Short Stories Books

This is a cutely written rhyming book of short stories that my 1st grader and I love to read together.

As a teacher who regularly works with struggling readers, I find this interactive format of benefit to beginning readers, and a great way to snuggle with a favorite child. I highly recommend all of the books in the "You Read to Me, I'll Read to You" series by Hoberman and Emberley.

I am a language therapist working with communication-impaired children and their parents. While most parents read to their children, they fail to do it in a truly interactive way - asking questions, making comments, asking for predictions, encouraging the child to reflect on the action and characters in the story. This is a wonderful series for children who are able to read. It's like performing a little play and the parent serves as an expressive model for the child. I use it with my students and it is highly motivating, fun, and recommended!

This book is a FUN read-aloud for parents,grandparents,aunts & uncles who want to model "just for fun" stories for their young aspiring readers. We taped ourselves orally reading (w/great expression & character voices) our favorite tales from this book & presented each of our great nieces & nephew w/ a copy of the book and both a personalized tape & CD of our readings. They were a tremendous hit & among the "favorite Christmas gifts!!"

I love this book. When I leave it out on the shelf in the classroom, the kids actually ask to read it. They love reading to each other. Perfect for bilinguals or kids just starting out.

My own kids and I can still recite parts of it from memory ("I found a dime! You found a dime? I found a dime at dinnertime!") The illustrations are adorable and are entertaining all on their own. Buy it and share!

I find that I agree with all of the positive reviews, but indeed what most haunts me about Mutis is his deeply introspective writing style. I read the book in Spanish (my native language, btw) and the language is enthralling and personal... If you took away the background, most of Macqroll's fears and feelings are rather universal, and as you read the book (especially that WONDERFUL! first chapter) the book becomes an introspective exercise, made bearable simply because Mutis takes you there with the gentleness of his writing, the magic of the geographical settings (and their descriptions) and the company of the most human and flawed characters (Ilona being my personal favorite).

Ah, this is a wonderful book for a sunny or rainy day. It is so perfect in all does. The stories are fascinating and amusing -- often poignant. You will never forget ANY of the characters, especially Maqroll. And Bashur. And the Mirror Breaker. And Jamil. If, since childhood, you have dreamed of tramp steamers and ports around the world, as I have, your ship truly has come in in this book. Well, I could go on just spitting out adoring adjectives, but, like all the other reviewers here, I enjoyed this book immensely. It won't be long till I pick it up and read it all over again. A book I'll always remember. A classic.

Alvaro Mutis wrote several superb short novels about the travels and trials of his creation, the wandering sailor Maqroll, gathered here in one volume in an excellent translation. Adventure, friendship, obsession, loyalty, bad judgment, and hilariously (sometimes tragically) desperate situations play out in obscure and exotic locations. "Maqroll" is an excellent companion for your own world travels.

It is densely written and discursive . . . relentlessly so, for 700 pages. Perhaps you will find this poetic, profound, or even titillating. Perhaps not. Perhaps, instead, you will think that Mutis is a brilliant, verbally gifted man in need of lithium and a good editor, or both. In all fairness, he gives plenty of warning up front. Page 17: "Our mistake is to think it's going somewhere, . . ." Page 19: "makes his sentences difficult to understand until we grow used to the rhythm of a language intended to conceal more than it communicates." Page 20: ". . . filled with long, rambling circumlocutions that made no sense." I think this award winning "emperor" is feeling a bit chilly, but laughing his chillies off.

Yes, I agree with the other reviewers who have asseverated that this is a great book. But they don't seem to want to spell out why exactly it is a great novel, or, rather, series of picaresque adventures. - Perhaps they're simply tired due to the 700 page literary trek. - But, come now, a great novel because of tramp steamers and the sea? While the sea is certainly the element in which Maqroll feels most at home, there are, literally, hundreds of novels about the sea and the love of it (In particular, there's one author who's made himself into a multi-millionaire by churning out these books like a sausage-machine).

No, what makes this book great is the underlying fatalism of the work sweepingly on display in Maqroll and the several other characters, and in the finely wrought passages on what this life offers us, picaresque vagabond or not. Many comparisons have been made to Don Quixote. - But not in the right way - Maqroll is Don Quixote's Twentieth Century doppelganger, or spectral double: Spectral, as is the case with many doppelgangers in fiction, in that he is the Knight's opposite. Where Don Quixote is chaste, Maqroll is licentious, where Don Quixote is naïve, Maqroll is instinctively wise to the ways of the fallen world etc. etc. --- In literary terms, Don Quixote is a Romantic. Maqroll is Tragic.

I wonder, reading the other reviews, if the other readers may have just possibly skimmed over the philosophical passages that glower at one on every other page or so. It is these passages, these lyrical, defiant, essentially dark reflections that make this much more than any mere sea novel or rollicking picaresque.

For Example, for starters:

"...it's not worry I feel but weariness as I watch the approach of one more episode in the old, tired story of the men who try to beat life, the smart ones who think they know it all and die with a look of surprise on their faces: at the final moment they always see the truth - they never really understood anything, never held anything in their hands. An old story, old and boring." P.24

And again:

"He thought that the real tragedy of aging lay in the fact that the eternal boy still lives inside us, unaware of the passage of time. A boy whose secrets had been revealed with notable clarity when Maqroll withdrew to Aracuriare Canyon, and who claimed the prerogative of not aging, since he carried that portion of broken dreams, stubborn hopes, and mad, illusory enterprises in which time not only does not count but is, in fact, inconceivable. One day the body sends a warning and, for a moment, we awake to the evidence of our own deterioration: someone has been living our life, consuming our strength. But we immediately return to the phantom of our spotless youth, and continue to do so until the final, inevitable awakening." P.261

And again, and again, and again...

Yes, there are mad illusory enterprises throughout the book- And jolly fun they are to read - But, like a requiem continually droning in the background, we are given, in Maqroll's reflections, that he is aware exactly how mad and illusory these enterprises are.

Fatalistic literature has never been popular, in America especially, which was founded on principles contrary to it, and where the recurrent mantra is, "You can be anything you want to be." This book shows, time and again, that you can't. It's no wonder Maqroll is enamoured of, among others, the Ancient Greeks.

Summing up, this is a great book because Mutis does the seemingly impossible here, giving us the pleasurable, lilting melodies of the sea yarn and adventure story, all the while beating the steady drumbeat of mortal doom.

This was a very good read. It was two stories in one book. The first story was about Lydia Lord, a woman in search of something better in her life, feed up with her job she quits and then volunteers at a camp for disadvantaged youth. Kennedy Fletcher is a ex football player, he walked away from a mulitmillion dollar contract seeking something worthwhile in his life. When the two meet at Camp Six Nations, the attraction is instant, but can they put to rest the past to find a love that's everlasting. The second book is about Quintin Lord, a photographer who is tried of the bevy of beautiful women he has shared his bed with, he's looking for something more permanant in his life. Victoria Jones is a women who is still trying to heal the wounds left by her ex, so when she meets Quintin she's drawn to him instantly. The only problem is she has a secret that may put an end to the great relationship that has developed between her and Quintin. Both books are very good, but read Quintin's story first because it is the first in the continuing series.

I really loved this book; for me it confirmed that there is such a thing as real love and that eventhough everything is not perfectly laid out the impossible is just as real as the possible. Excellent read.

Tiring of politics in the kitchen of the five-star restaurant where she is employed, twenty-seven-year-old Lydia Lord knows it's time to move on. With aspirations to launch a gourmet styled restaurant, she resigns from her position and goes back to Baltimore to get organized.

A painful connection with a professional athlete left a bad taste in Lydia's heart, especially for athletes, so her plans do not include romance; she needs to devote all of her attention to her business. To test her ability to supervise a restaurant staff, Lydia volunteers her talents as Head Chef at Camp Six Nations, a summer camp for disadvantaged kids. But her plans take a slight detour when she runs into former football star Kennedy Fletcher. Will she remember her resolve and stay focused?

Former Baltimore Ravens' running back, Ken Fletcher, turned down a multimillion-dollar contract and abruptly left football while at the top of his game. Tired of fortune-seeking 'groupies', and no longer wanting a commitment, Ken only dallies in temporary seductions. He is now a savvy businessman who wants to help underprivileged kids. But the defiant, independent, and sultry chef, who has come to camp, may force him to rethink his resolve about women and relationships.

ALL MY TOMORROWS is a connecting book from the Lord family history, the Lords were first introduced in a debut novel, Home Sweet Home. ALL MY TOMORROWS highlights Ms. Alers' ability to tell a solid story with enough romantic drama to capture the romance in reader's hearts. There is a secondary story that centers on foster care and adoption programs. To bring readers up to date with the Lords, Ms. Alers included Home Sweet Home in this two-story book, it will be a separate review.

Reviewed by aNN
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Rochelle Alers have returned to the scene with a classic and a newbie to add to her even indulging list of titles with BET. BET has heard the request for Quintin Lord's younger sister Lydia to get her own story and they have also heard the readers who have been screaming that they can't locate Home Sweet Home so when they reached their tenth anniversary and they decided to release books with new and old stories in them from classical writers they made an exceptional choice with Rochelle's Lord family.

All My Tomorrow
Lydia Lord decides that she doesn't like being passed up just because of some chief who doesn't want to be shown up by a twenty seven year old so she decided to quit her job at a four star restaurant to go work at a summer camp for eight weeks without pay to allow to underclass children to come to the camp but most importantly to see if she could run her own restaurant. With the past on her tail and the present in her face she doesn't know what to do when she meets Kennedy Fletcher she makes it known that she doesn't date athletes but he informs her he no longer an athlete but a sports director at the One Nation camp but he doesn't disclose all information to her about who he really is and what he really has. Kennedy Fletcher decided to leave football when a friendship gets out of hand because of one deceitful lie that lead to a locker room brawl so deciding rather than lose his status as a role model in the NFL he walks off leaving many wondering what caused him to quit with no comment to the media. Kennedy has a past that doesn't allow him to trust to easily but it also doesn't allow him to reminisce about his football days because it hurts too much to think of how it all ended. Ken finds himself falling in love with Lydia and although he isn't sure where to go with the love he has for her he knows that he doesn't intend to allow it to walk away from him but when he finds himself competing with her past he isn't sure whether she can let go to allow him to love her. Lydia finally realizes that she loves Ken and that she has to tell him with the thought of the Gypsy on her mind that read Ken and her palm she realizes what the lady was telling her and how to decipher who was who when it came to the two men who would tell her they love her.

Home Sweet Home
Quintin Lord is an artist with a genuine taste in his works while his work habits are a little more distasteful his habits include binges of eating out, dirty clothes scattered across his loft, and loud music but when he meets his new neighbor Victoria Jones for the first time not only is he intrigued by her he is also reprimanded by her to turn his music down. Victoria Jones is a former dancer turned cater when she loses something precious and dear to her she finds herself making some life altering decisions that leaves her devastated and feeling less like her self which leaves her with a shield around her heart. When Quintin finds himself falling in love with Victoria he isn't sure what to do but he is sure that he will marry her before the end of the year while Victoria is determined not to let another man under her shield but find herself becoming emotionally, physical, and romantically involved with Quintin Lord but when Quintin mentions the one thing she can't have she finds herself backing away from it and pulling back from him. Quintin Lord and Victoria Jones finds their selves in a romantic duel that leaves them wanting for one another but will leave someone with a decision that will altered their whole life.

The stories that Rochelle present about the Lords' is very exciting and exhilarating as you watch the two couples fall in love and in return find happiness in ways that they never thought possible in the lives that they lived.

In "All My Tomorrow's", author Rochelle Alers crafts a fine story of the developing romance of chef Lydia Lord and former football star Kennedy Fletcher.

Lydia meets Kennedy as she arrives to serve as the chef for a summer camp for disadvantaged children from urban environments. She has come to this position after walking away from a position as an assistant chef in a thriving, well regarded restaurant after being passed over from promotions one too many times. Lydia has been hurt by unfulfilled love in the past and comes to the company to focus on her potential for opening her own restaurant and with no thoughts of looking for love. This all changes on the very first day at camp when she meets her cabin neighbor and camp sports director Kennedy.

Kennedy has walked away from an illustrious career in sports at the height of his popularity and money-earning potential; he is owner and sports director of this camp that fulfills his dream to help those who have had fewer successful opportunities than he. He, too, has been scarred by romances gone wrong in the past and has sworn off serious commitments with women. Something about the gutsy, confident Lydia shakes his resolve on that point however.

In this book, Alers explores the coming together of these two wounded and mature souls in an all-satisfying way that explores both their friendship and burgeoning romantic interest. The book is a 2-in-1 bonus that also contains the previously published novel "Home Sweet Home" in which Lydia was first introduced as the younger sister of the male romantic lead Quintin Lord. Although this second story doesn't rise to the same level of greatest as the newer one, it is a nice touch to include it in the same book.

Sit back and relax with this read because W. A. Heisler exhibits a truely remarkable understanding of what Christmas is all about. His storytelling will fill your heart with the love and peace we all need to feel. I'd recommend this to all those who are looking to get away from the hustle and bustle that Christmas has become.

Wow, what a journey An American Christmas will take you on. From the first story "The Tradition" it touched my heart and I could not put it down. This book is an emotional, heartwarming and inspritational read. So enjoyable. I have actually read it twice. I have given it for gifts and encourage everyone to read it. You will truly feel the power of the words.

I liked this book a lot. My favorite stories are "Stille Nacht" (set during World War II) and "These Four Walls".

The author has a good sense of humor and it's most evident in "These Four Walls" (the story about the kids and the 'witch').

There's also some suspense in "Stille Nacht" and "The Long Road Home." (That surprised me even though I read and liked a few of the author's uncollected suspense stories.)

Three of the stories have spiritual elements. I normally wouldn't enjoy stories like that (outside of the horror genre), because I'm an atheist. It takes talent to make an ornery guy like me appreciate a sentimental and spiritual Christmas-themed story.

I'm looking forward to a book of Heisler's suspense and horror tales.

W. A. Heisler does a magnificent job with these five spiritually uplifting and inspiring Christmas stories that will touch and warm your heart. Heisler is able to quickly pull you into each story and connect you personally with each character. His ease and humor keeps your interest. A great holiday gift idea for someone you love.

What a great way to spend your christmas vacation! The Christmas memories shared in the short stories of this book offers such a variety of characters each with a feel good theme that offers an uplifting solution to the commercial driven christmas it puts the focus on the real meaning of christmas and the importance of the memories we make during the holdays. I laughed, cried and really enjoyed An American Christmas.

Eduardo Gonzales Viana speaks to each of us with convincing clarity, beautiful prose, and deep and thought provoking messages about life and its dilemmas. His gift of expression and the ease with which he presents his characters and shares his story is a gift to us all.

This is probably the most creative and far-reaching book of short stories I have read in many years. It is also the first book published in English by this extraordinary Peruvian-American writer. It says a great deal of what we can expect from Gonzalez Viaña in the future.

Gonzalez Viaña writes with the Borgesian power to reveal the mystery of man and the universe. You can practically hear his characters breathe. What prose! Complete and poetic.

Arte Publico's translation reveals to us a superb author. The characters and situations offer stories of Biblical dimensions. Fascinating!

Living in Oregon is a great Latino writer whose dreams are America. Amazing grace! Absolutely perfect from opening word to closing sentence.

BOOK ARRIVED IN EXCELLENT CONDITION, AND THE SELLER DID SEND THIS BOOK ONE TIME.

Many people praise the poetry of Langston Hughes, but I believe that his prose is just as relevant in regards to social criticism, and as magnificent in form. Reading Simple's tall tales, and his anecdotes as he experienced Harlem reminded me of the stories my Grandparents told of how Chicago was during the great Northern Migration. This collection is a wonderful introduction to Jesse B. Simple

I love this book. Simple reminds me of all the men I know where there is that thin line of love and hate but you just can't help but love them and their wit. For anyone who needs a few good laughs and enjoys Langston Hughes you won't be dissapointed because Mr. Hughes truly does it all!

Collected here in this book is some of the BEST OF SIMPLE (Semple). Simple was a character first introduced in the Chicago Defender and one who quickly won over a diverse group of readers. Here you will find his talking buddy at Paddy's Bar, varying female characters who function as both pleasure and the occasional headache for Simple, and a generous offeringing of black country folk wisdom on a variety of topics, a few still with us today as when Simple first offered them up for thought. The reader piggybacks Simple through all his trials of life as a black man in Harlem and the U.S. Throughout it all, there is this inescapable sense of lonliness and despair which in the end is buoyed up with laughter, perseverance, and an eternal hope for better times to come.

James Baldwin said he could understand his father's rage and anger at whites, and, his mother's desire to build bridges of understanding and tolerance with whites through the character of Jesse B. Semple (Simple), Langston Hughes' most endearing character who is often called the black Aristotle. Baldwin's comment was perceptive because these two divergent views were embodied in Hughes himself and much of his body of work. (Hughes said that in the Simple stories it was often him having conversations with himself.) Hughes didn't hold a favorable view of whites in general as critics and others have already noted. He had too often been at the stinging end of injustice for being a proud African American while at the same time not being given the same treatment as less talented white writers within the same publishing house as himself. At the same time, unlike the rise of black militants he witnessed toward the last years of his life, he always understood that some whites where allies in a shared humanity and fight for justice with many blacks and should not be lumped into one large catagory as instigators of intolerance.

Like Simple, Hughes wanted to keep hope alive for better times ahead. The poem I DREAM A WORLD is a good example.

This is one of my favorite Langston Hughes books. His character Simple reminds me of one of my friends. Always bumming money for his vises and having women problems seems to be Simple's lot in life which he bears with hilarious results. Langston Hughes is funny as his put upon friend dealing with Simple's strange but oddly common sense philosphies about just about everything from feet to cops to women. This book is worth reading if for no other reason than that you will find that one of your friends is Simple in disguise.

I am not a great fan of most contemporary short stories, which tend to be literary to a fault or edgy and cynical to the point of tedium, but I picked up this collection because I loved the title and it gave me great pleasure from beginning to end. Yes, I often wanted to hit the characters over the head, but I always had to find out what happened next, and it always satisfied. The writing is clean and lively and very funny without ever losing its heart, and Erian has a remarkable talent for ending stories on the perfect note. I look forward to reading more from her.

let me start by saying that this is the only book i have ever felt compelled to review on this site, and probably will be the only one for quite some time. picking up this book was an impulse buy, as i violated two main rules in purchasing it: firstly, i don't buy authors i haven't heard of; and secondly, i shy away from women in contemporary fiction because i have gotten burned way too much in the last few years. that being said, this collection is one of the finest that i have read in my life. the protagonists are all empowered females, so the book has a feminist flair, but what is most interesting about the presentation is the decidedly anti-feminist undercurrent. erian never leaves things clear cut. when her characters makes conscious decisions that empower them, that allow them to flaunt their power and their sexuality, i found myself cringing because while these are powerful decisions, they are not exactly the right ones, and the characters know it. there is a self-destruction in the exercising of their femininity that is at once wholly new, unexpected, admirable, and tragic. erian's prose is economic and careful, and her stories taunt the reader with abrupt endings and open interpretation. she will end a story right as she leads up to a confrontation that has been building for fifteen pages, and it is here that she empowers her reader, by allowing them to take an active role in ending the story. based on what we have read, we know in our hearts how the story will end based on what we drew from the body of the prose; but our endings will all be different. erian's voice is immediate and achingly contemporary...it makes fare like the canon of oprah's book club seem inept and maudlin. this is power in storytelling. i can't wait for her upcoming novel.

I loved this collection of page-turning, dynamic short stories. Every character is engaging and tangible, and each one is faced with (or creates) situations that are by turns poignant, frightening, and hilarious. I found myself cringing at them, rooting for them, and seeing myself in them. The writer is psychologically smart and her storytelling is skillful; you find yourself drawn into each story with the first few sentences and hooked to the end. I strongly recommend this collection to anyone who likes a good read combined with substance and insight.

This book is definitely worth reading. The story about the girl losing her virginity absoulutely killed me. I was almost embarrassed while reading it, it felt so real, I felt as though I were intruding on a real person's privacy. For me that is a sign of really good writing. Looking forward to more by the author.

Left to their own devices the women of Alicia Arian's first collection of short stories often willfully set down the wrong path as a way to feel more alive, even if the consequences are dire. Her heroines are self absorbed, masochists but somehow we, as readers, are compelled to stick with them through the ugliness that is all too familiar. Arian delves into the shameful moments that all of us share without moral proselytizing. She engages us through her acerbic wit and an assured hand. One after the other, each of her stories is a tart treat. Damged goods never were so prized.

Great doggy tales (and tails) for Christmas. Hounds and murder, a great way to spend the holidays. A great gift for the mystery-animal lover...or for yourself!

You'll want to wolf this one right down, but don't! Save it for one of those long waits at the airport, tiring trips over the holidays, or enjoy it with a cup of nog and a turkey sandwich after the big day has come and gone. For humor, suspense, and sometimes even touching stories, these tales should please dog lovers and mystery fans alike. No bones about it!

I'm more of a cat person than a dog person, but that didn't stop me from thoroughly enjoying the collection of short mystery stories in "Canine Christmas." There are more than a dozen stories in the collection and what's refreshing about them on the overall is their diversity and generally gentle nature. No gore, no guts, no agonizing graphical displays of violence. I selfishly bought the book for myself, but now I think I'll probably tuck it under the tree for someone else. Honestly? It just made me smile. That's worth sharing.

This collection of Christmas themed canine tales was filled with favorite and new authors for me. I loved Leslie O'Kane's contribution, as well as those by Patricia Guiver and other well known authors of dog mysteries. There were several unfamiliar authors and their stories were just as good. Each short story is very well crafted. I have to say my favorite story was by Virginia Lanier, her JoBeth Siddons series of Bloodhound mysteries has always been one of my favorites.

CANINE CHRISTMAS is a Christmas mystery anthology and each mystery includes one or more canines.

I have always said a presenter or editor could not go wrong with an anthology. But when the anthology takes on a special subject such as this one I feel it makes even more entertaining. CANINE CHRISTMAS has a wonderful variety of authors such as, Parnell Hall, whose story "Clicker Training" leads the way; Virginia Lanier who treats us with another story involving her bloodhounds; H. Robert Perry writes a `tongue in cheek' (at least that's how I took it) mystery called the "Toy Pincher," which I found it quite humorous; Mark Graham's serious story "Fencing Crib" brought some emotions out of me; Jeffrey Marks offers us a hard-to-solve whodunit in "Yellow Snow; Deborah Adams writes a very funny story about a Psycho Santa and his elves and there's more! After reading each one I am quite sure anyone who reads CANINE CHRISTMAS will find a favorite among the many tails... I mean tales.

Note: Holiday mysteries are a treat to read, especially during the Christmas season, but mind you if you stick to enjoying them only one month out of the year, you will miss out on the many, many holiday reads that have been offered in the past and will be offered in the future. For myself, I have found reading holiday books can be just as magically all year around.

I am enthusiastic about reading William Trevor. Like Chekhov, he has mastered the art of the short story. The twelve well-crafted stories of his latest collection, Cheating at Canasta: Stories, are filled with revelations about what it means to be human. Trevor is a literary genius, and with Cheating at Canasta, he wins again.

In the poignant title story, following his wife's death, while dining alone at their favorite Venice restaurant, a recent widower (Mallory) learns a lesson about marriage as a couple quarrels at a nearby table. In "The Dressmaker's Child," the life of an auto mechanic (Cahal) is changed forever when a child runs at his car with a stone on a dark rural road. In "Men of Ireland" an aging priest (Father Meade) is blackmailed by a fallen altar boy (Donal Prunty), now 52-year-old tramp. In "Bravado," 80-year-old Trevor brings fresh insights into contemporary life. These stories are nothing short of profound.

G. Merritt

I was convinced long ago that William Trevor is a master of the short story. I so enjoy luxuriating in his collections that I now intentionally pass by the occasional story in "The New Yorker" in favor of the delayed but ever-so-greater gratification of an entire volume of stories every three or four years. The latest collection of a dozen Trevor short stories is CHEATING AT CANASTA. After reading the first three stories, I feared that perhaps Trevor was slipping a tad. While quite accomplished technically, they did not touch my inner being. But the remaining stories put any such fears to rest. Once again, Trevor proves himself a master of the short story in English.

And once again, I marvel over how Trevor seems to be able to write about anything, about anyone -- to weave a story out of the unlikeliest stray rags and scraps of yarn. Here, many of the characters are from the working class or lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder. Those who are not nonetheless are not among society's glamorous or smug. None of Trevor's characters (here or as far as I remember from his other works) would ever have expected their lives, public or private, to be worthy of the attention of a great writer or legions of sensitive readers. They are common, yet in Trevor's renderings they become uncommon.

A theme shared by all these stories is deception, even between two seemingly very close people. Yet the tone rarely is one of anger. Instead, it is one of gentle ruefulness, tinged with melancholy, at times approaching a world-weariness. The narrative is sparse, almost minimalistic. Yet Trevor's voice is so assured, so authoritative, but without ever being overbearing.

In truth, I can't imagine anyone who appreciates literate short stories not relishing the stories of William Trevor, including CHEATING AT CANASTA.

Life as it was lived before the ubiquitous use of anti-depressants. No Prozac in the water system here. Read and be enveloped by the emotion, the heart-wrenching reality of life in the raw. You can feel the sorrow, the embrace of an ineluctable reality, the inescapable path of Destiny. Feel the bleak damp in your bones, the drizzle on your skin. Smell the peat. These stories will linger with you for a long time. Another masterpiece by Ireland's favorite son.

The last story in this wonderful collection has a French title, "Folie à Deux," but it is about an Irishman who happens to spend a few days in Paris in pursuit of his hobby, philately, stamp collection. The philatelist is also a bit of a philanderer, but that is no more than part of the backdrop. Our hero has a modest meal in a bistro, and perhaps more than a modest amount of alcohol. More backdrop. And then it happens. His childhood reappears. I would not dream of giving away just how this occurs, but I can say that the hour or so that I spent reading this marvelous story cast a spell over my day.

And so it is with the rest of this new collection. Readers of the "New Yorker" will no doubt rediscover old friends among the other stories, but this will hardly diminish the intense enjoyment of rereading.

This volume confirms it once again: there is no greater writer in our day than William Trevor.

This latest offering by prolific author William Trevor contains a dozen short stories. The Los Angeles Times compares his stories to those of James Joyce and Alice Munro. His writing is economical, compact and full of nuance. He provides some details as to what is occurring, but much is left to the reader's imagination to determine an actual outcome; he uses subtlety quite effectively. Trevor's themes of deception, guilt, loss, regret, forgiveness and other such topics are crafted around entirely believable characters and their sometimes tenuous relationships.

The title story is about promises made and promises kept. Mallory and Julia had always dined at Harry's Bar when they traveled to Venice. Julia, who suffered from memory loss, extracted a promise from him to return there alone after she was gone. Trevor hints at Alzheimer's by the symptoms he provides but leaves her actual diagnosis to the reader's imagination. Mallory visited Julia at her place of confinement, and they attempted to play canasta as they had so many times over their years together. Though Julia could not even hold on to her cards, Mallory always made sure Julia won the game because it made her happy. Mallory is dining by himself at Harry's Bar in Venice and feels rather foolish being there just to fulfill a promise made to Julia four years previously. While eating his meal and feeling quite awkward being alone, Mallory overhears a quarrel between two other diners, and he imagines the discussion he and Julia might have had about that. As the couple prepares to leave the restaurant, Mallory engages these complete strangers in conversation.

In "An Afternoon" 15-year old Jasmin meets a 30-something fellow with whom she recently had become acquainted on a chat line. The stranger takes her to McDonald's for coffee, then to an establishment called The Gold Mine where he supplies her with a little cash to play the slot machines. He wins a prize for her --- a cheap necklace from a machine. They walk around a bit, and Clive (by now he has supplied a name, though not his actual name) offers her some alcohol. The afternoon continues on with Jasmin agreeing to go back to his place. By now it is apparent that Clive is the type of stranger all mothers warn their daughters about. The tone of the story, an undercurrent of possible danger, is quite effective.

In "Men of Ireland" the topic is guilt. The question is who is the guilty party and why. A down-and-out drifter named Donal Prunty returns home to Ireland after an absence of 23 years. While hitchiking he tries unsuccessfully to panhandle a kindly truck driver. At the mere mention of money the driver stops the truck and lets Prunty out. When Donal shows up at the rectory the next day, the old priest, Father Meade, remembers him and is none too happy to see him again. Donal hints at what the reader must assume is the sexual molestation of him when he was an altar boy. The old cleric is astounded by Donal's accusations. Why, then, does he give in and pay Donal? Is it hush money, charitable money, or money to make him leave?

Nine other stories add more twists and turns to the excellent writing. In "At Olivehill" a once-prosperous family struggles to retain their dignity and standing in the community as they are forced to sacrifice much of their land for what they believe to be a financially secure future. In "The Dressmaker's Child" a young mechanic hits and kills a young retarded girl. In exchange for her silence, the mechanic is blackmailed into an unsavory alliance with the child's unscrupulous mother.

William Trevor understands human nature and is able to breathe life into his characters. This collection of short stories would make an excellent subject for a book club discussion.

--- Reviewed by Carole Turner

Bierce writes with the eye of a skeptic and beyond the hurahhs and romantic vision of war. Given his later life the war apparently made an immpression on him which lasted till death.
The carnage, vile bloddy scenes, the death never left him and it was obvious in his writings and life. Good book to see the unvarnished truth!!

Ambrose Bierce was a Civil War soldier who participated in many bloody campaigns. And the stories contained herein this title, are the output of his frustration over the violence and senseless destruction of that time.

His trademark wit abounds throughout, which isn't of the Jay Leno "Ha-ha! Look at me! I'm a big-chinned clown!" sort, but rather of the "Look at how terribly cruel people are!" sort. The stark dialog with its terse exchange between characters, transcends the page to imprint upon the mind of the reader, that the world is a harsh foreboding place in which to attempt survival.

My favorite story is 'The Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge'. The descriptive narrative at Bierce's command, utilized to describe the hanging of a rebel spy, left me breathless and checking my neck for bruises.

Ambrose Bierce was a literary genius who never wrote his great novel. No, because such epic proportions were unnecessary. For Ambrose Bierce in short form, could convey all the depth and meaning of the universe, while resorting to only a modicum of grammar. He is the greatest humorist and wit that this country, and thereby the world, has ever produced. I miss him greatly.

This book stands as a vivid reminder, of that which led Bierce to become so wonderfully cynical. And this work should have the same effect upon all who dare read it. At least that is my hope.

You would never think of these stories as having been written in the 19th century, but they were. Ambrose Bierce was a Civil War veteran who seems almost to have tried to exorcise the horrors of the war he lived by writing about it. The result is gripping and utterly believable; the style is immediate, you-are-there, not-one-word-too-many. Not the flowery elaborate style you might have associated with Victorian prose.

The results convey the horrors of war as well as anything written in your lifetime. The story about the little boy who gets lost near his home when it is surrounded by a battle...I don't think I'll ever forget it. I won't spoil if for you but you've got to read it. If you think that 130+-year-old stories have nothing to say to you, give these a try, you will see otherwise.

Not to mention the Dover version is NOT EVEN TWO DOLLARS at the time of this writing. You spent more than the price of this book on your coffee this morning, I'll bet. What have you got to lose? Add it to a Supersaver order, there won't even be a shipping charge. Best pocket change you will ever have spent on a book.

Ambrose Bierce served during the American Civil War, serving as a cartographer and officer for the Union. In these 16 compelling tales, Bierce conveys the sights and sounds from a soldier's perspective of the war, ranging from being in the heart of battle in "What I Saw of Shiloh" to a young boy lost in the woods in "Chickamauga" to tales of the supernatural and of odd events, including "One of the Missing" -- a chilling tale of a soldier in an abandoned house -- and his famous "An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge." Bierce's no-nonsense style puts the reader in the heart of the action, making the reader take an active part in the events. A great collection of stories from one of America's best writers.

Ambrose Bierce was not a likeable individual; he was often acerbic, sarcastic, and even mean spirited. Nonetheless, he created remarkably good short stories. This collection shares a common theme, the Civil War, but the individual stories belong to many different genre and will appeal to a wide audience. There is no need to be a Civil War enthusiast to enjoy this collection.

Ambrose Bierce fought in several bloody battles in the west in the Civil War including Shiloh and Chickamauga, is credited with rescuing wounded comrades under fire, and was badly wounded at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain. The first story - What I Saw of Shiloh - is a 17-page fascinating, occasionally critical, first person account of his participation.

The next story - Four Days in Dixie - is another first person account, but I simply do not know whether Bierce was being truthful or not. Whether the truth, an exaggeration, or perhaps a fabrication, Four Days in Dixie is entertaining reading.

The remaining fourteen stories are clearly fiction and are characterized by unusual perspectives and unexpected endings. The tales of Ambrose Bierce not only make exciting, entertaining reading, but they are often thought provoking. The endings often come as a surprise, and leave the reader pondering the unusual outcome.

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is a good example. This story spans several genre, is not easily classified, and has an unexpected ending. This remarkable story has been recreated as a screen play and may be familiar to many readers from black and white television reruns of the Twilight Zone series.

This collection is uniformly good and warrants more than one reading. This Dover Thrift Edition is definitely a bargain.