Short Stories Books

Stuart Dybek is truly a gifted writer. But moving beyond my humble opinion, this unique collection of short stories shines. Dybek's prose is haunting, his language at times startling and spare, at others languid and nearly musical. His characters are alive and absolutely believable in their mistakes and victories. Each story stands as a reflection on everyday beauty; Dybek that takes time to notice the details other authors overlook or dismiss as mundane. In 'The Coast of Chicago' Stuart Dybek has managed to do something quite rare in the all-too self-conscious realm of short story writing-- create stories that are rich yet still real without trying too hard to be so. Allow yourself to get sucked up into the twisting paths of his Chicago-- it's a journey you won't regret.

Lovely stories that take place in the intersection of dream and waking life, stories you'll want to read again and again from one of the most original and lyrical writers working today.

You would have to search long and hard to find stories anywhere with this originality and beauty. They will stop you in your tracks. Dybek has staked out a territory purely his own, the lost and dispossessed of Polish Chicago. Chicago has proudly produced Dreiser, Norris, Algren, Levin, Bellow and Farrell--and now Dybek. His work is enduring, funny, incisive and unforgettable.

I have read all of Stuart Dybek's books and have even had the privilege of having lunch with him and discussing his works. Being of Polish descent, I have lived in the neighborhoods that he describes. All of his books accurately depict real Southside Chicago people and their histories, their hardships, their heartaches, their woes and their lifestyles. I read his stories and I am transported back 20 years to my childhood neighborhood. I am always overcome with a feeling of nostaglia after I finish one of his books.

It is only fitting that this collection of 14 short stories was chosen for the One Book - One Chicago program hosted by The Chicago Public Library this spring. What a better way to promote communal reading in Chicago than to sponsor a book about life in their own city. While reading each short story it is apparent that Stuart Dybek has an intimate knowledge of Chicago. He successfully uses his memories and fondness for the city from his childhood of growing up in the Little Village and Pilsen neighborhoods during the mid-20th century. Each short story details with the passage of time and what it means to live in Chicago. A sense of place is an important factor running throughout each story and successfully unites each story into this collection. The story that resonates the most for me is "Chopin in Winter" about one boy who is immensely affected by an upstairs neighbor who plays the piano each night. The portrayal of the grandfather Dzia-Dzia and his relationship with the principle character are noteworthy and memorable. THE COAST OF CHICAGO is a wonderful collection of short stories that will remain in a special spot on my bookshelves for enjoyment for years to come. I love living in Chicago; and these stories resonated strongly with me. Highly recommended.

f you aren't already familiar with the short stories of Frank O' Connor, do yourself a favor, and buy this (relatively fat) collection. His stories will make you laugh ("First Confession"), weep ("Guests of the Nation", one of the most powerful anti-war stories I've ever read), or just lose yourself in the humanity of his characters. These stories seem uncomplicated, but that's part of the author's genius, the way he manages to give the stories such an emotional impact.

Although, in my opinion, the stories of Seán Ó Faoláin are slightly more nuanced and psychologically perceptive, it's a close call. Both authors are to be recommended highly.

Generally, when it comes to literature, I'm fairly hard to please. That being said, I love this book without reservation. I've recommended it to and foisted it on friends for years now. Many of them react much the way I do: there isn't anyone else like Frank O'Connor.

The stories are lyrical, sharply and humorously observed, and told with elegance in an easy but precise idiomatic diction. O'Connor always gave his work the test of being read aloud, and this care for the sound and cadence of his prose shows on every page.

Then, there is O'Connor's feeling for people. Reading the stories, one gets the impression that he was an intelligent but fundamentally kindly, generous man. Even when a character in the stories does something that seems objectionable, O'Connor never loses sight of that character's humanity. There is no absence of modernist irony, and the irony can sting (as in "The Mad Lomasneys"), but it is never cruel.

O'Connor's stories take place in Ireland, but they are not circumscribed by a desire to depict Irish regional color or romantic notions about the place. He wrote what he knew and understood, and what he understood was the people he grew up with. If that makes him a regionalist, then so were Faulkner and John Millington Synge. In his own subtle way, O'Connor was a realist, and ultimately, these stories are universal: they touch places in the psyche and the human heart that are common to us all.

Any selection of one's "favorite" stories will be personal. To an interested reader, I would say, "Read them all." To friends who ask, I add that they should start with "Guests of the Nation" and "First Confession." These aren't his "best" stories, but I've always liked them both, they are typical of his best, and one must start somewhere.

When I've given 5 stars to a book, I've often had to argue with myself as to whether it deserved it. Not for this one.

In an interview published in THE PARIS REVIEW, Frank O?Connor stated that he wanted to be either an artist or a writer and chose writing because a pad of paper and pencils were less expensive than art supplies. O?Connor has an artist?s touch when he writes and this is evidenced in his many short stories, many of which can be found in this volume.

Most of the stories in this collection take place in Ireland in the years after the Southern Republic of Ireland became an independent nation. Some of the stories such as ?Guests of the Nation? which may be O?Connor?s best known story and ?The Martyr? have this struggle as a backdrop. Most of the stories are about ordinary people facing ordinary situations. The stories tell of people young and old, rich and poor, in a variety of situations, some enviable, others not. We find priests, some holy, others not, but all human. Parents and children face daily life. Some of the stories have tongue in cheek humor (?My Oedipus Complex?) whereas others such as ?An Act of Charity? deal with tragedy. In each of the stories, there is a dignity to the characters. The characters can be familiar, but are never clich?. While I admit to being biased in my praise of O?Connor?s works, since I love my Irish heritage, especially the great Irish writers, I believe that while O?Connor?s writing and characters are distinctly Irish, the emotions and struggles O?Connor writes of are universal and can find a spot in the heart of anyone who loves great writing.

There is a line from William Trevor (no stranger to the short story) on the back of the book that I think is highest praise that one writer can give another: "without adornment, he simply tells the truth."

We don't demand things so weighty from books anymore, and are probably likely to dismiss a person or a book that promises it, but I think the word at least gets at O'Connor's idea of a short story. The truth, for him, is a live person on paper, going through a period of his or her life where they understand something about either themselves or the world. When he taught writing, he insisted that his students write a one-sentence theme for their story: what is it saying, demonstrating - what truth is it getting at?

This seems an old-fashioned idea of the story, but nothing about O'Connor's work seems either old-fashioned or excessively schematic - his stories are as alive as writing can be while still having unity and weight, and they carry their truth with humor and humanity. The Richard Ellman introduction, I'm afraid, misses this completely. Ellman was a friend of O'Connor's in later life, but I don't think he understands his work very well. The introduction makes O'Connor sound like some sort of genial provincial, with the primary virtue of his work being a portrait of a vanished society.

But no writer of fiction who is just a chronicler can survive: it doesn't matter that today Anna and Karenin could simply divorce. The book is relevant because Anna and Karenin are both real on the page, as so many of O'Connor's characters are. Ellman's lack of understanding influences his selection: too many of O'Connor's later less inspired work is here, and many wonders are missing. Why did he leave off In the Train, for example? Sadly, this is the only collection that's in print, but most of the great stories are here, and they are inexhaustible.

After discovering this book, I immediately went out and read everything of O'Connor's I could find, including a biography, and I copied down a passage that I think shows the way in which he looked at people and the world. He was writing to a friend who had been estranged from his wife, and was now feeling extreme remorse as she was dying:

"On occasions like this we all feel guilt and remorse; we all want to turn back time; but even if we were able, things would go on in precisely the same way because the mistakes we make are not in our judgements but in our natures. It is only when we do violence to our natures that we are justified in our regrets, and neither of us is capable of that. We are what we are and within our limitiations we have made our efforts. They may seem puny in the light of eternity but they didn't at the time, and they weren't."

This is his truth: to discover people's natures, to see the essential in even the smallest actions, and get across the moments when people see themselves whole. Read this book: it's one to keep for life.

That realism has a natural humor which needs no embellishment or exaggeration seems to be the guiding principle of the fiction of Frank O'Connor, whose nearly seventy short stories of the lower and middle class in Ireland, many of which were originally published in the New Yorker at a time when the magazine was the authority for the best new short fiction, are gathered in this collection published by Vintage. His settings are localized to villages and towns; his stories, unlike the plays of Sean O'Casey, give little indication of the Irish political situation of the twentieth century, rarely even mentioning the World Wars, and instead focus primarily on religion, marriage, and childhood.

O'Connor's portrayals of the church and the clergy, ranging from the slyly satirical to the somberly sympathetic, illuminate the influence of Catholicism on the Irish mentality and the often strained relationships between priests and their parishioners. In "News for the Church," a teenage girl goes to confession for carnal intercourse with an older man, but the priest cynically guesses she is merely brandishing a badge of honor to prove her sexual maturity to her married older sister. O'Connor sees the unrewarding side to being a moral compass, but he never suggests that a priest's work is all in vain.

Many of the stories are about the confusion of youth and are narrated by a child with the voice of an adult. "The Man of the House," for example, struck me as a quasi-parable of the Fall, an adult-oriented parody of a morality tale that is told to children: A boy (the narrator) is entrusted by his sick mother to procure for her a bottle of cough syrup, but a bewitching girl he meets at the drug store tricks him into sharing the temptingly sweet medicine with her, leaving him to face the consequences of his mischief. These stories tend to culminate in poignant moments that, while not exactly equaling the Joycean epiphanies of "Dubliners," resonate with aching truthfulness.

One of the most pointed stories explores a curious contrast between the Irish and the English: In "The Sentry," an Irish priest with a Catholic parish in England during World War II discovers an English soldier stealing onions from his garden and challenges the man to a fistfight. When the priest later learns that the soldier--a sentry--could be shot for deserting his post, he tells this to an Irish nun, who replies, "Isn't that the English all out? The rich can do what they like, but a poor man can be shot for stealing a few onions!" Of course, the point is that the soldier would be shot for deserting his post, not for stealing onions; but the subtext of the nun's statement is that the Irish tend to see the bigger picture.

O'Connor is a natural dramatist with an uncommon ear for sincere, fluidly colloquial dialogue; he never overdoes a situation because he trusts the inherent strength and vitality of his characters to draw our interest. Here we have a collection of people who delineate the culture of their nation, always remaining fiercely individualistic, speaking the same language as the English but refusing to identify with them.

Only Dawn Powell could create such an intimate, sorrowful portrayal of two thwarted artists in a smug little town that doesn't recognize their intelligence. Very sad, yet gently funny as well. Dawn Powell apparently didn't think this was one of her more successful books. It always amazes me how poorly some artists judge their work for this is one of her best novels. Read it and weep.

Dawn Powell's "Come Back to Sorrento", was published in 1932 under the title "The Tenth Moon" to little notice from critics or from the public. But this poignant, mostly understated novel set in a drab midwestern town called Dell River is a gem.

The two main characters in the book are Connie Benjamin and Blaine Decker. When we meet Connie as a housewife in her mid-thirties, she is leading a life she finds sterile and barren with her husband Gus, a cobbler, and her two adolescent daughters. As a young woman, Connie had visions of a career as an opera singer, even though this ambition seemed to be based on little more than a commendation of her voice by a famous teacher. Connie also has a past in which she ran off with a young man named Tony who did acrobatics with a circus. Tony aboandoned her, and Connie lives with dreams of a singing career that perhaps could have been and with faded memories of Tony.

Blaine Decker comes to Dell River as the high school music teacher. He rents a small apartment above Gus Decker's shoe repair shop. Decker is a pianist by training (with small hands) who likewise has never had the artistic success of which he dreams. He spent his early years in Europe during which time he was a friend of a writer, Starr Donnell, who had written, as far as Decker knows, one novel. Powell hints throughout the novel at Decker's repressed homosexuality.

The novel explores the relationship that develops between Connie and Blaine. With their shared love of music and their broken, and probably illusory dreams, they feel stifled by the small town of Dell River. They share confidences with each other and at the same time quarrel severely with each other over their respective failures to pursue their dreams. The relationship is at bottom frustrating and unconsummated. It never becomes sexual.

There are wonderful pictures in this book of music and its capacity to bring meaning to life. The seriousness with which Powell discusses the pursuit of classical music in this work contrasts markedly with her picture of frivolous people and activities in her subsequent satirical New York novels. Powell also shows how music can be a means by which people evade their own selves and their own reality. There are also good depictions in the book of life in a small town, particularly those people who teach in High Schools, and of many secondary characters.

As do Powell's latter works, this book contrasts life in a small town with life in the cosmopolitian city, here represented by Paris more than by New York. But there is a certain inward focus to this book which is not shared by her latter satirical pictures of New York. The characters here are limited by Dell River and its environs, but their problems and discontents lie within themselves, in their lack of self-knowledge, and in their failed dreams. The book lacks the sharp cynicism of the latter novels but features instead reflectiveness and sadness.

Powell's writing style in this novel is rather flatter than in her subsequent works but it fits the atmosphere of Dell River that she conveys. There are several moments in the novel or lyricism and intensity.

This probably is not a novel that will ever enjoy wide readership. But it is rare and a treasure.

This book has been well-summarized by the other reviewers. I can only second their recommendations and say that this book is spellbindingly written and contains two extended passages (I will leave it to other readers to find their own favorite parts)that are among the most brilliant writing I have ever encountered. Just be warned that it will break your heart. Now if only Steerforth would reissue her "Story of a Country Boy" which I just found an ancient copy of and which is just as good...

This is an extremely well written book. It is the story of a housewife and the local high school Music teacher. Both of whom live in their pasts, which they have embellished to the point of unrecognition. This is what binds them together as they create their "salon". I love Dawn Powell and her real forte is creating these amazing character studies that are both hilarious and pathetic. I would highly recommend this book and any other of Dawn Powell's works

What a haiku evokes beyond the language, a few words summon a large panorama, Dawn Powell did in this novella. With artful simplicity, the author relates a somewhat comic and somewhat cosmic fable of two lost souls that blend unrealized dreams into reality. Powell writes with the sensitivity of an empath. In the bearly visible twitch, the eye that cannot contact, the unconscious hesitations belie the character's pretense so that the secret is just between Powell and her reader. In the far less precise language of psychiatry, this is termed the "as if" self. This deceptively simple story succeeds as myth for within the doubling up of solitary dreams, their souls sweep the cosmos.

Shards of memories, are picked from the realities that defeated them and together they build a palace of dignity that not only holds at bay, their individual sufferings, but becomes wide enough to bring a muted sort of redemption to others, afflicted with similar destinies.
Through music and desire, (platonic, alone) a middle aged housewife, and a odd and tattered music teacher shake off fate and taste, if briefly, what they had been denied. Woven in the tale, is the past of childhood trauma and rejection, abandonment and 'making do,' that the odd duo become nothing less than extraordinary people who choose happiness and get it. In this it is a morality tale, par excellance.
Anyone who has ever reached out of despair with a rebound of delight, who has taken an old piece of cloth and thrown it in some transforming wrap over their head, or around their waist, as Connie does, remembers that triumph, so rare, but perfect brilliant touch. Suddenly, an old dress, has color and shape, bohemians, they are beyond the ordinary in fashion and finance.

There are no authorial statements here, Powell has her own transformative power, whereby sentences do indeed show, voluminously what she composed sparingly. Her genious for showing human instincts is beyond any of her peers. Perhaps the most stunning is her instinct for understanding that ancient animal survival rule whereby we must hide our wounds and primal sufferings or risk in discovery- annihilation. There is none of the confessional self-absorption that was the legacy of the psychoanalytic fever, that was in its American childhood at the time she wrote the novel.


Anyone who has suffered and not hurt others, is rare indeed. The sublime experience between the two does not rely on inflicting pain upon others, a far more common means of elevating conditions of esteem.
The message, if I may, is in the true artistic gift that they benefitted from, but if spoken, would have broken the spell. They saw the Touilleries in an unweeded garden, the Volga in a brown shallow river, and in the unattractive, uncultured, midwestern town, they found a quaint village to delight in.

The physical conditions of life bore down upon their paradise and yet Connie and Blaine, prevailed, looking we are told through colored pains of glass, bringing the grey, unsympathetic world into prismmatic shimmering color.

It is a love poem to the artistic process that is a gift for life as much as technique with a brush or an instrument or a sentence. This contrasts effectively with her more cynical tales of the corrupted artist and the exploited audience.

A glorious book.

out of 3000+ books I have read. Much better reading than Clockwork Orange. Be with Mr. Enderby as he cooks, makes love and disses the Beatles. I would recommend the first book in the series to anyone. The subsequent books are not quite as good but better than most fiction.

And if you disagree with me, for cough

The first thing to say about these books is that they're very funny. - They're very funny! - I spent several nights during the reading of them chuckling myself to sleep over the Enderbian maladventures I had ingested during my day's reading. They're also an uproarious satire of (and I'm sure to be leaving several things/groups/people out):

Postwar England
Poetry Awards
Women's Magazines
Magazines of any sort
Rome
Papism
Avaricious-Papist-Magazine editing women
Poets who sell out
Modern avant-garde film
Psychiatry (Big one here)
Psychiatrists (Even Bigger)
Pop Music
Pop Music Stars
Selenologists
Randy women Selenologists
Beat poets
The film industry in general
America
The American Bicentennial
Creative writing students
Women Creative Writing students
Black (Or, er, Afro-American) Creative Writing students
Talk shows
Subways
New York City
American women -"These American women were very straightforward people, quick to disclose their madness." P.534
American men - "The men were a bit slower." P.534
Spiritualist sessions
Hiberno-American Anti-Anglo sentiments
Theatre people
The American spelling of "Theater"
Anyone who dares to mess with Shakespeare

Well, that will do for starters. What makes all this satire, um, digestible, so to speak, is there is really no vitriol in it (or, well, not very much) and, further, what makes it actually palatable is that one is so busy pitying poor Enderby, in the first two books at least, that the verbal cuts, often hidden among Enderbian musings, hit us so often at unawares. Also, the old-fashioned poet trying to heed his Muse and not sully himself with the modern world catches it the most.

There is, though, a problem that another reviewer has pointed out - The problem of identifying with either Enderby or Burgess - or perhaps Enderburgess. The first two books, Inside Mr. Enderby and Enderby Outside, are much superior, in my mind, to the last two books. Here, Enderby is a character separate from Burgess. Yes, it's still partly autobiographical, but not SO autobiographical that one feels one is reading about Burgess himself, which is the sense that overwhelmed at least this reader while poring over (still chuckling, mind you) The Clockwork Testament and Enderby's Dark Lady.

Finally, there is something more to all this than just laughs (though these certainly help things along). Enderburgess truly believes in the sacredness of poetry and the poet's mission. He heartily defends them against the slings and arrows of the modern world, much to his sadness and discomfiture, it must be said.

The girl who comes to Enderby at the end of Enderby Outside, and serves, more or less, as his Muse incarnate, intones:

"When Shelley said what he said about poets being the unacknowledged legislators of the world, he wasn't really using fancy language. It's only by the exact use of words that people can begin to understand themselves." P.358 This is the Enderburgessian motto, the recurrent theme throughout the book. I can think of no better one with which to laugh and learn or relearn the poet's mission.

Agreed with the above reviews; Burgess seems to have been typecast as the guy that wrote Clockwork Orange and wasn't that a violent movie?...

Before reading the Complete Enderby, A Clockwork Orange was the only Burgess book I'd read and I remembered it as written in a dense, sort of russian/english patois that it was sometimes hard to follow. I didn't think that Anthony Burgess would/could be 'a fun read'

I was very pleasantly surprised to find the Enderby novels very accessible, very entertaining, very funny.

Linguistic pyrotechnics, complete plot control but with a willingness to go completely off topic if he feels like it, a love for the quirkiness of character, respect for poetry and poets but not blind respect; so he'll look at some of the aspects of poets and poetry-writing with an eye to making fun.

There's also some biting societal commentary that, considering 1965 as copyright for the first one, doesn't feel too dated.

I'd maybe describe this as Cormac McCarthy writing A Confederacy of Dunces. This would probably annoy Mr. Burgess, but I think that fans of either would enjoy these books.

Having all four novels in one omnibus edition is a luxury I would strongly recommend. You're not forced to read them straight through but you have the option.

"Inside Mr. Enderby," is wonderful and off beat. "Enderby Outside," follows the off kilter story of Enderby and the absurdity that is his life. "The Clockwork Testament," as the title would suggest, has shadings of Burgess' very well known book, "Clockwork Orange." The "Testament," is surreal and twisted while funny at the same time. The final story, "Enderby's Dark Lady," is wonderful and surprising to the reader with value not only for fans of the dyspeptic poet but lovers of Shakespeare as well.

While slightly dated, these stories have a bite to them that speaks volumes of truth for anyone who has been an academic, a professional writer or just a little bit out of touch with the world around them. Enderby is often misunderstood and though he makes his living in a "communication" field, he has a lot of trouble getting his point across to others.

Not only are these books funny, but as is often the case with Burgess, the satire is thinly veiled and pointing at both society and himself.

Leave it to Burgess to create a poet so quirky, so outrageous and neurotic that you have to laugh at every page of his misdaventures. Whether offending strangely clad women in a gay bar or defending himself with a toilet seat, this man lives and was not just created. Clueless about the machinations around him and the pathetic hangers on that want to steal some of his glory, in his poet Burgess paints a disspiriting picture of the 1970s literary scene in London. His world is nightmarish, if leavened by a poet's vision and uncontrollable, irrepressible creativity.

Highly recommended and certainly one his best.

I had heard of this book many years before I was tempted to read it, and now I truly regret my lack of interest in Sassoon up to this point. He is a great poet, but as a memoirist he absolutely sparkles. Robert Graves' book, "Goodbye to all that", often described as a classic, is a mere string of unrelated anecdotes compared with Sassoon's modest, humorous, poignant account of his own youth, which takes us from his childhood in Kent to the end of his military career after the First World War. Don't hesitate to read this book, especially if you enjoy seeing the English language used at its very best.

World War I had a far greater impact on Britain than the US for the obvious reasons that they were in the war for over four years and suffered horrific casualties. The literature produced by that war made a sharp break from what came before, which reflected the feeling in the country that the war had irrevocably changed life in Britain. This is well illustrated in Siegfreid Sassoon's "The Complete Memoirs of George Sherston," a fictional version of his own experiences. The first part covers Sherston's pre-war life, with his obsession with fox-hunting. This is so well written that you will enjoy it even if you don't have the least interest in the subject.

The next section, "Memoirs of an Infantry Officer" covers his experiences in World War I, during he is highly decorated. The horrors of the war, which many of Sassoon's class thought would be a great adventure, are accurately portrayed. Eventually he becomes disillusioned with the war, and writes a letter denouncing it that could have led to his court-martial. A close friend (Robert Graves in real life) gets him classified as having a mental disorder and he is sent off to a hospital to recuperate.

This book is deeply moving and is one of a handful of books that changed the way that the English-speaking world views war. Sassoon's writing style is plain on the surface, but its plainness makes the emotional impact all the greater.

I find this book completely compelling, particularly volume 2 (Memoirs of and Infantry Officer). The descriptions of degradation experienced by those who fought in the trenches and their ability to create a sub-culture of derring-do is powerful in its modesty.Sassoon's mounting frustration is skilfully portrayed, especially in his allusion to details about provision for and management of warfare. His ennui is almost palpable on those train journies across France.

The first volume (Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man) is possibly of more interest to those of us born and raised in the parish where Sasson himself lived. I enjoyed playing 'spot-the-location', but must declare that I am in possession of a comprehensive list, produced by Brenchley History Society,of pseudonyms/real names.

The writing in this volume has some of the lyrical quality of his autobiography (The Old Century and Seven More Years - out of print)on which it is based. Rather than a treaties on Hunting, I consider this to be a gentle study of the awakening of Sassoon's poetic sensibilities; the Hunt and the relationships he formed with particular characters was, for him, an early catharsis. They also augur the events and characters in the following volume.

The final volume (Sherston's Progress)is probably most poignant if one is aware that this is, indeed, a thinly veiled autobiography. Sassoon's heroism is, for me, as great beyond the era of World War I as it is within it. This volume should certainly be read within the context of the previous two, but stands alone as a testament to the debt future generations owe to the perseverance of men such as Sassoon.

A rhetorical question. I've looked for these memoirs off and on in used book shops for years, chiefly because I remembered the first, foxhunting volume so fondly. I don't agree at all with the other reviewers that this section of the "memoirs" is dull. If you like animals or learning about lost sports and conventions--alpine climbing when it was a club activity, say, or round-the-world sailing--you'll enjoy Sassoon's description of hunts and hunters, especially those of the equine sort.

Sassoon's three volumes wrapped up into one take the reader into another world. First volume describes life in the English country, where a young George Sherston becomes completely immersed in fox hunting. To say he becomes consumed by this is an understatement. Sassoon's intimate depictions of the countryside, to include the life of a country gentleman are so detailed you can clearly "see" and feel how young George felt.

Volume 2, Memoirs of an infantry officer take George into the trenches of France, where again with graphic details, the horror and calamity of the fighting in WWI are brought to our attention. Of note is the latter part of the volume where Sherston's morals are challenged, and how he deals with this mental dilemma.

Volume 3 takes Sherston from the trenches of France, to a stint in Ireland and Palestine, but ultimately back to France where the novel is brilliantly wrapped up.

Sassoon's experiences in the war have given us perhaps one of the greatest novels from the era. The writing is absolutely outstanding and will give you pause to put the book down.

I finished this one last night and it did not disappoint at all. I loved catching up with the Adam sisters. This book will definitely kept me guessing until the end. I loved how the sisters stood by each other no matter what. The chemistry and heat between Kyson and Micheal was HOT!! Ms. Byrd did another great job, it will not disappoint.

So, I will be honest here. Haven't read the previous books in this series so I though they were all brothers and not sisters, all of them having boy names. Let's just say it confused the hell out of me, but I finally got it, lol. The Chemistry in this book is H-O-T. And I also have to mention that this book is hilarious. These sisters especially Micheal with her mischevious self will have you laughing out loud like I did. I am an avid reader of Ms. Byrd's and the previous books in this series like I said before I have not read, but have ordered. You will not be disapponted in this book nor any other of Ms. Byrd's books. And I hope that this isn't the end of the series. I would love to see Kyson's brother find a woman who can strap him down. And Kyson's sister as well. Great job again Ms.Byrd.

This Books one of the best if not the best books. Ms.Byrd has wrote a mind blowing book. I never saw it coming you won't either. I Highly recommend this book. If I write any more I will tell the book.Trust me this book is worth every penny.

All i can say is-WOW!! This book is a real page turner, i couldnt put it down. Full of humor,mystery, and surprise. I am an avid Adrianne Byrd fan, and i advise anyone who hasn't read her books to get familiar.

Let me start by saying that I did not like this book.
I LOVED IT! I LOVED IT! I LOVED IT!
CONTROVERSY, is the latest installment of the Adams sisters, Peyton (Measure of a Man), Joey ( When You Were Mine),Frankie, Sheldon, and now Michael. You can't forget their brother Flex.
Michael has always been the rebel. The one in the family that was always getting into something. With her history of pranks and payback, when her ex-husband ends up dead, Michael becomes number one suspect. Not to mention having the hots for the detective that comes to question her.
CONTROVERSY is a page turner that will have you in stitches laughing out loud one minute, fanning yourself from the steamy love scenes and crying with emotion the next. The twists in the story that leads to and an ending that even this diehard reader wasn't prepared for was well worth the time spent reading.
Ms. Byrd's voice is as fresh as the first novel I read by her (DEFENSELESS) eleven years ago.
Her stories are refreshing and goes right to the readers heart.
If you're ready for a roller coaster read of pleasure, CONTROVERSY is the book to read. Although it is strong enough to stand alone, you will want to read the other books in the series. All of them are Must Reads!

Dan Burnett has penned some of the funniest stories I've ever read. Don't start this book if you don't have time to read the whole thing, because you won't want to put it down.

Mr. Burnett reminisces about his rodeo days--footloose and fancy free. A teensy bit intoxicated on occasion. And that's just what this book is: intoxicating. I bought copies for my brother, my sister, my kids, my friends--and they all loved this book.

Don't miss out on some of the best Americana of the 20th Century!

I am glad it was a book. I would have missed too much while in a state of uncontrollable laughter, if it had been a movie. At that time, I could not wait to order, A Cowboy Never Lies 2. Truly one of the best books I have read in a long time. I enjoyed it so much, I also ordered it in cassette, so my father could listen to it.

Yeah, I wuz alive 'n sorta moved around the fringes of Dan's circle, even entered a coupla events justa see if I wuz as tough as I thought I wuz. We-e-elll, I wuzn't, but his crowd wuz. Man! Until I saw em do it, I didn't think there wuz such a thing as a cowboy what could eat rawhide fer breakfus', drink a quart a beer fer lunch 'n eat ten pounds a rodeo dirt fer a full course dinner, then be ready ta dance 'n drink 'til sunrise, includin a lil scuffle outside tha dance hall! Now the story-telling enhancements to the truth are like salt, pepper and tobasco on yer favorite food and Dan has definitely perfected the flavoring without distorting the truths...much, anyway. If ya don't wanta laugh while reading this, I can only wish ya luck. Consider it a challenge, cuz it shore will be. --- Mike Danford

I can only shake my head in admiration of Mr. Burnett's adventures. It must have been fun to get up every morning just to see what was going to happen that day!

I read "The Hat" on the train and noticed people in my immediate area were looking around to find a) the person that was laughing so hard and b) decide if they should be concerned about some looney popping a gasket on the train.

Definately a book worth reading.

I read about Mr. Burnetts escapades in "A Cowboy Never Lies" laughing all the way through, put it aside for about 2 months then read it again so as to make sure I caught all of his zany escapades. My 14 year old son kept asking what book I was laughing about. [Usually he doesn't give a hoot about what I'm reading] I told him he could read my book when I was done with it. Later that evening I couldn't find my book so I headed to my sons bedroom to ask him if he had seen it; but only had to get to his door and hear his howl of laughter to know I wouldn't get my book back 'til he was done with it. I fooled him tho....I went out and got "A Cowboy Never Lies II". He knows I have it, and is bugging me to finish it so he can get started reveling in Dans' sidesplitting fun.

I felt like I was in the smoldering box car with the characters. Could hardly breath! Made me want to do something, anything to help.A very timely story.

This novel keeps your eyes glued to the page in white-knuckled suspense. Can't wait to get ahold of Martinez's much anticipated second novel, _Drift_, due out from Picador in April 2003.

Martinez does a great job bring you into the story and making you feel like you are on inside the cramped boxcar with the other men. Martinez also uses his superior talent to use dreams to describe past events.-New York Times Book Review

This book is exceptional. The author really puts you where the story is being held, in a box car. It is so well written that I could not put it down. I read this book in 3 days. I recommend this book to anyone who just reads ordinary novels. This book is not a novel, it will take you on a journey most people never even think about.

Intrigued by an actual news story relating the deaths of undocumented workers found in a railroad boxcar, Martinez envisions what prompted these deaths in this book. This is an intense story about Luis' crossing to the United States and the unexpected events that take place in the boxcar. Here, Luis must deal with his personal demons and yet stay strong in body and mind in order to survive. Martinez does an outstanding job relating the story with detail and emotion. He gives readers insight to what desperate immigrants attempt at doing in search of a better life and yet no know the risks involved. I agree, this book was hard to put down.

DESIRES contains some of the most sensual and literary fiction available today. While many other erotica anthologies tend to either forgo the sensual aspect in favor of dry, intellectual writing or rely on clichéd stories, DESIRES beautifully merges lush descriptions of sexuality with thought-provoking, emotional scenarios.

The variety of writing styles from the 24 talented authors provides an outstanding complement to the stories themselves. For example, Robert Schaffer's "Fried Blonde Tomatoes" is a hard-edged, sharp narrative about a man's craving for "burnt-out blondes," while Elana White's "Wee Sunny Garrett" is a highly poetic and rewarding story about a woman's rediscovery of herself in the warmth of a French village. James Martin's "The Civil Servant" is a delicious story involving a wife's sexual commands over the telephone, and Debra Hyde's "Weigh Station" is a reunion of two lovers and the subsequent revelation of both masochistic tendencies and futile realizations. There are also excellent stories by well-known erotica authors such as Maryanne Mohanraj, Cecilia Tan, Maxim Jakubowski, and Thomas Roche. The stories involve a range of exceptional characters and situations, all of which appeal to the intellect as well as the libido. This emphasis on the intellect especially distinguishes this anthology.

Another element that sets DESIRES apart from the norm is the discerning and intelligent "dialogue" between the two editors, which touches upon such issues as porn versus erotica, Barthes' and Battailes' respective philosophies about eroticism, the psychological aspects of erotic fiction, "sex as ritual," and Tantric philosophies. The dialogue serves to enhance the collection by providing greater insight into the essential meaning of both the chosen stories and erotica as a genre.

DESIRES is a truly superb and unique collection, with the editorial dialogue providing a very stimulating closure to the book. Collections such as this one serve not only to hold erotic fiction to a much higher standard, but also to encourage both readers and writers to examine the emotional and intellectual underpinnings of sensual literature. With DESIRES as a model of excellence, the erotica genre will surely attain the literary respect and authority it so deserves. Read it for pleasure and for both sexual and intellectual stimulation!

Desires is a beautifully put together book with enticing cover art and provocative stories. AmarMira has done an excellent job. Desires is a great compilation of well-known and soon-to-be well-known erotica authors. I applaud Benedicks and Sengupta on their choice of contributors and eagerly await volume two.

This is book is a tantalising potpourri of scintillating erotica. With twenty four short stories and an very interesting appendix, by Adrienne Benedicks and Shivaji Sengupta, the reader is introduced to the different erotic writing style of different Authors. It is unusual to find an erotic book of such a sophisticated quality that grips the readers imagination from start to finish and then compels you to go back and start reading it again and again. A well written work of art.

Desires is a collection of erotica that features many sexy stories which also have strong literary merit. Editors Adrienne Benedicks and Shivaji Sengupta have fulfilled their goal of raising the level of erotic fiction,which all too often is confined to pushing the buttons of arousal while recycling cliches and cliched situations. Stories like "Bottomless in Bourbon" by Maxim Jakubowshi, "Crooked Kwan" by Cecilia Tan, Sengupta's own "The Lady and the Chauffeur," and Marilyn Jaye Lewis's "Stranger than Fiction" provide trenchant dialogue, lean but intricate plots that explore interesting cultural configurations ranging from the encounters of different classes, nationalities, and subcultures, strong descriptive elements, and emotional as well as erotic clout. I also enjoyed the editors' dialogue that serves as an Afterword to the collection. Benedicks and Sengupta engage in a fascinating discussion of two strikingly different attitudes toward the erotic in literature and culture.

I've never sent a review in to Amazon before, but this book is a little different. Benedicks and Sengupta have collected some of the best erotic stories I've read in quite some time. Not only have they published stories in the book from writers such as Jakubowski, Mohanraj, Roche and Reed. They have introduced me to some new and very talented authors. Authors I hope to see more of in the future. The stories are erotic, romantic, hot, humorous, and lusty. A very beautiful gamut of reading material. I hope to see more from them in the future. This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Everyone out there certainly owes it to themselves to dive into this fascinating collection of short stories.--Joe Verilli

I picked up this book a few weeks ago and couldn't put it down until I had read it all and some of the stories twice. It's an amazing mix of the experimental and ordinary life. At times, it's even creepy, in a good way.

I'm a sucker for this contemporary short fiction. Much in the style of Larry Brown, Carver, and not so much Bukowski, Crocker draws you into his characters. When you try to leave, he won't let you. In this tale you are the guest that sits in discomfort and wants to leave the setting...but you are Trapped. The stories ends in resolve, something that is not done easily. Bravo! The full twenty-three stories will read like a fun weekend in Jersey City. I enjoyed this very much.

Daniel Crocker is the new laureate of working class America.--Gerald Nicosia, author of Memory Babe: A Critical Biography of Jack Kerouac

Daniel Crocker is one of the two or three best writers of short fiction to emerge from the small press in the last couple of decades.--Gerald Locklin.