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News of the Spirit
by
Lee Smith
New York Times bestselling author Lee Smith offers her signature mix of wit and heartbreak, as well as her “unerring ear for the lyrical and the down and dirty,” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) in this superb collection of stories.
Paperback, 304 pages
Published
July 3rd 2012
by Berkley Trade
(first published 1997)
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Lee Smith is a wonderful Southern writer who really gets into the heart of character. She brings the characters to life for a brief time and we get a glimpse into their lives. Family and how people find their place in the world, seem to be themes of these stories. There are so many good stories in this book, that it would be hard for me to pick just one, but I especially loved The Happy Memories Club, about a spunky little old woman in a retirement home who is determined to live out her life doi...more
Lee Smith is one of my favorite authors, and this short story book really showcases the reasons why. She takes deceptively simple things and makes them profound, in my opinion. Although her settings are in the south, and her characters are primarily women in small towns, she never falls into the annoyingly cliched southern chick lit genre. This is literary fiction, and it will make an impression, if it's your kind of thing.
Some of the stories were great, I particularly liked "Live Bottomless". My only complaint is that it seemed that a lot of the same type of character showed up in several stories - the distant or mentally unstable but beautiful mother and the spunky daughter among them. But they were all quick, fairly engaging reads that I enjoyed.
Apr 25, 2010
Melissa
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
contemporary-fiction
I love Lee Smith's characters, for all their faults, and the way she can worm them into my heart. I don't normally enjoy short stories, because I never feel like I'm given enough, but Ms. Smith was able to write each story perfectly.
Mar 10, 2011
RUSA CODES
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
notable-books-1998
This was one of the 1998 RUSA Notable Books winners. For the complete list, go to http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rus...
May 28, 2009
Laura Gardner
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
adult,
short-stories
I know. an adult book. crazy!! I forgot how much I loved a) short stories and b) Lee Smith. This book completely sucked me in and each story was magical in its own way. She's also HILARIOUS.
Read these stories for my writing class. Some I adored and some left me underwhelmed. But as a whole, a good collection.
3 1/2, really. Some of the stories are quite good; some did nothing for me. Not bad for lazy winter eves.
I've not found anything yet by this author that I didn't enjoy.
Not my favorite. I am not usually fond of books of short stories.
A great North Carolina author. Makes me miss my pal Deb.
Just lovely
Aug 20, 2008
Amanda
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Amanda by:
neighborhood book club
Pieces of this book had such potential but each short story seemed to just end without really developing the entire story. Another Good Reads friend said that maybe they just didn't like short stories... I think the biggest problem here was that the stories and the characters in them didn't differentiate enough from one to the next so I found myself getting mixed up between stories. Why didn't she just make a composite character and write one story?
These short stories sparkle with true Lee Smith wit.
Aug 10, 2012
Teresa
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
amyrl,
southern-writers
Lee Smith is great.
Maybe I just don't like short stories, but I thought these were not very interesting. I liked the other book I've read by Lee Smith, Saving Grace, much more.
Another of my fav southern authors. Some of these stories are like little movies in your mind when you read them. A great diversion from my studies during school, when I couldn't commit to a full book read.
Some of these short stories were better than others, of course; but all of them were interesting in their own ways.
I can't wait to read Lee Smith's new book of short stories. She is coming to Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh late March.
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Growing up in the Appalachian mountains of southwestern Virginia, nine-year-old Lee Smith was already writing--and selling, for a nickel apiece--stories about her neighbors in the coal boomtown of Grundy and the nearby isolated "hollers." Since 1968, she has published eleven novels, as well as three collections of short stories, and has received many writing awards.
The sense of place infusing her...more
More about Lee Smith...
The sense of place infusing her...more
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