false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180000598m/983613.jpg 983613 1 Barringer's third fiction collection includes 15 stories, a seven-page intro by Steve Almond, author of My Life in Heavy Metal, and cover art and 8 illustrations by Eduardo Recife. Stories are thematically linked, as suggested by the title. We Were Ugly So We Made Beautiful Things . . . out of Wood, out of Pigs, out of Stairs, out of Somersaults, out of Brass, out of Magic, etc. The stories explore, with gentle humor and intelligence, the desires to create, build, salvage, and improve. Several stories are loosely connected by the same character, a young boy growing up who, in one story, imagines he can fly above the staircase and does, with fearsome results. In another story, he creates worlds in his basement from the junk accumulated by his unhappy parents. As a fourth-grader, he helps a geeky kid overcome his isolation and fear on the soccer field. And, finally, as a young man, he interviews for a job that promises what it can't deliver, and he confronts his own future, his own dreams, in a single moment. Barringer weaves a bit of autobiographical material into several of these pieces, but his focus remains art, language, and the beautifugly human comedy. 969108 6 2003 We Were Ugly So We Made Beautiful Things total:8|5:4|4:4|3:0|2:0|1:0| 8 36 12 2 4 0 false false Wed Nov 25 14:56:24 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 29 13:09:41 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Tue Jul 17 12:49:33 -0700 2007 Wed Jul 18 12:22:59 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Sat Jan 31 11:34:00 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 31 11:34:00 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Fri Jan 23 08:29:08 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 23 08:29:08 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Tue Apr 01 09:57:58 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 01 09:57:58 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Sat Mar 29 04:58:54 -0700 2008 Sat Mar 29 04:58:54 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Thu Dec 13 10:54:27 -0800 2007 Thu Dec 13 10:54:27 -0800 2007 5 0 false false Thu Nov 22 22:32:14 -0800 2007 Thu Nov 22 22:32:14 -0800 2007 0 0 false false Tue Jul 31 02:03:41 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 31 02:03:46 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Tue Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2004 Mon Jun 25 17:02:54 -0700 2007 Mon Jun 25 17:59:31 -0700 2007 5 0 false false Thu Jun 14 02:29:54 -0700 2007 Thu Jun 14 02:29:54 -0700 2007 5 0 false false Thu Jun 07 14:02:37 -0700 2007 Thu Jun 07 14:02:37 -0700 2007 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=983613