<![CDATA[Kilter 55]]>

false 1415226 <![CDATA[Kilter 55]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1183416604m/1415226.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1183416604s/1415226.jpg Kilter, John Gould's second collection of extremely short stories (which was a surprise Giller Prize nominee). But with his command of language and eye for the minutiae of relationships, the Victoria-based writer doesn't need more than a few lines to capture a character or relationship or moment. "In Translation," which takes the form of a dialogue between a man and a woman reading in bed, follows each spoken line with its actual meaning. "'What's it about, though, Marie-Claire?' I say, meaning, After all these years, you know, the sound of your name still makes little purple blossoms start popping through my scalp." In "Sunday Morning" the narrator describes her boyfriend as saying "God" "the way my grandma says 'email.'" Some of the stories in Kilter are exceedingly clever in format. "Dear Ann," for instance, is written as a letter to an advice columnist about a troubled relationship between a Kabbalist and an alchemist, followed by the columnist's hilariously off-the-mark response. In "Password," a woman searches for the forgotten password that will unlock a computer document--innocuously titled "Mom.doc"--detailing an erotic dream. In "Dust," an argumentative conversation over classical literary allusions gradually reveals itself to be a telephone call from a potential suicide to a prevention line.

But the stories in this rewarding and revelatory collection are never simply exercises or literary devices. Gould's raw material is the dynamic between men and women--how we go from being strangers to friends to lovers and back again--as well as the transformative powers of mortality. More than a few terminally ill people populate these stories. Underlying many of these precise, illuminating tales is a questing, playful spirituality. In "Takeout" a woman asks her boyfriend if he would still love her if she changed, and then reveals that she already has. "'Naw,' says Dick, shaking his head. 'Naw, you're still my little Wendykins' 'Actually, no,' says Wendy. 'No, I'm not your Wendykins. I'm Chiyono, a medieval Buddhist nun.' Dick looks up abruptly from the wreckage of his dinner. 'I've just achieved enlightenment,' says his wife. 'Just now, just today.'" --Shawn Conner

]]> 562372 2 549516 1 11 2005 Kilter: 55 Fictions total:21|5:7|4:6|3:8|2:0|1:0| 21 83 43 4 79332 3.86 42 8 56774786 2339332 562372 1590511891 9781590511893 3 <![CDATA[Kilter: 55 Fictions]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410m/562372.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410s/562372.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/562372.Kilter_55_Fictions 4.00 16 "The enormous inventiveness of these 55 fictions offers the reader an emotional and intellectual gourmet feast."—2003 Giller Prize Jury.

A finalist for the 2003 Giller Prize, Canada's most prestigious literary award, Kilter is a subtle, funny, ironic, and startling chronicle of contemporary life, full of individuals catching odd glimpses of themselves—a young woman puzzles over the identity of her lost brother; a husband describes a sixteenth-century painting to explain his lover to his wife—and of big ideas working themselves out in strange but revealing ways—a dead man laments the suicide note he failed to write; a wife and husband disagree about the shape of the semen stain on their son's pajamas, he seeing it as an image of Jesus, she as the image of her dog as a puppy.

John Gould has updated and westernized the form of the palm-of-the-hand story, invented eighty years ago by Yasunari Kawabata, who wanted a way to write a fiction writer's poetry. In spare, elegant prose, Gould crafts quirky gems, compact fusions of humor and pathos. At the center of this multifaceted collection is a vision of human beings as paradoxical creatures, finite and haunted by infinite longings. In story after story, Gould locates the fulcrum on which a life tilts from kilter to off-kilter and back again.]]> 2005 3 0 false Wed May 20 14:10:55 -0700 2009 Mon May 25 16:29:50 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4718745 187043 562372 1590511891 9781590511893 3 <![CDATA[Kilter: 55 Fictions]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410m/562372.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410s/562372.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/562372.Kilter_55_Fictions 3.95 21 "The enormous inventiveness of these 55 fictions offers the reader an emotional and intellectual gourmet feast."—2003 Giller Prize Jury.

A finalist for the 2003 Giller Prize, Canada's most prestigious literary award, Kilter is a subtle, funny, ironic, and startling chronicle of contemporary life, full of individuals catching odd glimpses of themselves—a young woman puzzles over the identity of her lost brother; a husband describes a sixteenth-century painting to explain his lover to his wife—and of big ideas working themselves out in strange but revealing ways—a dead man laments the suicide note he failed to write; a wife and husband disagree about the shape of the semen stain on their son's pajamas, he seeing it as an image of Jesus, she as the image of her dog as a puppy.

John Gould has updated and westernized the form of the palm-of-the-hand story, invented eighty years ago by Yasunari Kawabata, who wanted a way to write a fiction writer's poetry. In spare, elegant prose, Gould crafts quirky gems, compact fusions of humor and pathos. At the center of this multifaceted collection is a vision of human beings as paradoxical creatures, finite and haunted by infinite longings. In story after story, Gould locates the fulcrum on which a life tilts from kilter to off-kilter and back again.]]> 2005 5 0 false Fri Aug 17 20:47:41 -0700 2007 Thu Dec 17 05:45:03 -0800 2009 59665491 163469 1415226 0888012802 9780888012807 1 <![CDATA[Kilter 55]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1183416604m/1415226.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1183416604s/1415226.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1415226.Kilter_55 3.80 5 Kilter, John Gould's second collection of extremely short stories (which was a surprise Giller Prize nominee). But with his command of language and eye for the minutiae of relationships, the Victoria-based writer doesn't need more than a few lines to capture a character or relationship or moment. "In Translation," which takes the form of a dialogue between a man and a woman reading in bed, follows each spoken line with its actual meaning. "'What's it about, though, Marie-Claire?' I say, meaning, After all these years, you know, the sound of your name still makes little purple blossoms start popping through my scalp." In "Sunday Morning" the narrator describes her boyfriend as saying "God" "the way my grandma says 'email.'" Some of the stories in Kilter are exceedingly clever in format. "Dear Ann," for instance, is written as a letter to an advice columnist about a troubled relationship between a Kabbalist and an alchemist, followed by the columnist's hilariously off-the-mark response. In "Password," a woman searches for the forgotten password that will unlock a computer document--innocuously titled "Mom.doc"--detailing an erotic dream. In "Dust," an argumentative conversation over classical literary allusions gradually reveals itself to be a telephone call from a potential suicide to a prevention line.

]]> 2005 3 0 false Sun Sep 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 14 18:09:43 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 06 22:17:34 -0700 2009 30946328 1411942 562372 1590511891 9781590511893 3 <![CDATA[Kilter: 55 Fictions]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410m/562372.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410s/562372.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/562372.Kilter_55_Fictions 3.95 21 "The enormous inventiveness of these 55 fictions offers the reader an emotional and intellectual gourmet feast."—2003 Giller Prize Jury.

A finalist for the 2003 Giller Prize, Canada's most prestigious literary award, Kilter is a subtle, funny, ironic, and startling chronicle of contemporary life, full of individuals catching odd glimpses of themselves—a young woman puzzles over the identity of her lost brother; a husband describes a sixteenth-century painting to explain his lover to his wife—and of big ideas working themselves out in strange but revealing ways—a dead man laments the suicide note he failed to write; a wife and husband disagree about the shape of the semen stain on their son's pajamas, he seeing it as an image of Jesus, she as the image of her dog as a puppy.

John Gould has updated and westernized the form of the palm-of-the-hand story, invented eighty years ago by Yasunari Kawabata, who wanted a way to write a fiction writer's poetry. In spare, elegant prose, Gould crafts quirky gems, compact fusions of humor and pathos. At the center of this multifaceted collection is a vision of human beings as paradoxical creatures, finite and haunted by infinite longings. In story after story, Gould locates the fulcrum on which a life tilts from kilter to off-kilter and back again.]]> 2005 5 0 false Fri Aug 22 18:34:28 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 22 18:35:02 -0700 2008 82390782 3083536 562372 1590511891 9781590511893 3 <![CDATA[Kilter: 55 Fictions]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410m/562372.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410s/562372.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/562372.Kilter_55_Fictions 3.95 21 "The enormous inventiveness of these 55 fictions offers the reader an emotional and intellectual gourmet feast."—2003 Giller Prize Jury.

A finalist for the 2003 Giller Prize, Canada's most prestigious literary award, Kilter is a subtle, funny, ironic, and startling chronicle of contemporary life, full of individuals catching odd glimpses of themselves—a young woman puzzles over the identity of her lost brother; a husband describes a sixteenth-century painting to explain his lover to his wife—and of big ideas working themselves out in strange but revealing ways—a dead man laments the suicide note he failed to write; a wife and husband disagree about the shape of the semen stain on their son's pajamas, he seeing it as an image of Jesus, she as the image of her dog as a puppy.

John Gould has updated and westernized the form of the palm-of-the-hand story, invented eighty years ago by Yasunari Kawabata, who wanted a way to write a fiction writer's poetry. In spare, elegant prose, Gould crafts quirky gems, compact fusions of humor and pathos. At the center of this multifaceted collection is a vision of human beings as paradoxical creatures, finite and haunted by infinite longings. In story after story, Gould locates the fulcrum on which a life tilts from kilter to off-kilter and back again.]]> 2005 5 0 false Mon Dec 28 21:27:57 -0800 2009 Mon Dec 28 21:27:57 -0800 2009 82223048 3051210 562372 1590511891 9781590511893 3 <![CDATA[Kilter: 55 Fictions]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410m/562372.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410s/562372.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/562372.Kilter_55_Fictions 3.95 21 "The enormous inventiveness of these 55 fictions offers the reader an emotional and intellectual gourmet feast."—2003 Giller Prize Jury.

A finalist for the 2003 Giller Prize, Canada's most prestigious literary award, Kilter is a subtle, funny, ironic, and startling chronicle of contemporary life, full of individuals catching odd glimpses of themselves—a young woman puzzles over the identity of her lost brother; a husband describes a sixteenth-century painting to explain his lover to his wife—and of big ideas working themselves out in strange but revealing ways—a dead man laments the suicide note he failed to write; a wife and husband disagree about the shape of the semen stain on their son's pajamas, he seeing it as an image of Jesus, she as the image of her dog as a puppy.

John Gould has updated and westernized the form of the palm-of-the-hand story, invented eighty years ago by Yasunari Kawabata, who wanted a way to write a fiction writer's poetry. In spare, elegant prose, Gould crafts quirky gems, compact fusions of humor and pathos. At the center of this multifaceted collection is a vision of human beings as paradoxical creatures, finite and haunted by infinite longings. In story after story, Gould locates the fulcrum on which a life tilts from kilter to off-kilter and back again.]]> 2005 4 0 false Sun Dec 27 16:59:49 -0800 2009 Sun Dec 27 17:05:26 -0800 2009 79290161 2990587 562372 1590511891 9781590511893 3 <![CDATA[Kilter: 55 Fictions]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410m/562372.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410s/562372.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/562372.Kilter_55_Fictions 3.95 21 "The enormous inventiveness of these 55 fictions offers the reader an emotional and intellectual gourmet feast."—2003 Giller Prize Jury.

A finalist for the 2003 Giller Prize, Canada's most prestigious literary award, Kilter is a subtle, funny, ironic, and startling chronicle of contemporary life, full of individuals catching odd glimpses of themselves—a young woman puzzles over the identity of her lost brother; a husband describes a sixteenth-century painting to explain his lover to his wife—and of big ideas working themselves out in strange but revealing ways—a dead man laments the suicide note he failed to write; a wife and husband disagree about the shape of the semen stain on their son's pajamas, he seeing it as an image of Jesus, she as the image of her dog as a puppy.

John Gould has updated and westernized the form of the palm-of-the-hand story, invented eighty years ago by Yasunari Kawabata, who wanted a way to write a fiction writer's poetry. In spare, elegant prose, Gould crafts quirky gems, compact fusions of humor and pathos. At the center of this multifaceted collection is a vision of human beings as paradoxical creatures, finite and haunted by infinite longings. In story after story, Gould locates the fulcrum on which a life tilts from kilter to off-kilter and back again.]]> 2005 0 0 false Sun Nov 29 09:17:17 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 29 09:17:17 -0800 2009 76856087 290901 1415226 0888012802 9780888012807 1 <![CDATA[Kilter 55]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1183416604m/1415226.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1183416604s/1415226.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1415226.Kilter_55 3.95 21 Kilter, John Gould's second collection of extremely short stories (which was a surprise Giller Prize nominee). But with his command of language and eye for the minutiae of relationships, the Victoria-based writer doesn't need more than a few lines to capture a character or relationship or moment. "In Translation," which takes the form of a dialogue between a man and a woman reading in bed, follows each spoken line with its actual meaning. "'What's it about, though, Marie-Claire?' I say, meaning, After all these years, you know, the sound of your name still makes little purple blossoms start popping through my scalp." In "Sunday Morning" the narrator describes her boyfriend as saying "God" "the way my grandma says 'email.'" Some of the stories in Kilter are exceedingly clever in format. "Dear Ann," for instance, is written as a letter to an advice columnist about a troubled relationship between a Kabbalist and an alchemist, followed by the columnist's hilariously off-the-mark response. In "Password," a woman searches for the forgotten password that will unlock a computer document--innocuously titled "Mom.doc"--detailing an erotic dream. In "Dust," an argumentative conversation over classical literary allusions gradually reveals itself to be a telephone call from a potential suicide to a prevention line.

]]> 2005 0 0 false Tue Nov 24 18:20:17 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 05 16:27:39 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 24 18:20:17 -0800 2009 76167865 1539191 1415226 0888012802 9780888012807 1 <![CDATA[Kilter 55]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1183416604m/1415226.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1183416604s/1415226.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1415226.Kilter_55 3.95 21 Kilter, John Gould's second collection of extremely short stories (which was a surprise Giller Prize nominee). But with his command of language and eye for the minutiae of relationships, the Victoria-based writer doesn't need more than a few lines to capture a character or relationship or moment. "In Translation," which takes the form of a dialogue between a man and a woman reading in bed, follows each spoken line with its actual meaning. "'What's it about, though, Marie-Claire?' I say, meaning, After all these years, you know, the sound of your name still makes little purple blossoms start popping through my scalp." In "Sunday Morning" the narrator describes her boyfriend as saying "God" "the way my grandma says 'email.'" Some of the stories in Kilter are exceedingly clever in format. "Dear Ann," for instance, is written as a letter to an advice columnist about a troubled relationship between a Kabbalist and an alchemist, followed by the columnist's hilariously off-the-mark response. In "Password," a woman searches for the forgotten password that will unlock a computer document--innocuously titled "Mom.doc"--detailing an erotic dream. In "Dust," an argumentative conversation over classical literary allusions gradually reveals itself to be a telephone call from a potential suicide to a prevention line.

]]> 2005 3 0 false Sat Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Thu Oct 29 18:21:54 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 29 18:22:12 -0700 2009 2 71417331 2744709 1415226 0888012802 9780888012807 1 <![CDATA[Kilter 55]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1183416604m/1415226.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1183416604s/1415226.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1415226.Kilter_55 3.95 21 Kilter, John Gould's second collection of extremely short stories (which was a surprise Giller Prize nominee). But with his command of language and eye for the minutiae of relationships, the Victoria-based writer doesn't need more than a few lines to capture a character or relationship or moment. "In Translation," which takes the form of a dialogue between a man and a woman reading in bed, follows each spoken line with its actual meaning. "'What's it about, though, Marie-Claire?' I say, meaning, After all these years, you know, the sound of your name still makes little purple blossoms start popping through my scalp." In "Sunday Morning" the narrator describes her boyfriend as saying "God" "the way my grandma says 'email.'" Some of the stories in Kilter are exceedingly clever in format. "Dear Ann," for instance, is written as a letter to an advice columnist about a troubled relationship between a Kabbalist and an alchemist, followed by the columnist's hilariously off-the-mark response. In "Password," a woman searches for the forgotten password that will unlock a computer document--innocuously titled "Mom.doc"--detailing an erotic dream. In "Dust," an argumentative conversation over classical literary allusions gradually reveals itself to be a telephone call from a potential suicide to a prevention line.

]]> 2005 0 0 false Wed Sep 16 09:11:17 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 16 09:11:17 -0700 2009 62185330 1279406 562372 1590511891 9781590511893 3 <![CDATA[Kilter: 55 Fictions]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410m/562372.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410s/562372.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/562372.Kilter_55_Fictions 3.95 21 "The enormous inventiveness of these 55 fictions offers the reader an emotional and intellectual gourmet feast."—2003 Giller Prize Jury.

A finalist for the 2003 Giller Prize, Canada's most prestigious literary award, Kilter is a subtle, funny, ironic, and startling chronicle of contemporary life, full of individuals catching odd glimpses of themselves—a young woman puzzles over the identity of her lost brother; a husband describes a sixteenth-century painting to explain his lover to his wife—and of big ideas working themselves out in strange but revealing ways—a dead man laments the suicide note he failed to write; a wife and husband disagree about the shape of the semen stain on their son's pajamas, he seeing it as an image of Jesus, she as the image of her dog as a puppy.

John Gould has updated and westernized the form of the palm-of-the-hand story, invented eighty years ago by Yasunari Kawabata, who wanted a way to write a fiction writer's poetry. In spare, elegant prose, Gould crafts quirky gems, compact fusions of humor and pathos. At the center of this multifaceted collection is a vision of human beings as paradoxical creatures, finite and haunted by infinite longings. In story after story, Gould locates the fulcrum on which a life tilts from kilter to off-kilter and back again.]]> 2005 3 0 false Sun Jul 05 01:00:07 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 05 01:00:07 -0700 2009 60889766 67277 562372 1590511891 9781590511893 3 <![CDATA[Kilter: 55 Fictions]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410m/562372.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410s/562372.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/562372.Kilter_55_Fictions 3.95 21 "The enormous inventiveness of these 55 fictions offers the reader an emotional and intellectual gourmet feast."—2003 Giller Prize Jury.

A finalist for the 2003 Giller Prize, Canada's most prestigious literary award, Kilter is a subtle, funny, ironic, and startling chronicle of contemporary life, full of individuals catching odd glimpses of themselves—a young woman puzzles over the identity of her lost brother; a husband describes a sixteenth-century painting to explain his lover to his wife—and of big ideas working themselves out in strange but revealing ways—a dead man laments the suicide note he failed to write; a wife and husband disagree about the shape of the semen stain on their son's pajamas, he seeing it as an image of Jesus, she as the image of her dog as a puppy.

John Gould has updated and westernized the form of the palm-of-the-hand story, invented eighty years ago by Yasunari Kawabata, who wanted a way to write a fiction writer's poetry. In spare, elegant prose, Gould crafts quirky gems, compact fusions of humor and pathos. At the center of this multifaceted collection is a vision of human beings as paradoxical creatures, finite and haunted by infinite longings. In story after story, Gould locates the fulcrum on which a life tilts from kilter to off-kilter and back again.]]> 2005 0 0 false Tue Jun 23 22:35:20 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 23 22:35:20 -0700 2009 60558871 2443534 562372 1590511891 9781590511893 3 <![CDATA[Kilter: 55 Fictions]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410m/562372.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410s/562372.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/562372.Kilter_55_Fictions 3.95 21 "The enormous inventiveness of these 55 fictions offers the reader an emotional and intellectual gourmet feast."—2003 Giller Prize Jury.

A finalist for the 2003 Giller Prize, Canada's most prestigious literary award, Kilter is a subtle, funny, ironic, and startling chronicle of contemporary life, full of individuals catching odd glimpses of themselves—a young woman puzzles over the identity of her lost brother; a husband describes a sixteenth-century painting to explain his lover to his wife—and of big ideas working themselves out in strange but revealing ways—a dead man laments the suicide note he failed to write; a wife and husband disagree about the shape of the semen stain on their son's pajamas, he seeing it as an image of Jesus, she as the image of her dog as a puppy.

John Gould has updated and westernized the form of the palm-of-the-hand story, invented eighty years ago by Yasunari Kawabata, who wanted a way to write a fiction writer's poetry. In spare, elegant prose, Gould crafts quirky gems, compact fusions of humor and pathos. At the center of this multifaceted collection is a vision of human beings as paradoxical creatures, finite and haunted by infinite longings. In story after story, Gould locates the fulcrum on which a life tilts from kilter to off-kilter and back again.]]> 2005 0 0 false Sun Jun 21 16:42:35 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 21 16:42:35 -0700 2009 60437551 2440319 562372 1590511891 9781590511893 3 <![CDATA[Kilter: 55 Fictions]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410m/562372.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410s/562372.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/562372.Kilter_55_Fictions 3.95 21 "The enormous inventiveness of these 55 fictions offers the reader an emotional and intellectual gourmet feast."—2003 Giller Prize Jury.

A finalist for the 2003 Giller Prize, Canada's most prestigious literary award, Kilter is a subtle, funny, ironic, and startling chronicle of contemporary life, full of individuals catching odd glimpses of themselves—a young woman puzzles over the identity of her lost brother; a husband describes a sixteenth-century painting to explain his lover to his wife—and of big ideas working themselves out in strange but revealing ways—a dead man laments the suicide note he failed to write; a wife and husband disagree about the shape of the semen stain on their son's pajamas, he seeing it as an image of Jesus, she as the image of her dog as a puppy.

John Gould has updated and westernized the form of the palm-of-the-hand story, invented eighty years ago by Yasunari Kawabata, who wanted a way to write a fiction writer's poetry. In spare, elegant prose, Gould crafts quirky gems, compact fusions of humor and pathos. At the center of this multifaceted collection is a vision of human beings as paradoxical creatures, finite and haunted by infinite longings. In story after story, Gould locates the fulcrum on which a life tilts from kilter to off-kilter and back again.]]> 2005 0 0 false Sat Jun 20 13:54:17 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 20 13:54:17 -0700 2009 60043201 2229152 1415226 0888012802 9780888012807 1 <![CDATA[Kilter 55]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1183416604m/1415226.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1183416604s/1415226.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1415226.Kilter_55 3.95 21 Kilter, John Gould's second collection of extremely short stories (which was a surprise Giller Prize nominee). But with his command of language and eye for the minutiae of relationships, the Victoria-based writer doesn't need more than a few lines to capture a character or relationship or moment. "In Translation," which takes the form of a dialogue between a man and a woman reading in bed, follows each spoken line with its actual meaning. "'What's it about, though, Marie-Claire?' I say, meaning, After all these years, you know, the sound of your name still makes little purple blossoms start popping through my scalp." In "Sunday Morning" the narrator describes her boyfriend as saying "God" "the way my grandma says 'email.'" Some of the stories in Kilter are exceedingly clever in format. "Dear Ann," for instance, is written as a letter to an advice columnist about a troubled relationship between a Kabbalist and an alchemist, followed by the columnist's hilariously off-the-mark response. In "Password," a woman searches for the forgotten password that will unlock a computer document--innocuously titled "Mom.doc"--detailing an erotic dream. In "Dust," an argumentative conversation over classical literary allusions gradually reveals itself to be a telephone call from a potential suicide to a prevention line.

]]> 2005 3 0 false Wed Jun 17 10:18:06 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 17 10:18:06 -0700 2009 59087710 2085235 1415226 0888012802 9780888012807 1 <![CDATA[Kilter 55]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1183416604m/1415226.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1183416604s/1415226.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1415226.Kilter_55 3.95 21 Kilter, John Gould's second collection of extremely short stories (which was a surprise Giller Prize nominee). But with his command of language and eye for the minutiae of relationships, the Victoria-based writer doesn't need more than a few lines to capture a character or relationship or moment. "In Translation," which takes the form of a dialogue between a man and a woman reading in bed, follows each spoken line with its actual meaning. "'What's it about, though, Marie-Claire?' I say, meaning, After all these years, you know, the sound of your name still makes little purple blossoms start popping through my scalp." In "Sunday Morning" the narrator describes her boyfriend as saying "God" "the way my grandma says 'email.'" Some of the stories in Kilter are exceedingly clever in format. "Dear Ann," for instance, is written as a letter to an advice columnist about a troubled relationship between a Kabbalist and an alchemist, followed by the columnist's hilariously off-the-mark response. In "Password," a woman searches for the forgotten password that will unlock a computer document--innocuously titled "Mom.doc"--detailing an erotic dream. In "Dust," an argumentative conversation over classical literary allusions gradually reveals itself to be a telephone call from a potential suicide to a prevention line.

]]> 2005 0 0 false Thu Oct 15 09:50:04 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 09 19:45:21 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 15 09:50:04 -0700 2009 56081397 908392 562372 1590511891 9781590511893 3 <![CDATA[Kilter: 55 Fictions]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410m/562372.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410s/562372.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/562372.Kilter_55_Fictions 3.95 21 "The enormous inventiveness of these 55 fictions offers the reader an emotional and intellectual gourmet feast."—2003 Giller Prize Jury.

A finalist for the 2003 Giller Prize, Canada's most prestigious literary award, Kilter is a subtle, funny, ironic, and startling chronicle of contemporary life, full of individuals catching odd glimpses of themselves—a young woman puzzles over the identity of her lost brother; a husband describes a sixteenth-century painting to explain his lover to his wife—and of big ideas working themselves out in strange but revealing ways—a dead man laments the suicide note he failed to write; a wife and husband disagree about the shape of the semen stain on their son's pajamas, he seeing it as an image of Jesus, she as the image of her dog as a puppy.

John Gould has updated and westernized the form of the palm-of-the-hand story, invented eighty years ago by Yasunari Kawabata, who wanted a way to write a fiction writer's poetry. In spare, elegant prose, Gould crafts quirky gems, compact fusions of humor and pathos. At the center of this multifaceted collection is a vision of human beings as paradoxical creatures, finite and haunted by infinite longings. In story after story, Gould locates the fulcrum on which a life tilts from kilter to off-kilter and back again.]]> 2005 3 0 false Thu May 14 12:33:13 -0700 2009 Thu May 14 12:33:13 -0700 2009 56078394 2319415 562372 1590511891 9781590511893 3 <![CDATA[Kilter: 55 Fictions]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410m/562372.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410s/562372.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/562372.Kilter_55_Fictions 3.95 21 "The enormous inventiveness of these 55 fictions offers the reader an emotional and intellectual gourmet feast."—2003 Giller Prize Jury.

A finalist for the 2003 Giller Prize, Canada's most prestigious literary award, Kilter is a subtle, funny, ironic, and startling chronicle of contemporary life, full of individuals catching odd glimpses of themselves—a young woman puzzles over the identity of her lost brother; a husband describes a sixteenth-century painting to explain his lover to his wife—and of big ideas working themselves out in strange but revealing ways—a dead man laments the suicide note he failed to write; a wife and husband disagree about the shape of the semen stain on their son's pajamas, he seeing it as an image of Jesus, she as the image of her dog as a puppy.

John Gould has updated and westernized the form of the palm-of-the-hand story, invented eighty years ago by Yasunari Kawabata, who wanted a way to write a fiction writer's poetry. In spare, elegant prose, Gould crafts quirky gems, compact fusions of humor and pathos. At the center of this multifaceted collection is a vision of human beings as paradoxical creatures, finite and haunted by infinite longings. In story after story, Gould locates the fulcrum on which a life tilts from kilter to off-kilter and back again.]]> 2005 5 0 false Thu May 14 12:13:17 -0700 2009 Thu May 14 12:13:17 -0700 2009 48623783 2107787 562372 1590511891 9781590511893 3 <![CDATA[Kilter: 55 Fictions]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410m/562372.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410s/562372.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/562372.Kilter_55_Fictions 3.95 21 "The enormous inventiveness of these 55 fictions offers the reader an emotional and intellectual gourmet feast."—2003 Giller Prize Jury.

A finalist for the 2003 Giller Prize, Canada's most prestigious literary award, Kilter is a subtle, funny, ironic, and startling chronicle of contemporary life, full of individuals catching odd glimpses of themselves—a young woman puzzles over the identity of her lost brother; a husband describes a sixteenth-century painting to explain his lover to his wife—and of big ideas working themselves out in strange but revealing ways—a dead man laments the suicide note he failed to write; a wife and husband disagree about the shape of the semen stain on their son's pajamas, he seeing it as an image of Jesus, she as the image of her dog as a puppy.

John Gould has updated and westernized the form of the palm-of-the-hand story, invented eighty years ago by Yasunari Kawabata, who wanted a way to write a fiction writer's poetry. In spare, elegant prose, Gould crafts quirky gems, compact fusions of humor and pathos. At the center of this multifaceted collection is a vision of human beings as paradoxical creatures, finite and haunted by infinite longings. In story after story, Gould locates the fulcrum on which a life tilts from kilter to off-kilter and back again.]]> 2005 4 0 false Sun Mar 08 14:51:41 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 08 14:51:43 -0700 2009 47342979 241537 562372 1590511891 9781590511893 3 <![CDATA[Kilter: 55 Fictions]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410m/562372.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175812410s/562372.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/562372.Kilter_55_Fictions 3.95 21 "The enormous inventiveness of these 55 fictions offers the reader an emotional and intellectual gourmet feast."—2003 Giller Prize Jury.

A finalist for the 2003 Giller Prize, Canada's most prestigious literary award, Kilter is a subtle, funny, ironic, and startling chronicle of contemporary life, full of individuals catching odd glimpses of themselves—a young woman puzzles over the identity of her lost brother; a husband describes a sixteenth-century painting to explain his lover to his wife—and of big ideas working themselves out in strange but revealing ways—a dead man laments the suicide note he failed to write; a wife and husband disagree about the shape of the semen stain on their son's pajamas, he seeing it as an image of Jesus, she as the image of her dog as a puppy.

John Gould has updated and westernized the form of the palm-of-the-hand story, invented eighty years ago by Yasunari Kawabata, who wanted a way to write a fiction writer's poetry. In spare, elegant prose, Gould crafts quirky gems, compact fusions of humor and pathos. At the center of this multifaceted collection is a vision of human beings as paradoxical creatures, finite and haunted by infinite longings. In story after story, Gould locates the fulcrum on which a life tilts from kilter to off-kilter and back again.]]> 2005 0 0 false Mon Feb 23 22:08:12 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 23 22:08:15 -0800 2009 8 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=1415226