc. This issue has an extra 3 pgs of books! 😃👍🏻 It's the best of the week's news in 1 magazine. 10y
53 likes7 comments
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Megabooks
The Wonder Garden | Lauren Acampora
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One book. One town. Interwoven. Two very different characters. You'll have to read the book to see how they're connected. 😉

I'm really enjoying this. Definitely a good use of my settlement money! 📖👍🏻

LauraJ "Deliciously creepy"!? Bring it on! 10y
Megabooks @LauraJ It's definitely a good collection. Very deft weaving and clues all along yet not a mystery. 10y
Notafraidofwords I love this book! It's my favorite interwoven collection of stories. Sooo good! 10y
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Megabooks @Notafraidofwords Do we have identical taste in books? Because I'm beginning to think so! 10y
Notafraidofwords @Ebooksandcooks lol I think so too. But I think you like short stories more. 10y
Megabooks @Notafraidofwords I definitely go through short story phases! I like a good novel or memoir, too. Other than memoirs, I don't read a ton of non-fiction. I'm much pickier with non-fiction! 10y
59 likes3 stack adds6 comments
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Megabooks
The Wonder Garden | Lauren Acampora
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HELP Litsy friends! I wanted to do this book for short story week on my blog, but someone checked it out! So I need recommendations. Requirements:

1. Literary fiction
2. Female writer
3. Available as an ebook
4. Short story collection

Thanks!!!! 😃👍🏻

Megabooks I may still buy The Wonder Garden, but I want to know what else is out there! 10y
GuiltyFeat Olive Kitteridge, Binocular Vision, Victory over Japan. 10y
CherylDeFranceschi Anything by Ellen Gilchrist 10y
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Jenshootsweddings Shirley Jackson is my usual go to for short stories, but they may not be short enough 10y
shawnmooney A throwback to the 80s but my favorite short story collection by Carol Shields is Various Miracles. On iBooks for sure, probably elsewhere. 10y
Sara_Planz American Housewife by Helen Ellis 10y
BarbaraTheBibliophage Kelly Link! 10y
OneLitChick Single, Carefree, Mellow by Katherine Heiny 10y
OneLitChick Boys and Girls Like You and Me by Aryn Kyle 10y
LauraJ Kelly Link or Amelia Gray 10y
Karli Unearned pleasures, Ursula Hegi 10y
Weakwarm Kelly Link for sure. 10y
LitHousewife American Housewife!!! Helen Ellis is the author. 10y
courtney I loved the Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender and American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Campbell 10y
RealLifeReading Lucia Berlin's A Manual for Cleaning Women 10y
jmkeene Love both Kelly Link and Helen Ellis. Also see about Ann Beattie. She was a big name in the 1970s, but I love her stories now. Burning House is my favorite collection. 10y
Chessa Are you on NetGalley? I just requested (and was granted) the book Of This New World by Allegra M. Hyde - a collection of short stories all about Utopias. I'm a huge utopia/dystopia sucker! Might be an option for you? 10y
Lindy Have you already read Atwood's Stone Mattress? It's outstanding. 10y
Mayread Lorrie Moore, Alice Munro, and Aimee Bender all have multiple SS collections on e-book. Also Lucia Berlin & Clarice Lispector. 10y
CharissaWeaksAuthor Kelly Link! 10y
Megabooks Wow! Thank you all so much. So far I've checked out American Housewife, Single Carefree Mellow, The State We're In, and Refund! Litsy crew comes through again! Keep them coming though. I am saving this. I LOVE short stories! 10y
JessReads This was my favorite short story collection that I've read in a long time! 10y
Megabooks @JessReads I've asked the library for that one, but they haven't gotten it. ☹️ 10y
BookishFeminist Second the Kelly Link recommendations, but also 10y
BookishFeminist Also this tagged book is AMAZING, plus any short story collection by Margaret Atwood 10y
Megabooks @BookishFeminist I hadn't heard of Thunderstruck and I didn't know Adichie's new book was a collection. Cool! 10y
BookishFeminist Yes, and they're both wonderful! So I hope you get to them sometime even if they aren't for this blog post :) 10y
steph_hashes_tags Pretty sure Helen Oyeyemi's recent short story collection will fit the bill! 10y
moranadatter Adding my voice to the Kelly Link recs. She was the first writer to come to mind. 10y
26 likes31 comments