Short Stories Books

In my mind, Doyle's Sherlock Holmes is as good as it gets in the mystery genre. Miss Marple, however, is excellent, too. This volume presents thirteen short mysteries. Most are presented as tales recounted by dinner guests while sitting around the evening fire. The challenge is to see who can tell the most baffling story and who, if anyone, can solve each one. Miss Marple, of course, astounds the others by seeing through each to the solution. Along the way, the reader is treated to a selection of fascinating and enjoyable tales. Some are easy enough for the experienced mystery fan to see through, but all are fun to read nevertheless. THE THIRTEEN PROBLEMS is Agatha Christie at the top of her game and should be a great pleasure for anyone who enjoys a good mystery. I loved it. Highly recommended.

I'm not generally fond of short stories, but there exceptions: Somerset Maugham, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker... and Agatha Christie. At her best, Agatha Christie's short stories are the equal of any by these more literary writers--and THE THIRTEEN PROBLEMS is very much Agatha Christie at her best. The individual stories are loosely tied together as something of a party game: after dinner each guest is required to present a mystery to which he or she knows the solution and the other guests must puzzle it out. The concept produces a chatty sort format that is both entertaining and perfectly suited to Agatha Christie's demure yet remarkably sharp Miss Marple--who disconcerts the others by inevitably solving the crime.

In addition to Miss Marple, the storytellers include a number of always welcome re-occurring characters such as Mr. and Mrs. Bantry, Miss Marple's nephew Raymond West, and Sir Henry Clithering. Each of the stories is as memorable as anything Christie wrote in novel form, and although you can easily read any of the stories out of sequence the dinner party concept gives the collection a unified quality which nonetheless escapes the more demanding requirements of tackling a full-length novel.

This is the ideal bedside book, for you need read no more than a single story--drop off to sleep--and then return again to the next story at your leisure. At the same time it will satisfy even the most hardcore Christie fans; every one is sure to have their own favorite tale (mine is "The Herb of Death") and serious Christie readers will enjoy spotting plot devices that Christie later elaborated into full-length novels. Very, very enjoyable and highly recommended.

Picture yourself with a group of friends that include Miss Jane Marple. Sitting around the fire, someone brings up the idea of presenting mysteries that only you know the answer, and the other friends must solve. Guess who wins hands down every time? Yes, that little lady with lace mitts who is knitting little fluffy things.

This is a fine book of short stories and, as usual, Dame Agatha outfoxed me every time. Though Miss Jane publicly disdains outlandish plots ("undetectable poison from an African village"), her creator is sometimes guilty of just that. The very few that left me less than impressed involved entirely too much running around, an outlandish premise, and an overabundance of purple prose.

My hands down favorite was "Death By Drowning" when Dame Agatha shows her superb ability to misdirect. Even with broad hints, I didn't come near the answer. And never be certain that the villain will be punished, at least right away. "The Tuesday Night Club" and "A Christmas Tragedy" each have her particular brand of cleverness stamped clearly throughout.

This would be a wonderful book to have in the guest bedroom, but be sure to read it first!

This 1932 collection was also published as THE TUESDAY CLUB MURDERS. Many of the stories have also appeared separately in other collections.

Like THE LABORS OF HERCULES and PARTNERS IN CRIME it is a series of short stories bridged together in an arc. The opening setting is a gathering in St. Mary Mead at Jane Marple's cottage, attended by her nephew writer Raymond West, artist Joyce Lempriere, Sir Henry Clithering - retired Scotlandyard commissioner, Dr. Pender - the local clergyman, and solicitor Mr. Petherick. The group decides to entertain themselves by describing puzzling crimes they have experienced and to challenge the rest of the group to arrive at the solution. The group at first does not plan to include Miss Marple in their game but condescend to do so when she objects. Naturally Aunt Jane arrives at all the answers.

The following year Sir Henry Clithering was visiting his friends the Bantrys (THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY), and mentioned his previous trip to St. Mary Mead and Miss Marple. After dinner that evening another evening of curious problems took place. This time the group included Col. and Mrs. Bantry, Dr. Lloyd, actress Jane Helier as well as Sir Henry and Miss Marple. Again Miss Marple had all the answers, including one to a crime that hadn't happened yet.

The final problem was presented sometime later when Sir Henry was again visiting his friends, the Bantrys. A village girl, the daughter of the local pub owner, had killed herself the night before, sad but of no particular interest to Sir Henry. No interest that is, until Miss Marple arrived to request that Sir Henry investigate the murder, not suicide, of the girl. She even gave Sir Henry the name of the murderer! Sir Henry agreed to look into matter and.....well, read the story

The mysteries are all perfect little Christie gems, challenging the reader (with all the clues tucked in among the red herrings) to solve the crime before Miss Marple. The device of linking the stories in post dinner party conversation is charming. It is wonderful to meet characters that will return in other Miss Marple stories: Raymond West and Joyce Lempriere; Col. and Dolly Bantry; and Sir Henry Clithering.

Originally published as "The Tuesday Club Murders", "The Thirteen Problems" is a collection of Miss Marple stories, mini-mysteries that readers and characters alike are meant to solve. As always, Agatha Christie has a great knack at crafting mysteries that are both ingenious and simple, once solved or explained. "The Thirteen Problems" is a quick read, each story nicely paced and readily solved.

The setup to the collection is a get-together of friends and family for an evening of fun and games. When one guest proposes that each person present a 'problem' for the others to solve, the game is underway. When each little problem is presented, only Miss Marple can see her way through to the solution. These mysteries run the gamut of typical mystery stories, with murder and intrigue at the center of each.

Yet several of the stories in "The Thirteen Problems" are extremely predictable - anyone who has read a fair number of mysteries can spot the answer from the getgo, although there are several that are a bit more puzzling. And at times, the characterization of several key players is stereotypical and rather one-dimensional, an acceptable failing in a short story, but when several stories are collected in one space, it can become rather tiresome. Overall, "The Thirteen Problems" is a delightful read for any Christie fan.

A very funny,entertaining,and well thought out book. A great collection of stories by a wide variety of talented authors. Highly recommended!

I became interested in reading this book because I had read something about the controversy between the anthology titled THIS IS CHICK LIT and the one titled THIS IS NOT CHICK LIT.

I decided to read the anthology, and form my own opinion.

What I found was an engaging collection of stories with a wide variety of subject matters, themes and styles, that shared only that they were of interest to women. These stories were great-- funny and varied and well-written.

I especially enjoyed "The Infidelity Diet" and "Nice Jewish Boy". I also really enjoyed reading the introduction by Lauren Baratz-Logsted where she traces the Lit-chick divide back to Bronte and Austen... It's a terrific introduction to chick lit for someone who hasn't read much of it before.


I would highly recommend this book to fans of chick lit but also to readers who are interested in sampling a wide range of new authors.

I agree with many of the other reviewers: If you already read chick lit, you'll like this. It provides a selection of interesting stories, lets you get to know a little about the authors, and may introduce you to the work of authors you don't already know.

If you don't read chick lit, or don't think you want to, you'll be pleasantly surprised, I think. It's a quick read, and it can't hurt, so why not?

It's time to get mad, make a stand, and buy a copy of This is Chick Lit


Earlier this year, This is Not Chick Lit: Original Stories by America's Best Women Writer's hit the stands. As the title suggests, this book wants to set itself apart from chick lit writing. In the introduction, editor Elizabeth Merrick claims that the huge popularity of "bubbly" and "fluffy" chick lit novels is obscuring the writing of "some our country's most gifted women." She goes on to say that chick lit "numbs our senses" and "reduces the complexity of human experience."

When Lauren Baratz-Logsted, a seasoned chick lit author, heard about this collection she got angry. And then she got motivated! Baratz-Logsted without delay rallied the troops, quickly compiled eighteen stories by loud and proud chick lit writers, and This is Chick Lit was born.

Straight off the bat, the book proves that chick lit and its authors are far from mind-numbing or fluffy. In her fantastic introduction, Baratz-Logsted hits the nail on the head when she considers the publication of Merrick's This is Not Chick Lit and wonders, "What next: These Are Not Mysteries? This is Not Science Fiction? This is Not a Literary Coming of Age Novel?"

What Baratz-Logsted understands - unlike so many literary critics, book reviewers, and many supposedly smart writers - is that chick lit is a genre. And thus like all genres - mystery, sci-fi, literary fiction - chick lit has its own features and style and concerns. It is not better or worse than any other genre, it is just different. Baratz-Logsted demonstrates how it is basically sexist to single out chick lit, a hugely popular genre by and for women, as the one genre to attack and malign.

Baratz-Logsted's smart introduction is followed by a whole host of intelligent, funny, sad, ironic, entertaining, and very real tales about women. Jennifer Coburn's "Two Literary Chicks" wryly captures the whole standoff between a literary chick and her chick lit writing enemy. Deanne Carlyle's "Dead Man Don't Eat Quiche" is a mystery set in France and is as hilarious as its title suggests. Heather Swain deals beautifully with the trials and tribulations of postpartum life in "Café con Leche Crush." Baratz-Logsted's own story, an eloquent satire called "Shell Game," is a must for any successful and independent career girl heading for marriage, the suburbs, and potentially the loss of identity.

Many people are going to love This is Chick Lit. However, true to form, the literary world and the press are putting the boot in. In its review of the book, Publisher's Weekly says the stories in the collection are marred by "ho-hum dialogue" (and you're telling me Hemingway never wrote a ho-hum exchange?), "clichéd characters" (uh, and Dickens didn't have a few stock villains?) and "may pander to female audiences" (oh my god, what a crime!). The Village Voice described the stories as "glib and goal-oriented and focus on well-dressed women afraid of being 30" (hello? Can you read?).

To snoots like these, I say, "Go read what you want to read and leave the chick lit writers and chick lit lovers alone!" And to everyone else, I say, "Buy This is Chick Lit. You wont just make a purchase. You'll being making a political stand!!"

Apparently this book was born out of a sense of high dudgeon; a retort to the publication of the volume This is Not Chick-Lit; an assemblage of the leading authors of the centuries old genre now going by the name chick-lit; a defensive call to arms. As contributing writer Jennifer Coburn exclaims: "an author recently commented that the term chick-lit sounds as if the writing is about, for, and by women, nothing more. Nothing more?! Why isn't that enough?"

Enough, indeed. This savvy little collection of eighteen short, delicious stories showcases the tremendous variety, voice, and appeal of the oft-maligned, but also well-loved chick-lit authors. It should quickly disabuse the reader of any notion that chick-lit is somehow not representative or worthy of today's reader of popular fiction. So although the origin of this book may be found in a fit of pique, the result is a marvelous assortment of tales of the modern situation. Can we state more (or less?) of Jane Austen? If the Bronte sisters were writing today, would they be doing book tours on the Bridget Jones circuit? Would Mary Shelley be signing at ComicCon?

Always entertaining, frequently funny, occasionally wistful, this is the cream of the crop. Infidelity, fashion sense, husband hunting, girlfriend trauma: it's all here in this candybox sampler of morality tales, fables, and small encouragements. Dig in.

True to the Game was the Original Hood Love Story Classic. Quadar and Gena were the Adam and Eve of this whole Urban Street Good Girl & Bad Boy love story. I read this book many many many years ago and can still remember when I would go around saying "that is so blue." When Q got shot I cried like he was my man and the bittersweet ending left me feeling like this is really real. This book is a classic and an inspiration to all books that came after it.

She did write a part II but I hated the part two. I know you gonna get the sequel if you cop this one, I did. I wish I hadn't though cause this classic should have been left alone. Yeah I am going to get the third one, two and I hope it is better then the second one. Doubt it, but if you only get this first one to me that's all you really need. Just close the book, hold it to your heart, wipe away your tears and let out a deep sigh. And let it end for you right there.

Real shocker. The author is not afraid to take chances with the character line up and do a complete 180!

This was a really good book, especially reading it the second time around. I loved it again!!!

True to the Game is a book that you can read so quickly, because you just can't put it down. The book is great and it is an easy read. You fall in love with the characters. I just finished the sequel and it is just as good. I know there will be a part III and I can not wait. Teri please publish it sooner than later, I can't wait.

This book is extremely good from beginning to end. I immediately fell in love with Gena and Quadir and adored them( giggling to myself). I bought this book years ago and till this day, i read it a million times. I also own part II of this book and currently reading it. Teri Woods is a great writer and her imagination to her novels are FIERCE!!!! =)

To help you understand what kind of a person i am and to find if you can relate to me... I was recently called obscure. I prefer to call myself unique.
I absolutely loved this book. I would have to say it is one of my top 5 favorites. I've read it over and over again, I have 2 copies... one is always in my purse (just in case I need something to read!) and I have lended the other to many friends and they have loved it as well.
I love it because it has a story to fit every mood. Hope you love it too!

I can't heap enough praise on 80 percent of the stories in this collection. They were variously beautiful, touching, haunting, riveting, warming...it makes me run out of adjectives. They covered me in short story love.

The next 15 percent were excellently written but didn't enchant.

Only 5 percent made me raise my eyebrows and mutter.

Read this book. You'll feel wiser to the human condition, when you throw a party beautiful people will start conversations with you when they see it on your bookshelf, and most importantly, you'll feel wiser to the human condition.

This is one of the best collections of contemporary American fiction. Every story is top-notch, and Wolff included a few authors I'd never heard of before (such as Braverman and Dybek, two writers whose short stories I've since sought out). I was also surprised at how this collection didn't sag at all--it was strong right to the end.

The bottom line: Wolff knows how to choose a great story. This book is a keeper.

Also recommended: The Gospel of Arnie

"The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories" speaks with the intensity of liquor and fists. It lets loose on the gut of America.

Tobias Wolff, one of America's hardest hitting fiction writers, ("The Night in Question: Stories" and "In the Garden of North American Martyrs") has hammered together one of the best collections of modern fiction--far better than any individual "Best of..." collection.

If you are drawn, like me, to the intensity and disillusionment present in American literature at the turn of the century (i.e. Edith Wharton, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald) this book may be what you have been looking for in contemporary writers. Including such staples of the contemporary cannon as Raymond Carver, Andre Dubuse, Amy Tan, Joyce Carol Oates this book packs in the best of modern short fiction and restores the genre to its former revered status.

Tobias Wollf, himself an excellent practitioner of the short story, does not include a work of his own in this wonderful collection (save a very thoughtful introduction). This is one of the most well edited collections of contemporary short stories on the market. It may be a few years old by now, but most of the "must read" writers, as well as surprisingly good lesser-knowns are included. Raymond Carver and Andre Dubus, sadly no longer contemporary in the strict sense, live on within these pages alongside excellent new voices. Two stories that really stand out for me are John L'Heureux's "Departures," a very deep and moving narrative, and Ralph Lombreglia's "Men Under Water," a beautiful alchemy of the dreams and realities of contemporary life. The selections written by Jamaica Kincaid, Joyce Carol Oates, Tim O'Brien, and Denis Johnson are so well picked, they seem to capture a bit of the authors themselves, as well as a portion of their writing. Because of these atttributes, I think the Vintage Book of Contempory Short Stories is both valuable for personal collections and for use in the classroom. It does the job that all compilations are supposed to, but seldom do, accomplish. It exemplifies the current breadth and depth of this contemporary artform.

Jacobus has given us a sensitive and evocative portrayal of stories in the Islands as he paints wonderful pictures of each individual we see facing life changing situations.

Clear,clean writing reminiscent of Hemingway's best.A must read for those who admire short stories with bite and sensitivity.

VOLCANIC JESUS by Lee Jacobus is a series of short stories set in Hawaii that seems to be the next best thing to a trip to the islands. Jacobus is at his best when he profiles the lives of native Hawaiians, one of the least explored of the "annexed American" groups. He catches and captures a floating culture whose traditions have been undermined with nothing to show for it but shopping malls and other American perks.
Indeed, their redeeming quality is resiliance in the face of anonymity.

I love to read. A friend sent me a gift of Volcanic Jesus. I found the book engaging and that the author is a master storyteller who can write about sex, faith, family, suffering and joy, and the human condition. I have visited Hawaii, but this was my first introduction to the decendents of the "first families" as the author tells of their "joys and woes". If you like to read, you will love the book.

REVIEW OF VOLCANIC JESUS: HAWAIIAN TALES, BY LEE A. JACOBUS

Lee Jacobus has given us a deeply satisfying set of stories from modern-day Hawaii. A major theme running throughout many of the stories is the accommodations native Hawaiians make to the insistent pressures of stateside culture, pressures which threaten the values and world view of the ancient Polynesian civilization. He portrays Hawaiians with warmth and understanding and shows us how Hawaiians subtly resist "haole" ways incompatible with their culture.

American management ideology comes in for particular ridicule in two of the stories. In Why Not Live at the Hokele?, an American manager gives a Hawaiian bellhop a pep talk on playing golf and setting goals for ever greater achievements in life. The manager encourages the bellhop to think in terms of owning the hotel where he works. The bellhop uses the advice to achieve his goal - an easy job where he can drink beer with his friends. An Angel of Supermanagement is the tragic story of an obsessive-compulsive boy who believes he is an angel charged with imposing order and neatness on the world.

Religion in the age of ubiquitous media and televangelism is also explored in two of the stories. In "Volcanic Jesus", an aging priest struggles to save his church when parishioners and TV reporters promote an image of Jesus found in one of the windows as a modern-day miracle. "Is God Calling You" is the story of a storefront missionary who reluctantly becomes idolized as a holy man by his parishioners, except for one skeptical woman who asks exceedingly disquieting questions.

In "A View of the Ocean", Jacobus relates the story of a Hawaiian auto mechanic who owns an ancient family home on property that a resort wants to acquire. The mechanic drives a hard bargain and is introduced to golf on the resort's golf course. Tragic tales of loss are the themes of "Never Turn Your Back on the Sea" and "Old Bones". In "Old Bones", we also meet a psychic who may be a fraud, but who helps her clients. "Pi'ilani, the Girl With Heavenly Eyes" is the story of a young girl who learns to stand up for herself and gets rid of a free-loading boyfriend in the process.

"The Menehune" is perhaps the most memorable story in this fine collection. A Hawaiian girl brings a "haole" boy home and makes steamy love with him while her ancient great-grandmother watches with apparent approval. Needless to say, the arrangement soon becomes more than the boy can endure. "Having Lost" differs from all the other stories in that it is the experiences of a mainlander who comes to the battleship Arizona memorial and tours it with a large group of Japanese tourists. He reacts to the Japanese with growing resentment, only later to have a redeeming experience of helping an elderly Japanese gentleman who is lost.

Jacobus's collection is both entertaining and provocative. His Hawaii provides a mirror highlighting questionable assumptions and values of our own society. I enjoyed it immensely.

Donald D. Bowen
ddb18@valornet.com

This novel is about an African American family who moves from Kentucky to Nicodemus, Kansas during the time of westward expansion. The father left his sons in Nicodemus, while he went on to find a place for them to settle, the children followed. The family has a positive encounter with Native Americans, who give them food during the harsh winter. The family experiences a prairie fire, wild animals. This easy-to-read yet adventurous story about boys of various ages would work well with the informational book about Nicodemus.

The main idea of Wagon Wheels by Barbara Brenner is how the Muldie boys survived when their father went to find free land. The book is historical fiction. The Muldie boys went to look for their father because their dad went to find a place to live better. The important events are that the Muldie boys and their father went to find free land. The Indians helped the Muldie boys by giving them food to eat. I like the book because it was interesting. It was based on a true story. It was good and made me want to read it again. I learned that families help each other when they have a problem.

You should read Wagon Wheels by Barbara Brenner and it is historical fiction. The Muldie boys and their dad were going to the West. They came to Kentucky to make their wood house. In Kentucky, it was a free land. One day the Muldie boys' dad went to find a new place to build a new house. It is a good book because the Muldie boys try to find their dad. It makes me feel very happy to read the book because it was historical fiction. I learned about the Homestead Act and I learned that you can help each other.

I think wagon wheels by Barbara Brenners is historical fiction.Everybody who loves historical fiction this is a book for you!It is about the Muldie boys and their father. When they were going to Nicodemus, the boys' mother died. Another important thing that happened was when the Muldie boys stayed by themselves because their father went to find free land. I think it was a good book because it made me feel nervous. For example, when there was a prairie fire, I thought the Muldie boys might burn up. I learned that sometimes you don't need an adult to help you.

Another great offering from the "I Can Read Book" series. This book is also a Reading Rainbow Book, and it is a true story!

My kids loved the fact this amazing little story about black pioneers in 1878 is true. Considering that I used to have qualms leaving them alone in the house while I went to our mailbox at the end of our pipestem, they find it fascinating that three boys (8, 11, and 3) were left alone while their father went further west to find a good piece of land to settle. Then he sends a letter with a map and tells them to come find him 150 miles away - which they do. Simply amazing.

Straightforward writing, simple sentences, my 1st and 2nd graders loved it.

"We were ugly" is a box of chocolates, each story a different flavor and often an entirely different food group. David Barringer is a musician of a writer, changing topics and tone with each turn of the page in this volume. Perhaps most importantly, Barringer's work is inventive and original and does not stoop to box-of-chocolate or musician analogies. Further, although the stories would be enjoyable at any length, Barringer's brevity makes this a fine volume for the attention-span deprived, allowing for enriching literary pauses during commercial interruptions or the satisfaction of taking in a number of stories during a leisurely bathroom break. Highly recommended.

David Barringer has a way with simplistic worlds, exploding the very minute of a life's experience to present his readers with telescopic view of his character's and their life. Albeit using a mattress as a trope to navigate a relationship and its possible decline in his short story, "The Mattress" or a methodical mental catalog of one's entire life that may not have been so lived in Barringer's "The Catalog". Barringer focuses on the not-so-pretty, the ugliness of life to bring forth tidy biographies, rich characters and he has a wonderful gift on capturing the idiosyncrasies of human behavior.

An amazing triumph for an amazing writer. Barringer's book proves that fiction can transcend the mundane and shows that the beautiful can come from practically anything. These stories will wiggle their way into your heart and not let up until you're pacing around the room wondering what beautiful things you can make. You can't. Give up. Barringer has already done it. Read this book. Now.

"Absolutely outstanding" gush fans of this "wonderful collection" from a Detroit writer; "bittersweet" stories about "bittersweet" "adolescence"; it's "a" "rich little book" that's "always an experience"; and the cover is "simply exquisite."

Frightening and necessary. Maybe frighteningly necessary. My favorite piece is "Out of Pounds", which made me laugh and then cringe because I, too, am a fat girl on a bike.

Read it. Read it now.

Geling Yan's White Snake and Other Stories depicts life during the Cultural Revolution in China, mainly through the experiences of Chinese women. Yan herself was born in Shanghai and inducted into the People's Liberation Army at age twelve, where she served in both ballet and folk dance troupes. Yan is well known in China where she has won a number of literary awards. She was a news correspondent in the 1970's covering the Sino-Vietnamese war, and when her tour of duty ended, she began writing creative works. She has published five novels, three short story collections and several screenplays including Xiu Xiu, The Sent Down Girl. White Snake was the first of her works to be translated into English. She now lives in the San Francisco Bay area.

Yan is a gifted writer. Her descriptions of scenes and emotions are so well developed, the reader is genuinely transported to scenes in China. Her stories build a tension that remains high until the ending. Her character development and grasp of the intricacies of relationships are so realistic that the ending truly affects the reader. Her stories are rich with deeper meaning and almost mystical in presentation, perhaps influenced by her being raised on Chinese folklore. The title novella "White Snake" describes the transformation of a celebrated ballet dancer imprisoned for spying following a love affair with a Russian dancer. The story of Sun Likun's fall from grace ironically mimics the Chinese folktale of the White Snake, her signature role. The mythical White Snake struggled against her own fate when she left the heavens because of her love for a mortal.

The book's other short stories each explore different aspects of Chinese life and relationships. "Celestial Bath" is a tragic tale of a teenage girl sent to the countryside to perform her required government service and then trapped by local government bureacrats into prostitution to buy her ticket home. "Nothing More Than Male and Female" explores the feelings of a woman who moves into the family home of her fiance months before the wedding, and then discovers she has fallen in love with his brother - a sensitive, semi-invalid not expected to live long. "Siao Yu" is about a young Chinese woman who is forced to marry an elderly man so she can stay in Australia long enough to achieve permanent status and then marry her young Chinese lover. The only story with a male protagonist, "The Death of the Lieutenant," conveys the hopeless case of a man from an impoverished village, who joins the army in hopes of bettering himself and then kills an officer accidentally. A female news reporter is disturbed by his calm acceptance of a sentence of execution.

The common theme in this book of stories is the mortal person, flawed, hoping for something better, but struggling along to survive with whatever is dealt to them. The women in particular in her stories are oppressed by hundreds of years of Chinese culture and even under the Revolutionary regime must still fend off men who want to use them for sex and the societal expectation that they will marry. Her female characters are strong and independent despite their circumstances.

To review these short stories demands the shortest of comments. Geling Yan thankfully has been translated so that for those of us who can only read 'English' have not been denied stories, which once read cannot be forgotten. I truly cannot praise the quality,emotional content, technical structuring,linguistic texture, etc. etc., sufficiently highly. I can only suggest that you read these short storiesand discover their wonder.

I was a bit surprised when my husband first handed me my copy of 'White Snake and Other Stories'. I had never read any Chinese literature in my life and was quite unfamiliar with Lawrence Walker and Geling Yan as a translator author team.
What a wonderful surprise my husband's gift turned out to be! The writing style was so sensitive, thoughtful, creative that I felt I was literally being transported into another time and another culture. I feel that what I learned about China in the short time it took me to read this book is priceless, not to mention the true enjoyment of reading good, creative original literature like 'White Snake'. My congratulations to both Geling Yan for writing this marvelous book, and to Lawrence Walker for doing such an incredibly brilliant job at translating what must have been an unbelievably difficult work. He made it so easy to read that one would have thought it was written originally in English. And Geling brought to me her China in her own wonderful way!

Geling Yan's WHITE SNAKE AND OTHER STORIES is an excellent collection of the author's 6 short stories. "White Snake" is pyschologically and emotionally most subtle. The story derives the theme allegorically from an ancient fable of love for its plot, and it transforms that faithful love into a very subtle and complex human experience that deserves various interpretations. As in her other stories, "White Snake" leaves room for the reader's imgaination to explore and appreciate its meaning. It is poetic! "White Snake," "Celestial Bath" and "Siao Yu" are also political. The author is skillful to portray an individual's life in the context of a large and powerful world of political entity. "Celestial Bath" and "Siao Yu" actually depict a tragedy of the Chinese nation. Hemingway-like detachment is the author's approach, even in "The Death of the Liutenant" in which the woman writer is apparently the author's alter ego. Lawrence Walker's translation is fluent, faithful to the original and very readable. Yan's style, however, is so sophisticate that no translation can do justice. (This is the problem for all translations). This collection of Yan's stories is a suitable text for a contemporary Chinese literature course.

Viewed from San Francisco, China, its people and culture have been an integral part of this city and its history since the Gold Rush. Like most San Franciscans and I daresay most Americans, while I am curious about the country, for the most part my knowledge is superficial and limited to glimpses of what really makes China tick. Chinese American cuisine and frequent trips to Chinatown have given me only a suggestion of the culture and life view of the Chinese.

White Snake and the characters depicted gave me an insight to the Chinese mind in the way that few other books have. Celestial Bath in particular, is one of the most poignant stories of unrequited love I have ever read. My wife and I have re-read it several times and always are moved by it, particularly the closing scene.

A gifted author who draws on her own experience in China, Geling Yang has helped me to bridge the cultural divide between America and China. I look forward to reading more of her works to continue to deepen my knowledge of China and her people.

Larry Walker's translation of the collection - always a challenge - is a tour de force.

For children 3 years old and up.

As Faith the snail relates in this simple, pleasant tale of transformation, "As the world turns, so do you. When you change for the good, you change the world too."

Faith is the wise mentor of Anew, a young caterpillar who feels growing pangs of doubt and uncertainty. Though Anew dreams of standing atop rosebuds and viewing mountains from the sky, he is also afraid. Through further dreams and Faith's counsel, Anew learns that "thinking like a caterpillar does not work for butterflies." Following the flow of his own inner yearnings, Anew comes to embrace the mystery of change.

This charming story provides reassurance to young readers who are just learning to navigate their own changing world. Vibrant watercolor illustrations from award-winning artist Aries Cheung add humor and a lovely dash of zip to Anew's adventures.

Growing up my father and I had a favorite children's book that we read together every night. My father passed away last year but the memories of those moments are still with me today. I had been searching for a similar story that I could share with my children. Now I have found it. Wings of Change is a wonderful book that helps to explain the process and importance of change in life. I found that this story does a nice job of communicating this powerful lesson to children and adults alike. I highly recommend this story to anyone who is looking for a special way to connect with their children and help guide them through life.

Wings of Change follows the adventures of a very happy little caterpillar named "Anew." Through a series of dreams and with the help of his friend and mentor, Faith the snail, Anew learns to accept his approaching metamorphosis, discovering that, "thinking like a caterpillar does not work for butterflies." Franklin Hill's inspired and entertaining analogy shows young readers that they need not fear the inevitable changes within their own lives. Aries Cheung's artwork is perfectly suited to this charming, insightful, and very original picturebook story.

Wings of Change presents the children's story of a contented caterpillar who is afraid to become a butterfly. This simple metaphor reflects the insights that Dr. Franklin Hill has gained while facilitating progressive changes in education. Dr. Hill specializes in planning new educational facilities. He is well acquainted with the effects of change on the young and the young at heart. Dr. Hill created this beautiful story to illustrate how the process of change, though sometimes scary, can lead to positive transformation. The rich illustrations by renowned graphic artist, Aries Cheung, are exceptional and colorful. Confused by the changes he feels are coming, Anew the caterpillar looks to his friend, Faith, for guidance. Faith reassures Anew that one positive action can change the whole world. Anew chooses to trust Faith and his own dreams. Anew finds happiness as he transforms into a vibrant butterfly. He can finally view the meadows from the sky! Dr. Hill's excellent book Wings of Change will provide peace and optimism for young readers learning to navigate their own changing world.

Back when he designed his first school, Frank Hill did all the right things. He talked to the faculty members about their programs and goals. He studied all the literature about the future of education and educational technology. He met with the school board to discuss its vision for the district. Then he integrated his research into a building that was the school of the future, primed and prepared for all the educational changes and progress everyone had outlined to him with such enthusiasm.

The educators took one look at the plans and declared they didn't like them.

"I thought, 'what went wrong?'" Hill said. "Then I realized it wasn't the design, it was the changes it would require. People are afraid of change. It's human nature. So I had to figure out how to assuage their fears."

That was 15 years ago. Hill, an urban planner and president of Hill and Associates of Bellevue, has learned quite a bit about the fear of change and what to do about it; enough that he has designed or redesigned more than 60 schools, each time matching the design to its future, not present needs and, each time, running into people who thought those changes were a fine idea, until they realized they were the ones who would have to adapt to them.

Hill decided the easiest thing to do would be to simply give them a book on overcoming one's fear of change. So he wrote one.

All Ages:
"Wings of Change" (Illuminations Arts, Bellevue, illustrations by Aries Cheung) is a book for children, actually. But its principles can apply to any of us. In it, a good-natured caterpillar named Anew is quite happy with his life. Then his friend Faith, a snail, explains that changes are afoot. Anew doesn't understand. But Faith reassures him, "As the world turns, so do you. When you change for the good, you change the world, too."
Anew starts having odd dreams. In one, he decides he can fly. But caterpillars can't fly so crash he does to the ground. Then he dreams he has a butterfly's wings, but a caterpillar's body. He tries to fly again and again, he crashes. Then he dreams has a butterfly's wings and body, but when a bird tries to catch him, rather than fly, he runs like a caterpillar and gets snagged in some thorns.

Thinking like a caterpillar does not work for butterflies, he realizes. Faith explains that the dreams were preparing him for a very big change. Instinctively, Anew starts spinning his cocoon. A few weeks later, he emerges as a butterfly; but not just any butterfly. The new Anew has prepared himself for this, the biggest change of his life. The strange new experiences of flying and seeing the world from the sky are fun, not frightening. While he enjoyed being a caterpillar, he enjoys being a butterfly more.

The fear:
A simple parable, "Wings of Change" incorporates a number of the principles Hill developed for overcoming fear of change.
First, he found, everyone is apprehensive to some degree about change. After all, not all change is good, Hill said. Consider the changes brought about by an earthquake or a heart attack.
As a result, people tend to respond to the good change in three general ways. Some pick up the latest trend and throw themselves into it with blind enthusiasm. The problem with that is they often have no vision for the changes they are making. Like Anew, they fly because they think they should, not because they are prepared for it.

Next, people often want to change, but can't get rid of their old behaviors. They may have butterfly wings, but they still have a caterpillar's body.

Finally, a lot of us end up with all the latest technical and intellectual developments in our fields at our fingertips, but we still think it terms of the status quo. We can't integrate our style with the new circumstances. We have a butterfly's body, but we still think like a caterpillar.
What to do?
Hill found the first step in adapting to change is to recognize how the change will make things better. If you are dealing with someone else's fear of change, you do that by involving the person in the process and showing how the change will be relevant to their goals and activities. Then you demonstrate how they can use elements of the change to accomplish more of what they want to do, Hill said.

Sounds fairly simple. But you're dealing with fear, which is both complicated and irrational. So a fair amount of patience is a good idea.

Dealing with children's fear of change is actually easier, Hill said. Childhood is a continuum of change and kids often sense when a change in their lives in imminent. When it is imminent, encourage the kid to view changes as growth and improvement, Hill said. And, help the child make the change within a safe environment so he or she can exercise control of it.
"Fear of change is often the fear of loss of control, and for good reason," Hill said.

Find your focus:
It is a legitimate fear because change is often thrust upon us, whether we are prepared or not, he said. When that happens, the key is to concentrate on your personal intentions; what will make your world better, even when the world beyond it is in a state of confusion and flux? Often you can adapt elements of the change swirling around you and make them work for you, Hill said.

"Wings of Change" is Hill's first book. He has three more in mind, all of them children's books. He recently finished "Wings Within" about a spiritually self-actualized snail, and is working on books three and four. He won't reveal their plots, other than to say they involve bees and butterflies.
"I write children's books because if I can make things clear enough for children to understand, I just might understand them myself," Hill said.

This collection of "fiction" is infused with strong memoir quality. As memoir, it's gripping: an interior view of current relationships layered on family background that provides a shimmering sense of depth, like viewing life through clear but moving water. As a group, the stories pack a punch of love and loss that grip the reader as a partner. I could not put it down, though sometimes I wished for release from the intensity of involvement that the author demands from her reader.

The life and love of the Chekhovian short story live with this writer's work. Each sentence is a delight--some of her sentences are puzzling and demand rereading. Compact, nearly perfect stories full of loss, betrayal, and humor. What a joy it is to read something really real and really wonderful.

One evening recently at Politics and Prose, the best bookstore in DC, I was looking for short stories. I was in the mood for something new, different, possibly a local talent that I had not discovered. I came across Mary Tabor's The Woman Who Could Never Cooked. What a rare and stimulating talent this author is right here in our midst. This book is a scintillating and finely nuanced collection of stories each and every one more deftly constructed than the other. She is like a master carpenter in her attention to detail and technical precision. Words are laid down in intricate sentences that evolve into paragraphs describing and evoking characters and scenes with depth and meaning. These paragraphs, each a carefully designed frame of thought, culminate in stories that resonate with sexuality, pain, loss, and the conflicted inner workings of both the female and, remarkably, the male mind. In the carnival of rubbish and mediocrity that characterizes so much of today's writing, Mary Tabor's work stands out as a very sleek edifice of thought and emotion that makes you happy, once again, to be a reader.

Mary L. Tabor's new collection is a must-read for anyone who enjoys crisply written, thematically rich short stories. Tabor's work reminds me of both Alice Munro and Raymond Carver in that she presents ordinary people (her setting is usually the Washington, DC area where she lives) in situations which simultaneously assay character and explore large themes such as fidelity and truth to oneself. She artfully braids such strands as romantic involvement, chance acquaintance, tension and suspense, selfishness and altruism, loss and gain, typically emerging at the story's end into enhanced self-awareness and fresh affirmation of life. A major new talent; I anticipate her next work of fiction with great anticipation. -- J. Loucks

Mary Tabor's writing is powerful, evocative, and tender in "The Woman Who Never Cooked." All the stories are incredible, but both the title story and "Sine Die" left me in tears. I am haunted by these stories and I find that lines and passages keep coming back to me during the day. I feel for all her characters; devastation, loss, anger, and betrayal keep swelling up inside me as I go through the routine of my day at the office. When reading the collection, I would have to sit for a moment after finishing each story to allow its depth to settle before I could continue reading. Tabor creates worlds that are impossible to leave and characters that are impossible to forget. I read the stories again knowing how they would end, knowing what was inevitable, but wondering and hoping that maybe it might be different this time. I could speak endlessly about the fluid prose or the expertly crafted imagery, but for me the real testament to Tabor's talent is that I find myself focusing on how the stories made me feel. Tabor makes it impossible to consider yourself separate from the tales she masterfully spins. I highly recommend this collection to those who want to get lost in beautiful storytelling, in worlds filled with love, hurt, mortality, and ultimately forgiveness in spite of it all. You will not be disappointed.