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208th out of 329 books
—
785 voters
Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day
by
Ben Loory (Goodreads Author)
Loory's collection of wry and witty, dark and perilous contemporary fables is populated by people–and monsters and trees and jocular octopi–who are united by twin motivations: fear and desire. In his singular universe, televisions talk (and sometimes sing), animals live in small apartments where their nephews visit from the sea, and men and women and boys and girls fall do...more
Paperback, 210 pages
Published
July 26th 2011
by Penguin Books
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first of all, i want to mention that i did NOT win this in the firstreads program. poops. ben loory is not a poop, though; even if you miss his book signing because you go to the wrong bookstore and instead sit through an entire presentation about the merriam-webster dictionary, nervously wondering when ben loory is going to come out and claim the stage - he will still give you a copy of his book and eat nondairy fruit desserts with you.
i admire that in an author.
because the minute i saw this co...more
i admire that in an author.
because the minute i saw this co...more
I feel like I should say a few words about this one since my rating would indicate that I have mixed feelings about the collection, which I do not. It is really good. Okay, I know that I can at least do a little bit better than that, so lemme try:
Teeny-tiny dream fragments, these are. The little snippets that you recall later the next day and find so fascinating that you bore others by retelling them in elaborate detail. However, Loory isn't boring in the slightest. He has set out to create an e...more
Teeny-tiny dream fragments, these are. The little snippets that you recall later the next day and find so fascinating that you bore others by retelling them in elaborate detail. However, Loory isn't boring in the slightest. He has set out to create an e...more
17 likes
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Raymond Chandler once said that a "good story cannot be devised; it has to be distilled." When I first came to read Ben Loory's stories five years ago, I began to see just what Chandler meant. For me, these stories were, and are, a revelation: in some ways so modern, their brevity suited to our contemporary attention span, so easily consumed sitting on the subway, while wondering how a particular tale might end (I never could guess what would happen next), and yet so familiar: so like the fables...more
21 likes
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Here's the thing about the stories in Ben Loory's collection Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day, each one will make you feel something different. One of them made me cry with its sad beauty. Another scared the bejeezus out of me with its quiet terror. Another made this desert rat of a girl long for the ocean. And still another made me laugh out loud with delight. Some of them torture you with their brevity...wait, you say, that's it? But I want to know more! But Mr. Loory doesn't tell yo...more
Aug 09, 2011
Neil McCrea
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
footsoldiers of the coming order, my mom
Shelves:
short-stories
Someone is going to start a cult based around this book. In less than a generation its followers will outnumber the Mormons and have a greater impact on the media than the Scientologists. There will be schisms, heresies and wars. It is entirely possible that I will rise to power as a Torquemada like figure in the Loory-following theocracy that the Western US shall become. I shall spend my every waking moment rooting out and torturing those who have not read this tome.
It would be for the best if...more
It would be for the best if...more
This is an amazing book. When Ben Loory read a small piece of it in Denver, my girlfriend and I both cried. When Ben Loory sent me the manuscript for a blurb, I held it in my heart each night for a summer while my girlfriend was in Taiwan. Oh, to get through the day and have stories from this book awaiting you!!
Here's the blurb I wrote:
Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day is a book that comes alive when you read it. It will stand on its own, pet your hair while you sleep, and hold the umbr...more
Here's the blurb I wrote:
Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day is a book that comes alive when you read it. It will stand on its own, pet your hair while you sleep, and hold the umbr...more
The Love Letter
The woman had a terrible fight with her husband. There was arguing, some screaming, some tears, and a few soft things were thrown. That night she packed a bag with some clothing, a credit card, and she stood at the door and said, “I'm leaving for a while. I'll be at my mom's house. I have to think. I don't know when I'll come back.”
The husband sunk his head into his shoulders. He was sad, but he didn't argue anymore. He touched the doorknob as she left. He watched her go.
Two days...more
The woman had a terrible fight with her husband. There was arguing, some screaming, some tears, and a few soft things were thrown. That night she packed a bag with some clothing, a credit card, and she stood at the door and said, “I'm leaving for a while. I'll be at my mom's house. I have to think. I don't know when I'll come back.”
The husband sunk his head into his shoulders. He was sad, but he didn't argue anymore. He touched the doorknob as she left. He watched her go.
Two days...more
18 likes
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A short story collection so beautiful, so creative you have to read each more than once and then sometimes aloud to hear the words bounce around the air and hope your friends love it as much as you do. There is a brilliance in each line that makes me feel like I am floating through space, falling in love, blasting through a wave, or yes, even skydiving with a moose.
The first in the collection is called The Book, which I have read over ten times, often reading aloud and still tears threaten my m...more
The first in the collection is called The Book, which I have read over ten times, often reading aloud and still tears threaten my m...more
3 likes
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A delayed review, thanks to a career change right in the middle of attempting to read a pile of books from NetGalley!
I followed the suggestion put forth by author Ben Loory in his fabulous title and read most of his stories at nighttime, which proved frustrating because I had a difficult time putting the book down. I quickly developed the "just one more..." mentality while reading and loved being whisked away at night with his take on the modern fable. I was extremely pleased to see the book fea...more
I followed the suggestion put forth by author Ben Loory in his fabulous title and read most of his stories at nighttime, which proved frustrating because I had a difficult time putting the book down. I quickly developed the "just one more..." mentality while reading and loved being whisked away at night with his take on the modern fable. I was extremely pleased to see the book fea...more
2 likes
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Brusque, strange, wonderful. I read the first 80 pages in the bookstore and finished the book as soon as I got home. Much like the corpses in one of the later stories (they're all kind of a blur at the moment) they grab you and pull you into a different world--where you realize that the dreaded place you've been tugged into is unsettling, but habitable; in its own way, it is even comforting.
2 likes
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Aug 08, 2011
Micha
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Everyone. Zoe, Kerry, Fiction Files,
Recommended to Micha by:
Ben Loory
This book is made from the same stuff we thought cupcakes were made of when we were seven -- Magic.
Each of the short stories in this novel filled me up until I overflowed. Some of these stories filled me with terror or anguish and some with five kinds of joy - there was infinite joy and calm joy; quiet joy (the kind that comes with feeling peaceful with a cup of tea or sinking into a warm quilt at night), bustling-with-excitement joy and lastly there was the joy of the unknown and the unfamil...more
Each of the short stories in this novel filled me up until I overflowed. Some of these stories filled me with terror or anguish and some with five kinds of joy - there was infinite joy and calm joy; quiet joy (the kind that comes with feeling peaceful with a cup of tea or sinking into a warm quilt at night), bustling-with-excitement joy and lastly there was the joy of the unknown and the unfamil...more
Strange and beautiful writing. These short stories read almost like prose poetry. Yet they're also science fiction. There seems to be no limit to Ben Loory's imagination. Each story takes place in a unique and unsettling world that's also somehow deeply familiar as creatures both animate and inanimate long for connection and intimacy.
Ben Loory's collection of stories is an enjoyable set of fables that goes down like a varied bag of candy, be the flavor sweet, sour, or bitter. If there's any criticism that can be directed at the collection as a whole, it's that Loory's modern fairy tales rarely offer up enough substance to linger in the mind after reading them.
This isn't entirely a bad thing though - what these stories lack in power, they make up for in pleasure. My favorite additions to the collection are mostly simple love...more
This isn't entirely a bad thing though - what these stories lack in power, they make up for in pleasure. My favorite additions to the collection are mostly simple love...more
Racconti brevissimi definibili come fiabe per adulti, dal surreale all'horror, dall'allegorico al romantico. Di particolare hanno:
- Gli spunti, a volte niente di che, a volte davvero bizzarri. Giusto per fare qualche esempio: un polipo che vive in città e colleziona cucchiai; una papera che si innamora di una roccia che sembra una papera; una tv che compone un'opera; un cappello che ti fissa; un uomo che si trova in gola un serpente; un albero che decide di camminare; un marziano che ti fa le pu...more
- Gli spunti, a volte niente di che, a volte davvero bizzarri. Giusto per fare qualche esempio: un polipo che vive in città e colleziona cucchiai; una papera che si innamora di una roccia che sembra una papera; una tv che compone un'opera; un cappello che ti fissa; un uomo che si trova in gola un serpente; un albero che decide di camminare; un marziano che ti fa le pu...more
I really enjoy a good short story, unfortunately Ben Loory’s “Stories for the Nighttime and Some for the Day” doesn’t contain one. Okay maybe that is a bit harsh. There were 5 or 6 stories that I found interesting and some even slightly amusing. Most of the 40 stories in this collection, however, were lost on me.
Ben Loory’s aim in these stories seems merely to be to write an odd story. Now I’m all for odd stories, they are actually my favorite kind. This is the reason I initially picked up the b...more
Ben Loory’s aim in these stories seems merely to be to write an odd story. Now I’m all for odd stories, they are actually my favorite kind. This is the reason I initially picked up the b...more
May 05, 2012
Joe Hunt
marked it as to-read
A student loaned me this book a week or two ago.
No real time to read -- b/c reading research papers.
But, then, I was like "Semester almost over. Better return before I keep forever and forget who gave it to me."
But I was like "Well. Of course, I'd better read a few: mainly to be polite, but also a little curiosity.
So I only had time to read two or three, but I was like "Wow. He's amazingly good. How come I've never heard of him before?"
(I mean...I know it's impossible to know _everyone_, but: if...more
No real time to read -- b/c reading research papers.
But, then, I was like "Semester almost over. Better return before I keep forever and forget who gave it to me."
But I was like "Well. Of course, I'd better read a few: mainly to be polite, but also a little curiosity.
So I only had time to read two or three, but I was like "Wow. He's amazingly good. How come I've never heard of him before?"
(I mean...I know it's impossible to know _everyone_, but: if...more
The first Ben Loory story I read was The Wall, published at an online journal -- and I was surprised, or perhaps amazed is a better word for it, when I realized the power of the story to move me even though it is probably one of the shortest stories I've ever read in a long while. It's unusual, sure; not quite like anything I've read before -- but that's the beauty of it. And so I began to search for other stories he had written, of which there are plenty floating around online -- before I stumb...more
I have a great love for short stories and when I saw this one in Borders I had to get it. The writer is new to me but I do like what he's doing.
A man is haunted by his awareness of a secret monster sleeping at the bottom of the local pool; when his disguise fails a moose must flee for his life from a sportsmens’ party; the sea and a house fall in love with one another and are initially frustrated in their attempts to unite; an octopus finds his solitude and spoon-polishing habit interrupted when...more
A man is haunted by his awareness of a secret monster sleeping at the bottom of the local pool; when his disguise fails a moose must flee for his life from a sportsmens’ party; the sea and a house fall in love with one another and are initially frustrated in their attempts to unite; an octopus finds his solitude and spoon-polishing habit interrupted when...more
This is a weirdly addictive book. You think: oh, a collection of short little minimalist fable-y stories, I'll just read a couple of these before bed or when I have a few minutes to kill or whatever. But they turn out to be like Pringles, or Lay's, or any other snack whose slogan hinges on the consumer's putative inability to eat only a moderate amount. Except I can't actually remember the last time I "popped" a can of Pringles, let alone the last time I found it impossible to "stop." So there g...more
13 likes
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Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day is a strangely compelling little book. Contained within it are thirty-nine short short stories (one is only three sentences long) and a longer fortieth story, grudgingly appended by the author.1
Usually with short story collections I want to read the stories one at a time, to savor them. I couldn't do that with Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day though. Loory's stories--the publisher calls them contemporary fables and I think that's apt--are comp...more
Usually with short story collections I want to read the stories one at a time, to savor them. I couldn't do that with Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day though. Loory's stories--the publisher calls them contemporary fables and I think that's apt--are comp...more
The cover blurb calls them contemporary fables and I think it goes some way to categorise this short story collection that I'm finding hard to describe. A little bit whimsical, sometimes dark and all about life, love and death , the stories are short and surreal. The title is apt, at times I felt like I was reading myself a bedtime story for grown-ups.
It starts with a story about a book with no words and a woman that makes the book hugely successful by shouting about it. I think that's a great s...more
It starts with a story about a book with no words and a woman that makes the book hugely successful by shouting about it. I think that's a great s...more
I am not usually a fan of short stories but when I heard about this book, I knew I had to give it a try. I am so glad that I did. Stories for Nightime and Some for the Day is a fun, kooky, entertaining collection of short stories.
So of the stories I liked better than others. For example: The Book, a story that teaches you to use your imagination. The Octopus, a story that shows you that you can always return home. Also there was the story, The End of It All, about a husband and a wife, where th...more
So of the stories I liked better than others. For example: The Book, a story that teaches you to use your imagination. The Octopus, a story that shows you that you can always return home. Also there was the story, The End of It All, about a husband and a wife, where th...more
I was thrilled to have won a copy of this book, since it was one that I'd wanted since, oh, around the time it was published. Lack of cash always seems to be my downfall in acquiring the new books that I want... But that's neither here nor there. What is here, there, and all the spaces in between, in Loory's Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day.
This book, written in the style of fables that call to mind the numerous tales of Aesop, is hard to categorize. Horror, science fiction, speculativ...more
This book, written in the style of fables that call to mind the numerous tales of Aesop, is hard to categorize. Horror, science fiction, speculativ...more
As cliche as it is to put a flying saucer on a scifi cover, its equally trite to write that a book will change how you view your world. However, Loory's short story collection really will. You will start speculating about whether or not a hat could stare at you or if you should check your teapot for fish before pouring the Earl Grey out- both of which happen in the book. Everything from the community pool to a statue of a pig is vehicle for the supernatural in Loory's stories. It's inspiring for...more
Ben Loory's collection of short stories is, surprisingly, accurately portrayed by the cover. As much as I depend on them (old adages be damned), they often lie, depicting some scene or person never to occur or exist within the novel. The ocean, the spaceship and the octopus tentacle are all main aspects of at least one story. Let me also say that I love the cover, from the art to the texture of it. I also like the texture of the paper within (which does the old timey thing where some pages stick...more
While reading Ben Loory's "Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day", the only knock I had against his short-short stories was that their endings were so abrupt and open. However, the more that delved into the book, the more I felt like I was reading my dreams, and nightmares, which never make complete sense, and in the end, tied up in a nice little bow. And Loory's writing style seems to reflect just that: short, sparse prose; nothing is personalized, as the characters are simply described as...more
fan·tas·tic /fænˈtæstɪk/ Show Spelled
[fan-tas-tik] Show IPA
–adjective
1. conceived or appearing as if conceived by an unrestrained imagination; odd and remarkable; bizarre; grotesque: fantastic rock formations; fantastic designs.
2. fanciful or capricious, as persons or their ideas or actions: We never know what that fantastic creature will say next.
3. fantastic : excellent, superlative
...more
[fan-tas-tik] Show IPA
–adjective
1. conceived or appearing as if conceived by an unrestrained imagination; odd and remarkable; bizarre; grotesque: fantastic rock formations; fantastic designs.
2. fanciful or capricious, as persons or their ideas or actions: We never know what that fantastic creature will say next.
3. fantastic : excellent, superlative
...more
Beautiful.
I picked this book up at the library because it sounded interesting enough and the cover was pretty and very tentacular, which seemed to indicate that I was its target audience. Now I'm going to have to buy my own copy; this is a book I'll want to peruse again, far beyond its due date.
The stories are so elegantly simple and strangely magical, in that peculiar way some very rare writers have that leaves me dazed by the end, unsure of what exactly just happened, but positive that I loved...more
I picked this book up at the library because it sounded interesting enough and the cover was pretty and very tentacular, which seemed to indicate that I was its target audience. Now I'm going to have to buy my own copy; this is a book I'll want to peruse again, far beyond its due date.
The stories are so elegantly simple and strangely magical, in that peculiar way some very rare writers have that leaves me dazed by the end, unsure of what exactly just happened, but positive that I loved...more
Originally Reviewed on The Book Smugglers: http://thebooksmugglers.com/2011/07/b...
So begins Ben Loory’s strange and wondrous collection of short stories for both the nighttime and the day. This is the author’s debut work, and it sparkles with imag...more
The woman returns from the store with an armload of books. She reads them quickly, one by one, over the course of the next few weeks. But when she opesn the last one, the woman frowns in surprise.
All the pages of the book are blank.
Every single one.
So begins Ben Loory’s strange and wondrous collection of short stories for both the nighttime and the day. This is the author’s debut work, and it sparkles with imag...more
This is a handsome book, smooth, textured pages, and with a UFO and an octopus tentacle on the cover I was instantly captured. The short form of the stories was intriguing to me, the breif sections were ambitious- they could have ended up really helping or hurting the stories. I think it ended up hurting most of them. Hardly any of the charcters have names, the anonymity really begins to wear around the thirtieth story. Attatching even an arbitrary name would have helped the significance of the...more
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Ben Loory's fables and tales have appeared in The New Yorker, on NPR's This American Life, and live at Selected Shorts. His book Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day (Penguin, 2011) was a selection of the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Program. He lives in Los Angeles, California.
"If Mother Goose and Philip K. Dick had a love child, and Richard Brautigan raised him in Watermel...more
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"If Mother Goose and Philip K. Dick had a love child, and Richard Brautigan raised him in Watermel...more
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“Eventually the man comes to see that he has a mind, and that his mind is like a fist, wrapped tightly around a single thought. He cannot open the fist to look at the thought, for fear that it will fly away, but he knows that it is very important and that he must hang on to it, no matter what the cost.”
—
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