false 254 416 308 true 5685505 read 1 true 345523 currently-reading 107 true 345522 to-read 102 false 4464342 novels-before-1980 83 false 4464346 short-fiction 73 false 346412 favorites 64 false 4469493 classics 57 false 4464406 assigned-in-college 44 false 383607 novels-after-1980 39 false 346636 no-thanks 29 false 383758 plays 28 false 383564 philosophy 23 false 4464365 novellas 21 false 4469434 experimental 19 false 383628 non-fiction-memoir 16 false 5579294 chicago 15 false 384617 instructional 13 false 4464347 books-by-people-i-know 12 false 4501565 humor 11 false 383576 poetry 7 false 4501589 children 3 false 383601 bios http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79287730 All in the Timing: Fourteen Plays (Paperback) by David Ives
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77615214 Goodbye, Columbus and Five Short Stories (Hardcover) by Philip Roth
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/72244909 to: Rock Springs (Paperback) by Richard Ford
bookshelves: short-fiction
I don't know why it's taken me so long to read Richard Ford. He was influenced by one of my favorite writers (Richard Yates) and spent significant time hanging out with two of my other favorites (Tobias Wolff and Raymond Carver.) The time those three have spent together really shows. They all have very similar writing styles and often tackle the same heartbreaking subject matter. Ford may not be quite as good as Wolff or Carver, but who is? As far as short story writers go, nobody in my book.

Ford has this quiet and dark tone that also comes off as simple and deceptive. His characters are wrestling with hard life in the Northwest and feeling their way through rough patches in their lives. While many of the characters seem lonely and broken, Ford manages to always shine a light or toss a life jacket. There are some great lines about men weathering storms and coming out okay in the end... and other stuff about love gone sour, love gone crooked and life gone to the dogs. It's really strong stuff. The only minor complaint I have is that a lot of the stories seem to be about the same thing and sorta blend together, but I hardly doubt you'll mind the effect of continual gems coming at you one after another. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74663561 How Fiction Works (Hardcover) by James Wood
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73470279 The Executioner's Song (Paperback) by Norman Mailer
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73469484 Cloud Atlas (Paperback) by David Mitchell
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/72474764 Collected Stories (Penguin Classics) by Wallace Stegner
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/42419585 to: Why Did I Ever (Paperback) by Mary Robison
bookshelves: experimental, novels-after-1980
A very intriguing read. Chances are you have not read a book like this before. Most chapters are no more than 300 words or so, which I found really enjoyable, but I did start craving more steady, cohesive information about the narrator's current predicament. The information given is very cryptic and abstract and as I said sometimes this is refreshing and welcome and fascinating and others times it's plain frustrating.

All that said, I almost gave it 5-stars just based on the sheer ambition of it. Robison is a very courageous, unique writer with an original voice, and for that I give her a lot of respect. I'd recommend checking this out if you're a writer. For writers it's actually quite inspiring, an interesting study on the boundless possibilities of the form. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2774194 The Naked and the Dead (Paperback) by Norman Mailer
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/69120118 A Gate at the Stairs (Hardcover) by Lorrie Moore
bookshelves: to-read
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