The title to this post should be one of those colon titles– Grace Paley vs. Alaya Dawn Johnson: or Grace Paley Wears Out Her Welcome. One pleasant surprise I’ve had while doing this round of the Deal Me In Short Story Challenge is how much I have enjoyed Grace Paley’s short stories. Her observations, her humor, her humanity, have all been very enjoyable. She deserves … Continue reading Grace Paley vs Alaya Dawn Johnson
Back on my old blog, Ready When You Are, C.B. I used to run regular reviews of short stories. I still do here are James Reads Books though not quite as often. Since starting over here on WordPress I’ve been migrating my old reviews to this new site. Below is a smorgasbord of short story reviews from back in 2008. Grace Paley: It turns … Continue reading Stories by Grace Paley, P.G. Wodehouse, Ray Bradbury, Carol Shields, Eudora Welty, F.X. Toole
This year, I’ve been looking at ways to connect the two stories I draw each time I do the Deal Me In Short Story Challenge. Sometimes its’ a lot of fun; sometimes it’s difficult work; and sometimes it’s been a stretch. Quite a stretch, if I’m honest. This time I drew “Come On, Ye Sons of Art” by Grace Paley and “No Crime in the Mountains” … Continue reading Raymond Chandler vs. Grace Paley
I’ve been sick. School will be out in just two more days, and I’m coming down with something. “Oh, Excellent!” as Hermia says somewhere in act three of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” If that weren’t bad enough, I’m behind on my reviews. So, I’ve decided to post about several books and stories I’ve read in the past week in one post instead of giving each their own … Continue reading State History, Short Stories, and A Little Sex: or One of those Catch-up Posts with Lots of Short Reviews
Not as sick as Eudora Welty or Flannery O’Connor, but still. While I enjoyed “The Other Miller” by Tobias Wolff, I will admit that it’s kind of a gimmick story. It’s a good gimmick, almost as good as the one in Incident at Owl Creek Bridge, hint, hint…. Private Miller is in boot camp, unhappy, regretting everything that led him to join the army. He’s … Continue reading Tobias Wolff is Sicker Than Grace Paley: a Deal-Me-In Short Story Challenge
It might be interesting to do a more in-depth study comparing Grace Paley and Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche. It would be really fun to get the two of them on one of those BBC Radio Four book shows. A Good Read, my favorite, where the host and two guests each talk about three books which they’ve all read. I think Paley and Adichie would have interesting … Continue reading Grace Paley vs. Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche – A Deal Me In Short Story Challenge
I was so happy to finally draw something by Haruki Murakami this time around. Glad to have Grace Paley again as well. Paley has been a discovery. Murakami is an old friend. “A Perfect Day for Kangaroos” by Haruki Murakami is a very short, slip of a story about a young man who is finally taking his girlfriend on a long promised trip to the … Continue reading Grace Paley, Meet Haruki Murakami, A Deal-Me-In Short Story Challenge
The Deal Me In Short Story Challenge draw for this week was “The Fish” by Isak Dinesen and “The Long Distance Runner” by Grace Paley. I’ve been drawing two stories and then trying to find a way to connect them, but I’m not going to make that effort today. What I learned from reading “The Fish” and “The Long Distance Runner” is that I don’t … Continue reading Grace Paley vs. Isak Dinesen
Try to link two randomly selected short stories. That’s the task I’ve added to the Deal Me In Short Story Challenge. I’ve been able to pull it off up to now, but this time around George Orwell and Grace Paley have defeated me. It’s my own fault really, for including a volume of Orwell’s essays in my short story deck. This time around I drew … Continue reading Deal Me in Short Story Challenge: George Orwell vs. Grace Paley
May Contain Spoilers 