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  What are you reading?

  Good question. It's summer, the time for light reading, yes? So I just finished The Reivers, Faulkner's last book. Actually, in the interest of true confession, I listened to it on tape. That turned out to be a very dangerous activity. Some of the sentences are so utterly wonderful that I had to rewind and listen again and again. It also meant that I got so caught up in the narrative that I almost drove off the road more than once. I don't have this experience with most Faulkner, though I was fascinated, upon rereading Light in August to realize how little I remembered and how absolutely terrifying Joe Christmas is. This book is light-hearted filled with wonderful turns of prhase that have to be savored.

  Before that, also in the category of writing with breathtaking sentences, I read Tony Earley's short story collection, Here We Are in Paradise. It left me with multiple responses: I will never be able to write like this. What a wonderful read. And...some of these stories don't work. (I had just finished reading 70 submissions for a short story anthology, so I was very much in the mode to appreciate good writing.)

  Though I live in a house where the floors are groaning under the weight of books, I'd love some suggestions of good short story collections by women authors.

  Posted 19 Jun 08 in the narrative ark