Welcome to Litsy!

I‘m kicking myself because i had almost finished this book and then the library insisted i bring it back 😂 But it was probably the best collection of short stories I‘ve ever read! That is - if you like authors like Barbara Pym, Anita Brookner, maybe Penelope Lively. These are frequently bittersweet stories where the main character is a woman, often an older woman, and they focus on love and grief and ageing and mistakes and chances lost and ⬇️

I feel too much I think. I'm easily shamed; easily hurt. So I go nuclear quickly in confrontations. I do know better. I'm learning not to resist; to let it go. William Trevor is my soundtrack. He sees the things that move me. He sounds like my own thoughts. Although his plots can be unnerving, his understanding of his characters is comforting. There won't be a happy ending, but there will be an ending. And I will understand.

I used to really like Curtis Sittenfeld. I thought her first two books were amazing, Prep and Rodham. But ever since then…meh. I dutifully start each one but then disappointment sets in. This is a short story collection. Read the first three, didn‘t get any of them, bailed. Maybe they‘ll speak to someone else, but it wasn‘t me.

I had to take this collection back to the library before I got through it, but I read enough of these stories to know that I must read more Mavis Gallant short stories! I can‘t believe I haven‘t before now. They are brilliant.

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My #ThorsDayRec this week is a 700 page collection that I finished at the end of January this year after starting it the beginning of Dec last year. There are numerous memorable stories collected in this retrospective, the title story itself is one of the greatest pieces of American 20th C noir fiction. When JC Oates is on point, she is right up there with Shirley Jackson & Patricia Highsmith IMO. Absolutely fantastic.

Saki‘s just chillin‘ by my fireside bookstack. The top book, BAD ENDINGS, is my current short story collection, and it‘s a strong one. Carleigh Baker excels at finding the slices of experience that illuminate a character‘s life. #MFMarch

At the end of every story, I asked "and?", "so?" They were character driven and mostly mundane. The writing kept me plowing through but there were a few stories I read diagonally.

I'm not normally one for short story collections but I'd never read from Curtis Sittenfeld before and this seemed like a good way to sample their work.

And it was.

I really loved the writing style and will definitely be checking out the full length novels.

I enjoyed every story in the collection to varying degrees.

Stand outs would be A for Alone, White Women LOL and Patron Saints for Middle Age.

I always think this author is writing about herself when she does short stories. I kind of like it.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

Pub date is 2/25/25 (😂 cutting it close there)
#ARC #Netgalley