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Guide to Being Born
Guide to Being Born | Ramona Ausubel
23 posts | 18 read | 35 to read
Reminiscent of Aimee Bender and Karen Russell an enthralling collection that uses the world of the imagination to explore the heart of the human condition. Major literary talent Ramona Ausubel, author of "Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty," coming Summer 2016, combines the otherworldly wisdom of her much-loved debut novel, "No One Is Here Except All of Us," with the precision of the short-story form."A Guide toBeing Born "is organized around the stages of life love, conception, gestation, birth and the transformations that happen as people experience deeply altering life events, falling in love, becoming parents, looking toward the end of life. In each of these eleven stories Ausubel s stunning imagination and humor are moving, entertaining, and provocative, leading readers to see the familiar world in a new way. In Atria a pregnant teenager believes she will give birth to any number of strange animals rather than a human baby; in Catch and Release a girl discovers the ghost of a Civil War hero living in the woods behind her house; and in Tributaries people grow a new arm each time they fall in love. Funny, surprising, and delightfully strange all the stories have a strong emotional core; Ausubel s primary concern is always love, in all its manifestations."
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Lizpixie
A Guide to Being Born | Ramona Ausubel
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#BookMail Pt6 Yet Another @SavidgeReads recommendation, this is s short story collection all about love, conception, gestation & birth. All are touched with a bit of strange, such as Atria in which a pregnant teenager believes she will give birth to animals instead of a baby & Tributaries where people grow a new arm every time they fall in love. Funny, sad & all beautiful.

60 likes4 stack adds
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hike.read.repeat
A Guide to Being Born | Ramona Ausubel
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My little sister will be giving birth any day now. I re-read this book of birth-themed stories in honor of her and my new nephew. The stories are kinda hit or miss, imo. The ones that are good are really good, but there are plenty of blah ones mixed in.

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lauralovesbooks1
A Guide to Being Born | Ramona Ausubel
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Bailedbailed

I appreciate the author's skill, but these are too bizarre for me.

monalyisha What a cover! 😱😍 6y
emilyhaldi I bought this at a used book sale just for the cover 😍 but haven‘t had the urge to pick it up yet.. 😬 6y
lauralovesbooks1 @emilyhaldi The cover is gorgeous. I picked it up used as well -- It wasn't that the writing wasn't good, just wasn't my taste. 6y
19 likes3 comments
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shawnmooney
A Guide to Being Born | Ramona Ausubel
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emilyhaldi Nice picture 👌🏻 7y
47 likes1 stack add1 comment
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shawnmooney
A Guide to Being Born | Ramona Ausubel
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CouronneDhiver 😂😂 7y
Soubhiville Love this! 7y
Dolly This image and text at 5am ? 😳 There‘s not enough coffee to sooth me now. 7y
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Sue 😂😂😂 @Dolly you have my sympathies. I‘m grateful I‘m seeing it at the end of the day! 7y
Weaponxgirl Naked mole rats confuse me! I spent a whole week once trying to find out what they actually die of and I'm still none the wiser 😂 if I ever wrote an apocalyptic novel they would centre in it strongly! 7y
LeahBergen 😂😂 7y
Suet624 @Weaponxgirl 😂😂😂😂 7y
43 likes7 comments
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shawnmooney
A Guide to Being Born | Ramona Ausubel
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Introduction to the story “The Ages“

#QuoteOfTheDay

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shawnmooney
A Guide to Being Born | Ramona Ausubel
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CouronneDhiver 😂 oh dear... sounds awkward! 7y
LeahBergen 😂😂 7y
35 likes2 comments
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shawnmooney
A Guide to Being Born | Ramona Ausubel
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#QuoteOfTheDay

Jeepers, this first story is taking my breath away so far!

Dolly Hmmm, nice ! Love what it makes me envision. 7y
33 likes1 comment
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shawnmooney
A Guide to Being Born | Ramona Ausubel
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Suet624 I might be getting close to being one of these grandmothers. I don‘t watch much TV, but the couch cushions can‘t recover from my reading. 7y
34 likes1 comment
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Brie
A Guide to Being Born | Ramona Ausubel
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Pickpick

Full of strangeness, beauty, sadness, and weirdness. Stories of intense imagery and otherworldly situations, but still recognizable emotions of love, heartache, and loneliness, just seen in a tinted light.

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emilyhaldi
A Guide to Being Born | Ramona Ausubel
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I would be lying if I said I didn't buy some of these #shortstories solely for the covers. In fact, I dislike short stories 90% of the time 😂 still worth it!

#30daysofreadathon

Librariana I would buy them for the covers, too! 7y
Megabooks Drifting House is really good! 7y
Reviewsbylola I'm done with short stories! Not even the most beautiful cover could entice me. 7y
Mdargusch I really don't have any desire to read short stories but I would be tempted by those covers too. 7y
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StephanieY
A Guide to Being Born | Ramona Ausubel
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Pickpick

The cover art is ALMOST as magical as the stories in this collection. Ausubel continues to astound me.

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hike.read.repeat
A Guide to Being Born | Ramona Ausubel
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Pickpick

They say not to judge a book by its cover but I feel like this book cover perfectly represents this book. So weird and beautiful.

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nerdpimp
A Guide to Being Born | Ramona Ausubel
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Two stories into Ramona Ausubel's beautiful collection and I am hooked.

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DarthDeadpool
A Guide to Being Born | Ramona Ausubel
Pickpick

This is the best short story collection I've read in a long time! Just when I was starting to think I wasn't a fan of short stories anymore, this one found me.

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DarthDeadpool
A Guide to Being Born | Ramona Ausubel
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Currently renewing my love of short fiction

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beccaeve
A Guide to Being Born | Ramona Ausubel
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Pickpick

This collection of short stories is lovely! The writing is vibrant and the stories unique. I really enjoyed it.

OutlandishLit LOVE. 8y
CoffeeBooksRepeat Wow. That cover is great. 8y
beccaeve @OutlandishLit Isn't it amazing! I just found a copy of a novel by her at my library's used bookstore. I'm excited to read more of her stuff 8y
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beccaeve @GeraldineReads I admit to picking this one up because if the cover. The contents live up to the amazing cover! 8y
Katja I loved this! Have you read her novel, No One Is Here Except All of Us? WWII, vaguely magical realist, so odd and good! 8y
beccaeve @Katja I loved it too! I actually just found a copy of No One Is Here Except All Of Us at my library's used bookstore (for a $1.50!!) 8y
Katja A steal! Hope you enjoy it! 8y
beccaeve @Katja Thanks! I'll make sure to post about it when I read it. ☺ 8y
20 likes3 stack adds8 comments
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beccaeve
A Guide to Being Born | Ramona Ausubel
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I read seven books this month to try to make up for my really slow reading month in September. Thankfully, I had a road trip, which allowed for some good audiobook time.

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OutlandishLit
A Guide to Being Born | Ramona Ausubel
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Pickpick

These short stories made me ugly cry twice & tear up another time. Some stories are stranger than others. There's a ghost, a man who grows a cabinet in his chest, a ship with confused grandmas on it, and a world where people grow arms only when they love someone.

The stories are about how our bodies & our selves are not entirely our own. How we belong to others & how the loss of others affects us. Her writing is stunning and surprising.

ohyeahthatgirl I love love love Ramona Ausubel. Have you read I want to Show you More by Jamie Quatro yet? Super weird stories about love, sex, and faith. 8y
StephanieY You are the one who introduced me to Ausubel during #weirdathon and for that I THANK YOU! I loved her newest book! 8y
OutlandishLit @ohyeahthatgirl no, I don't think I've heard of that! Looking into it now 8y
OutlandishLit @StephanieY yaaaay!! I started her new one a while ago but set it down before leaving the country and forgot to pick it back up. I need to get on that 8y
Cataluna6 I started reading this and got waylaid, time to pick it up again. 8y
31 likes3 stack adds5 comments
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beccaeve
A Guide to Being Born | Ramona Ausubel
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This book cover is lovely and so far the stories inside match. 😍

ReadingOver50 Wow that cover is amazing! 8y
BookishMarginalia I have to admit the cover is beautiful but it is creeping me out a little 😳 8y
14 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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malloryomeara
A Guide to Being Born | Ramona Ausubel
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Pickpick

These stories are wonderful and weird and before I knew it, my heart was happily yanked out of my chest.

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shawnmooney
Guide to Being Born | Ramona Ausubel
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A few days after hearing about this on that Drunk Bookseller podcast, looky looky! I found it among about 1,000 English-language sale books (5 bucks each) at a Tokyo bookstore! And, no, I didn't just buy this one!

Susannah That's a gorgeous cover. 9y
shawnmooney @Susannah I agree! You might be interested to check out my other post on this book from a few days ago. 9y
16 likes2 comments
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shawnmooney
Guide to Being Born | Ramona Ausubel
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Heard just now on Drunk Booksellers podcast: "If you're interested in reading anything where a story ends with a boy jumping on top of his parents' bed right after they finished having sex, dumping out the ashes of their dead cat onto them," then you'll love this book! Hmmm...let's try it!

Susannah Hmm. 😉 9y
6 likes3 stack adds1 comment