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The History of Sound
The History of Sound: Stories | Ben Shattuck
8 posts | 7 read | 9 to read
Exquisitely crafted, deeply imagined, exhilaratingly diverse, The History of Sound places Ben Shattuck firmly among the very finest of our storytellers. Geraldine Brooks, New York Times bestselling author of Horse A stunning collection of interconnected stories, set in New England, exploring how the past is often misunderstood and how history, family, heartache, and desire can echo over centuries In twelve luminous stories set across three centuries, The History of Sound examines the unexpected ways the past returns to us and how love and loss are entwined and transformed over generations. In Ben Shattuck's ingenious collection, each story has a companion story, which contains a revelation about the previous, paired story. Mysteries and murders are revealed, history is refracted, and deep emotional connections are woven through characters and families. The haunting title story recalls the journey of two men who meet around a piano in a smoky, dim bar, only to spend a summer walking the Maine woods collecting folk songs in the shadow of the First World War, forever marked by the odyssey. Decades later, in another story, a woman discovers the wax cylinders recorded that fateful summer while cleaning out her new house in Maine. Shattucks inventive, exquisite stories transport readers from 1700s Nantucket to the contemporary woods of New Hampshire and beyondinto landscapes both enduring and unmistakably modern. Memories, artifacts, paintings, and journals resurface in surprising and poignant ways among evocative beaches, forests, and orchards, revealing the secrets, misunderstandings, and love that linger across centuries. Written with breathtaking humanity and humor, The History of Sound is a love letter to New England, a radiant conversation between past and present, and a moving meditation on the abiding search for home.
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Hooked_on_books
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Pickpick

Reading this book of interconnected short stories, many of them historical, set in the NE US and into Canada is like walking through a museum dedicated to New England and seeing different studies through the ages of people in this place. It‘s just marvelous. #ToB25

48 likes2 stack adds
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BarbaraBB
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#weeklyfavorites

I‘ve had a good week, all my books could have been this week‘s favorite. But in the end I have to go with this one! My favorite on the #ToB25 shortlist so far.

Tamra I listened to the audio, but I have it on my to buy list to reread. 💙 4d
Hooked_on_books I should finish this one today. It‘s marvelous. 4d
BarbaraBB @Hooked_on_books Yes! Definitely your kind of book too! 4d
Suet624 Yay!!! 3d
Read4life 💙❄️💙 3d
57 likes1 stack add5 comments
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BarbaraBB
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Pickpick

Fantastic, interconnected stories set in three centuries in New England. I loved most of the stories. Each so different and yet an unmistakable part of the whole. A favorite on the #ToB25 shortlist for sure!

Chelsea.Poole V glad to hear this, I have just checked out the audiobook. I hope that format will work out! 7d
BarbaraBB @Chelsea.Poole I did audio and print and audio is wonderful as well! 7d
squirrelbrain I can imagine that the audio is as good as the print. @Chelsea.Poole - I think you‘ll love it too! 7d
See All 12 Comments
Chelsea.Poole Great, looking forward to it! Thanks @squirrelbrain @BarbaraBB 6d
Tamra So good!!! 👏🏾👏🏾 6d
Cathythoughts Stacking 👍🏻❤️ 6d
Suet624 I‘m so glad you liked it. 6d
BarbaraBB @Suet624 Loved it! 6d
youneverarrived Love the photo! 6d
Amiable Ooh! As a lifelong New Englander, my antenna goes up when I see that as a setting. Stacking! 4d
BarbaraBB @Amiable You‘ll love it I think! 4d
BarbaraBB @youneverarrived thank you Katie 😘 4d
71 likes3 stack adds12 comments
review
squirrelbrain
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Pickpick

I loved this collection of short stories from the #ToBlonglist.

I‘m not usually a fan of the genre but I appreciated that these were all beautifully written with proper endings. They‘re also linked to each other in some way, even by just a small object, which was lovely.

The whole book felt like a lively warm bath (even though 1 or 2 of the stories were sad / upsetting)

Definitely on my shortlist.

Tamra I loved it as well! 💙 Beautiful 2w
TheBookHippie I love short stories. This was so very good. 2w
squirrelbrain I didn‘t know you‘d read it already! @TheBookHippie - I remembered it as being the *one* book you were interested in from the #ToB list. 2w
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TheBookHippie @squirrelbrain yesterday 😂😂😂😂 2w
TheBookHippie @squirrelbrain my friend had a copy and dropped it off with muffins! 2w
BarbaraBB Your shortlist? Another one I must get to then. So many good books this year! 2w
squirrelbrain What a lovely thought! @TheBookHippie - glad you enjoyed the book (and the muffins!) 2w
TheBookHippie @BarbaraBB I liked it too if that helps push you 😅😂 2w
Suet624 @BarbaraBB I loved this one. Read it a while back. And short stories aren‘t really my thing. Its the book I‘m giving to friends for Christmas. 2w
BarbaraBB @TheBookHippie It does, and your recommendation too @Suet624 , in fact I already ordered a copy 🤦🏻‍♀️ (edited) 2w
TheBookHippie @BarbaraBB 😂😂😂😅♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️😘 2w
AnneCecilie This makes me want to read it even more 2w
squirrelbrain We‘re all so naughty aren‘t we, encouraging each other to buy books?! @BarbaraBB 2w
BarbaraBB It‘s so contagious 😀 2w
Hooked_on_books Oh nice! I have the ebook of this from the library and hope to get to it next week. I could stare at the cover all day. 2w
squirrelbrain Yes, it‘s a gorgeous cover isn‘t it?! @Hooked_on_books 2w
Megabooks I‘m so excited about this one. Great review!! 2w
55 likes1 stack add17 comments
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Tamra
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I‘ve only just started this collection on audio (2 stories in) and wow, I‘m going to need to get this in print! 😍 The cast of narrators is out of sight!

I‘ve already stacked Six Walks.

Suet624 Loved this book and starting on six walks now. 3mo
Tamra @Suet624 I hope it‘s as good! 3mo
44 likes2 comments
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Anna40
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Pickpick

I loved these stories so much. The writing is engaging, elegant, the characters are complex, the storytelling ranges from historic fiction to contemporary, focusing on art, music, farming, religion, nature, love and loss … just wonderful. Highly recommend!

Suet624 Great review! I really liked this one. 3mo
Anna40 @Suet624 Yes, I read your beautiful review for this collection but I also read one of the stories in The Common, a literary magazine I love. I think that story was even featured in the PEN debut story collection but not sure. What a wonderful writer. I ordered his debut: (edited) 3mo
Suet624 @Anna40 I can‘t wait to hear what you think of that one. 3mo
Anna40 @Suet624 I will let you know once I‘ve read it 😊 3mo
23 likes1 stack add4 comments
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Suet624
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Pickpick

This is an exceptional short story collection. Spanning centuries, primarily focusing on events in New England, the stories each have a companion piece that offers a perspective or answer to the first piece. Despite not being a lover of short stories, I couldn‘t put the book down and read it more as a novel. Each character, each event, so clearly outlined, and each story draws you in. The title story will be made into a movie with Paul Mescal.

Tamra On my radar! 4mo
Suet624 @Tamra great! 4mo
kspenmoll This sounds like a pick! 4mo
Suet624 @kspenmoll I think you‘d like it a lot. 4mo
50 likes1 stack add4 comments