“I am not the only man to seek his fortune far from home, and certainly not the first. Still, there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept. As ordinary as it all appears, there are times when it is beyond my imagination.” (from “The Third and Final Continent”)
— Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies
Five books this month.
Red as Blood by Tanith Lee (1983)
This is a collection of dark fantasy retellings of fairy tales and ballets that were inspired by folk tales. There is also one science fiction retelling. This is a strong collection. Although I enjoyed some stories more than others, I thought every story was quite creative.
I wrote in more detail about this collection last month.
Favorite stories:
“Red as Blood”
“Wolfland”
“The Waters of Sorrow”
The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter (1979)
I decided to read this when I learned that Tanith Lee may have been influenced by it. It’s also a collection of dark retellings of fairy tales and folktales with a feminist focus.
The writing style really kept me from enjoying a lot of the stories. There are pages of long paragraphs filled with long, and I mean long descriptive sentences. It made for a frustrating read at times. Luckily that wasn’t the case with the last four stories.
Favorite Stories:
“The Lady of the House of Love”
“The Company of Wolves” (made into the 1984 film of the same name)
If He Hollers Let Him Go by Chester Himes (1945)
This is about an African American crew leader in a naval shipyard dealing with racism in the 1940s. Every time the main character attempts to overcome an obstacle he runs into difficulty. As he faces more and more obstacles, he sinks deeper into depression and begins to have some seriously dark thoughts. There was tension from the beginning, it moved quickly, and it built up well to a final confrontation that didn’t end the way I expected it to.
Based on this book I’m looking forward to reading the author’s Harlem Detective series featuring the characters Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson.
In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway (1925)
This is Hemingway’s first short story collection. Hemingway is one of my favorite authors. It was interesting reading his early work, it was good (it's Hemingway!) but not as good as his later work.
Favorite stories:
“The Battler"
“Cat in the Rain”
“Cross-Country Snow”
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (1999)
This is a collection of short stories by American author Jhumpa Lahiri. Her parents are from India, she was born in London, and she moved to the United States when she was three.
Although she grew up in the United States, a lot of the stories in this collection deal with trying to adjust to life in a new country. The theme of identity comes up often. Maybe because I've lived part of my life in Germany and Japan as well as the United States, some of the stories really spoke to me, especially “The Third and Final Continent.”
Favorite stories:
“When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine”
“Interpreter of Maladies”
“The Third and Final Continent”
On to March!
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