Short Stories Books

I read these stories years ago and still can't get them out of my mind. Chetkovich has the rare ability to completely transport a reader in the space of a brief paragraph. Often, she does it with one sentence. All I can say is, "More please."

The work here is so strong, funny, insightful. She seems to only choose her best work for publication. All of it is top flight. This can hardly be said for so much that is printed and puffed up these days. She is great.

I admit having learned about this book only because I was looking up something on Jonathan Franzen, who happens to be Chetkovich's boyfriend since about the time of this publication. Although the amount of publicity for their respective work could not be more disparate, Kathryn Chetkovich is a talented, sensitive and perceptive writer in her own right. So impressed was I by her short but uncannily emotive stories that I would personally fire off a marketing campaign for her if she asked me to. Calling her glimpses of young women's ambivalence towards the ties with family, friendship, love and adulthood "enigmatic" or "mesmerizing" would be trite. But how she nails feelings I thought reserved to myself, moreover, why no one has brought her ability to broader recognition IS a riddle to me.

Her style of accentuating the marginal while letting the essential speak for itself appeared, albeit later, in a few German women authors' stories that I liked in varying degrees (Zsuzsa Bank, Judith Hermann). Likewise, Chetkovich's stories are not all of the same sterling quality to warrant a full five stars--some are just a little too slight--, but 4.5 stars and rising.

I came across a Kathryn Chetkovich story in the Houghton-Mifflin annual collection of best short stories (1998 edition), and knew I had to get my hands on "Friendly Fire" as soon as I could so I could read more of her writing. And I wasn't disappointed -- all of her stories are beautifully crafted and have an wonderfully understated wryness and insight -- you will be delighted, amused, and often moved by the perfect turns of phrase that Chetcovich finds to illuminate even the smallest incident or observation. Can't wait for more from this writer.

I consider myself a reader and am usually aware of all the new books coming out. I picked this book up having heard nothing about it. I sat and read the first story of this collection and before I was even done the first page I knew Kathryn was a discovery. This is her first book and she has me for whatever else she writes. These stories about real struggle and emotional entanglements of the family. Having grown children I loved reading them. I don't usually write these reviews ; I don't feel competent ; but it is a crime to me that I hadn't heard of this book. FRIENDLY FIRE is so WONDERFUL. When I think of the books out there that receive so much attention. Kathryn is a gem. Support her work and you will not regret it!

After just having a baby and having very little time this was a great book to get into. I could relate to all the characters; their stories let me know I wasn't the only one feeling a certain way. I think it's great how Louise made these women so real. This a great mom read, I would recommend it to all moms. Its very humorous too so you'll get a good laugh! Enjoy

I loved the simple way the book guided the reader in to a deep topic. The story was so enjoyable and kept you searching for more!

I am so glad she talked about a condition that affects women after birth.

Our book club read this book, and had the privilege of having Louise come to our meeting. The book was a great read, and as a mother I could see so much of myself in the book. Some of the feelings of the characters in the book hit so close to home if was almost as if the author knew me. While it deals with some serious issues, there are parts of the book that are just laugh out loud funny. A very enjoyable read. I wished there was a sequel, because I wanted to know more.

In "Friends and Mother's" Limerick crafts a heartwarming story of five friends, all struggling to fill the many roles of being a mom without losing sight of living their own lives too. This book eloquently illustrates the many trials and tribulations of motherhood, and the challenges we all face as we strive to find our own successful parenting method. As the plot unravels, Limerick reminds us all that we must not take on this journey alone; yet through sharing our experiences, the celebrations,challenges, and triumphs, the joys of motherhood are vastly enhanced. A fresh take on the modern parenting book, this novel is both enjoyable and insightful, and I highly recommend it to any mother.

-Carolina Fernandez, author of "Rocket Mom"

I really lobed reading Friends and Mothers! It was a quick and enjoyable read. I felt a connection to the characters and didn't want the book to end. It's a perfect book club book!

This is a fine story, but if you're ordering such a book, I would recommend a bigger, thicker book of Dick and Jane, and you will see that this story will be in there too, along with many other stories. This book is only 32 pages long and a child can read that in fifteen minutes (some pages only have a couple of words on them), so to me it's not worth the money. If you want nightly reading, buy a book of Dick and Jane that is at least 100, or more pages long. You will get the same results, but more stories. Not to mention, it's only about six bucks more, and hardcover. Most of Dick and Jane's hardcover books are at least 144 pages long. My kids love this story, but you will find the same stories in the hardcover version, with a lot more stories to excite your child. These are great beginner readers, and you'll find that your child won't want to stop reading once they read the first couple of pages because reading makes them feel independent, and grown-up. How disappointing it will be to put the book down and not have more stories to read.

Repetition is a basic learning strategy for younger children. "Oh look. Look. Look." Phrases like this are often used in this book. Older children and adults find this style funny but this repetition is very helpful for beginning readers and struggling readers.

It is a joy to see children gain confidence practicing their words with stories that offer clean, innocent fun. We need more of these kinds of stories for children.

These books, first published in the 1930's, are nostolgic, charming and sweetly illustrated. They're a great little piece of history both parents and children can enjoy.

However, it should be noted that the current publisher, Grosset & Dunlap, has publicly stated that these titles are offered for their entertainment value only and shouldn't be used as teaching tools.

The language used in the D & J series, with its oft-repeated, simple words, was part of the "whole-word" approach to teaching reading, which was pilloried in "Why Johnny Can't Read." And indeed, decades of research have shown that phonics is the approach that works. It is with good reason that California abandoned "whole-word" teaching methods early on and current federal standards specifically require a phonic-based curriculum.

So buy, read and enjoy, but when your child needs a leg-up with his/her reading, turn to phonics instead.

I bought this book for my daughter who was getting comfortable with reading beginner phonics books and was ready for that next step.
WOW! She really loves reading this book, over and over again.
Some beginner books really aren't beginner books because they don't
offer the kind of repetition of words that help a child build confidence in their ability to read by themselves. Not so with this book....I'm going to order more Dick and Jane books!

These books are so plain and simple, many parents will write them off, thinking there will not be enough pizazz to entertain their children. But what so many parents forget, is although it may not entertain adults, children do not need much.

The simple phrases and illustrations leave so much to the imagination. Children without imaginations will not appreciate these. What child does not have an imagination? Exactly my point. They all do, and a simple book like this allows them to utilize it. DOn't deprive your child of the simple pleasures that we grew up with. Simple pleasures are more difficult to obtain these days, with so many affordable toys and games, and easy access to them all. This book is actually a gift that your child will treasure.

Really a wonderful read - Khoury gives us the people inside the statistics. Reading "700,000 refugees" doesn't make the average person feel much, but Gate of the Sun gives us the individual faces and stories that make it all real. Other reviewers mentioned the artifice in the structure; I found it a touch annoying at first, then very appropriate as the book went along. Given the quality of the novel and the importance of the topic, I am surprised this novel has received only five reviews - are so few people reading this book?

This is an extraordinary story, essentially a personalized account of the history of the Palestinians of Galilee since the Zionist immigrations -- certainly, after the genocide of the Jews in the 1940s, the cruelest assault on a people in the 20th century (though the Armenian genocide too is right up there if one is counting), and it continues today in all its horror. The story is hung on an initially irritating conceit, one man's monologue as he cares for a mentor who has suffered a stroke and is brain dead. The protagonist imagines that his charge can hear and comprehend him. But as the story progresses, the immediacy of the reality of the intertwining biographies and the awful -- and often beautiful -- story they tell is so engaging that the irritation passes. But what also makes this novel extraordinary is that it is told without rancor -- not that hatred wasn't swirling around and everpresent. The people are real, that world is real, the suffering and death are real. It is this, and the opening of a window on that world heretofore glimpsed only on the news, that is the beauty of this book. There were occasional and brief what seemed to me trite pop-philosophical digressions, but they did not seriously affect the power of the reading. Some episodes seem to be present to emphasize that the author is not anti-Jewish, but they feel contrived. In this feverish situation it is no doubt a good thing to emphasize an author's rejection of anti-Semitic prejudice, but one would hope the author could find a way that feels as real as the rest of the book. Well, truth to tell, there was one subplot that stretched credulity in the interest of creating an artful story. Nonetheless, this is a truly powerful book, and the reality of that world comes through despite the occasional novelistic artifice. How to right the wrongs and avoid further horrors for either peoples! But Gate of the Sun is a resolutely non-political novel about individuals -- largely unheard from individuals caught up in the maelstrom of the 20th century's awful story.

Elias Khoury weaves a multitude of stories of people, some good, some less so, all flawed in their various ways, into a narrative that makes up the story of a people. One can recognize and identify with the human condition and struggles of each of those individuals, and yet through Khoury's eyes one can also see the whole of the society as it suffers the destruction from being uprooted and exiled by outside forces.

Not just about Palestinians - but about humanity everywhere.

If was there one epic,one literary saga and masterpiece deserving of the tragedy, brutality, betrayal, strength and also beauty that is the Palestinian cause, it is this book. Every page is filled with humanity,regret,passion and the myth that ordinary people fashion for their cause, the myth they need to fashion in order to survive in a world that doesn't care. It is a story of men and women, of love that exists only unfulfilled, of death and self betrayal and the answers that will never be told, that can not be told. There is cruelty and injustice, yet among all the people who have lost their masks, victims and perpetrators, there is no true evil. There is love, yet no one enjoying its bliss without being eluded by its fragility. It is a world of massacres, of lime stained nameless corpses, of heroes turned mad and hair turned white early, but also of beauty, strength and hope that can not die, even in the filth and sorrow stained alleys of a refugee camp. In other words, it is our world.

Yunes, an unflinching hero of the Palestinian resistance,man of countless sacrifices and mentor to forty year old Dr. Khalil,a warm thoughtful man who was among the fedayeen in Lebanon and refused to leave Beirut in 1982, has fallen into a coma. In the almost empty corridors of the neglected Galilee Hospital of the Shatila camp,it is up Khalil to care for him when everyone else has in one way or the other surrendered.They can not understand why Khalil would care so tenderly for what they call a corpse. In a world turned up side down by endless war, they have learned to leave it to God. Not so Dr. Khalil. His refusal to let Yunes be taken home in order to die is his way of paying back his debts and showing his respect and devotion to the man. At the side of Yunes bed he holds a long inner monologue with his friend, who in many ways is still a riddle to him. His admiration for the sacrifices that Yunes has given to the cause that is Palestine does not betray Khalils thirst for answers, for truth in a world of countless conflicting stories. "Tell me- you know better than I do- do we all lie like that? Did you lie to me to?" he asks his silent friend without expecting an answer. Khalils thirst for truth is also personal; the uncertainty of his former lover Shams feelings toward him is torturing. He does not understand why this passionate, yet haunted woman, slept with him. He does not know why she betrayed him and can not understand why she had to die, yet he can forgive her. "I waited, not to understand what she had done, but because I loved her. It no longer made any difference to me whether she had been unfaithful or not. She was what mattered not, me." His long stays in the hospital are also an escape from the feared revenge of Shams family and especially from Shams ghost haunting his unfulfilled longing.

In the centre of the mosaic of tragic, humorous and horrifying stories, such as the story of the Palestinian midwife Umm Hassan, a refugee from 1948, who after years returns to her village of Al-Kweikat to find her house untouched and occupied by a Lebanese Jewish woman, who is herself heartbroken in longing for her country Lebanon and the tragic everyday story of the shampoo seller and con man Salim Assad,stories ranging from pre-Israeli Palestine and the catastrophe and chaos that was the Palestinian Nakba up to the Lebanese civil war and Israeli invasion of Lebanon and its horrifying aftermath,is the story of Yunes and Nahilah, his beautiful and long suffering wife and their secret meetings in the caves of Bab al Shams in Galilee. They can only be man and wife in this cave, in those rare moments of love and passion, both divided by circumstances they can not control. Yunes is a fedayee in Lebanon and can only pass into Galilee by secret. He is not there to support his wife, raise his children, be a father and he is absent when his first born Ibrahim dies tragically. Yet Khalil is uncertain about many aspects of his friend's life, he can not understand why Yunes never tried to give up the life of a fighter and be a husband to Nahilah and father to his children, nor is he certain about the circumstances of Ibrahims death. "Tell me, Yunes, why didn't you go back for good? Why didn't you ever try? Were you afraid of dying? If you say you were afraid they would liquidate you, Ill understand, but then don't talk to me about the struggle or the revolution or any of that." Khalil is even uncertain where the love story of ever patient Nahilah and Yunes ends. Was is it on that fateful night under the Roman olive tree when Nahilah opened herself to Yunes, revealing the full extent of her sacrifice to him and telling him she could not bear this life any longer, or was it in 1982 when all passing into Galilee became impossible because of the Israeli invasion of South Lebanon? There are no answers to all these questions. It is their memory that Khalil wants to keep alive, the memory of ordinary men and the memory of extraordinary women, in a world of confusion and happiness that can not be."I didn't weep for Shams as I have wept for you and for this woman.I didn't weep for my father as I have wept for you and for her.I didn't weep for my mother as I have wept for you and for her,Khalil tells Yunes at the end of their path together, realizing that in this human tragedy the conclusion of every story can only be heartbreak.

The entire novel is told without chronology and jumps from event to event, often without giving dates and detailing the political happenings mentioned,such as the many sieges of the Shatila camp,the pre-1967 history and subsequent occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.Readers of this beautiful epic need atleast a rudimentary knowledge of the conflict and its historical outline, in order not to get lost and fully immerse themselves in the stories,events and people presented in Bab al Shams. Nonetheless,the scope, brilliance and humanity of Elias Khourys acclaimed epic is almost beyond words.It is a story,or hundredths of them, ripped straight out life. There are no villains, only human beings. There are heroes, yet they are almost too quiet to be heard. The prove that Elias Khourys novel is fully set in the world we inhabit, is that we are ultimately left without answers, wishing with all of our hearts that things could have been different for Yunes and Nahilah, for the abused Shams and the gentle Dr.Khalil,including the mother and father he barely knew. We, like Dr.Khalil, and all human beings must never stop searching. It is the ultimate goal and drive of our humanity. We must never stop asking and never stop admiring, despite all weakness we might encounter. The truth is not always in need of a definite answer. The story never ends and should never end, as we learn in this magnificent book.

This is a sadly moving, if not depressing book. It is very well-written and tells the saddest of stories, the rip-off and expulsion of a people from their homes and their lands. I found it fascinating and learned from it although I am an Arabist long familiar with the subject matter. I would consider this a must reading for any American who truly wants to understand and come to his/her own conclusions about the on-going crisis in the Middle East. It is for any interested person who is unwilling to swallow the party line as put forward by the zionist entity and its lackeys.

As an awkward black girl who went to a private school attended by very few girls who looked like me, I know these stories all too well. Not quite knowing where or how to fit in, immersing yourself in one environment by day and then returning to a rough neighborhood after your last class at 3pm, struggling to be down without getting pregnant or putting yourself in physical danger...Solomon understands. I even teared up a bit when reading Star of a Story. This book breaks your heart...in that good way.

I came across these stories completely by accident - and I'm so glad I did. I know short story collections don't tend to sell a ton, but these are really great and I hope they do.

For some reason, I've been reading a lot of short story collections lately, and for some reason there are a lot of great ones out there now! ("Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures" by Vincent Lam and "Like You'd Understand Anyway" by Jim Shepard).

First of all, the stories in "Get Down" will take you back to your growing up years - and all the awkwardness that comes with that. Some of these stories are really just touching and heartbreaking. This book reminds me of two books that I really enjoyed: "Prep" by Curtis Sittenfeld and "Black Ice" by Lorene Cary. Like "Get Down," all of these books take us back to that magical time of childhood where the everyday friendships and school relationships could be gloriously exhilerating or soul crushing on any given day.

Any women who wants to read some beautiful stories that will take you back to your preadolescent or adolescent years should buy this book - you'll love it.

This is one sly, deft, funny, and truly moving collection of stories. Solomon has great grace as a stylist and as a chronicler of interior lives. I read the book in one sitting and blushed with recognition and empathy for her deeply realized characters. I also laughed out loud at the wit that studs the entire collection. You're going to love it.

If you're looking for stories that will make you laugh and ache in sympathy in equal measure, then get started reading right away. Get Down is filled with characters who will earn your love even as they make decisions that will have you talking out loud to them while you're reading, trying to keep them from doing things you know are only going to make their lives harder, which will get embarrassing if you're not by yourself. It won't bother you if you're alone, though, because they seem so real that it won't seem strange to think that maybe if you talk loud enough they might listen to you, even if you know you won't be able stop them. A highly impressive debut from someone to keep an eye on.

Get Down should be required reading for anyone who's ever felt slightly out of place--a bit too smart, too fat, too black, too white--but who's just not sure if s/he should let on. Solomon's capaciously human characters try, and almost succeed, at concealing their secret, shameful squareness: their hopeless nostalgia, their utterly futile crushes, their nerdy earnestness. It is precisely this slightly out-of-sync quality that makes Solomon's characters so captivating. No description, no matter how elaborately hyphenated the adjectives, could ever pidgeonhole them. Because Solomon's wit is so dead-pan, her characters so young, readers might almost just miss her stories' gut wrenching insights into love, adolescence, and identity. The number of times I laughed out loud was equaled by the number of times I got a knot in my stomach. Solomon deftly fills her finely crafted stories with surprising stylistic touches, too: a story written entirely in the second person, turning you--the reader--into the only unbeliever stuck at a Christian summer camp; the moving "choose-your-own adventure" ending of the last story; the title itself, which brilliantly illustrates the complex tone of the book. Spoken with the right amount of coolness, the phrase "Get Down" can capture the life of the party. But who really has the charisma to pull off that pronunciation? In the mouths of the book's self-conscious adolescents (or its real-life reviewers!), "Get Down" takes on its true ambiguity: a cool phrase spoken by someone who's not. And when you find the phrase in the fourth story, it takes on a whole new meaning, which I'll let you discover for yourself. . . .

Abigal Thomas' GETTING OVER TOM is truely a delightful read. Full of short stories that are sure to make you smile, this book is a real winner when it comes to portraying life's many sides. Including everything from remembering your first kiss, your best friend from school, dealing with tough times, and even middle age, there is sure to be a story in there somewhere that will leave you touched. Thomas' writing style is like no others with her unique and quirky look on the world, making this book worth the while, and leaving you wanting more.

Abigal Thomas' GETTING OVER TOM is truely a delightful read. Full of short stories that are sure to make you smile, this book is a real winner when it comes to portraying life's many sides. Including everything from remembering your first kiss, your best friend from school, dealing with tough times, and even middle age, there is sure to be a story in there somewhere that will leave you touched. Thomas' writing style is like no others with her unique and quirky look on the world, making this book worth the while, and leaving you wanting more.

I really, really liked this book. Is it great literature? No, but it's one heck of a fast read and hard to put down. As a rule, I'm not crazy about the short story category but I found this one addicting. I found myself wishing I could meet some of the characters.

Everything she writes has a sense of truth, and great humor and/or sadness. her vision is refreshing and painful at the same time.

I read about this book in a magazine when it was published. I liked the catchy title so I went out and bought it. When I got it home I immediately began reading the book and couldn't put it down. The book reveals emotions that I could relate to which kept me reading more. I have re-read this book three times and have encouraged my friends to also read it. Once you start the book, you can't put it down!

This childrens book of the classic Beatrix Potter stories is hardbound in a large attractive cover. The illustrations are all wonderfull, and average three pictures per page next to the text which goes along with the scene. My now three year old loves this book.

My mother bought this for my kids, and this is an excellent gift for bedtime, or anytime stories for children. Classics like these are wonderfull to read to children so they can be passed on from generation to generation.

I had several of the small Beatrix Potter books as a child. The drawings and stories enchanted me, and the books were just the right size for my hands. This book is much bigger. It also includes more stories than my original collection--nineteen. It is easy to find the Peter Rabbit stories and some of the others in the small books--but some of the stories in this book (such as the wonderful "The Story Of A Fierce Bad Rabbit") I've never seen for sale in individual form. So, if you loved these stories as a child or if you want to introduce them to a child in your life, this large and beautiful book is a good choice. However, when I have children of my own I'll probably also buy a set of the small books, because I enjoyed them so much in that form myself.

I got this book when i was seven from my grandmother i'm 19 now and still love to read it from time to time. I have loved this book most of my life and i'm buying it today for my sisters kids.

It is wonderful to find all of these stories in one volume, and the illustrations are as beautiful as ever. Beatrix Potter was truly a great artist and storyteller. The lessons young ones learn from these tales are priceless, like many of the greatest fables. Over the years, I have acquired many Beatrix Potter books and collectibles. This volume stands out as one of the most prized items in my collection.

As a father, I'm looking for what's best for my little girl. Other than The Bible, a book of tales filled with mischief and fun such as this is always something you can go back to. I remember my parents reading me "The Tale of Peter Rabbit", yet picking this up, I flipped through it with my daughter like a pirate who discovered a hidden treasure.

I knew all about Benjamin Bunny, Squirrel Nutkin, even the Two Bad Mice! Getting the treasury of Beatrix Potter was like WOW! This is a lot of good stuff, and while a little advanced, kids normally get the meaning and lesson through every story. I loved reading stuff like "The Floppsy Bunnies" and going to Tom Kitten, while wondering about stuff I don't remember reading like Jemima Puddle-Duck. Also remembering the hilarity of "The tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan", to the somberness of "The Tailor of Gloucester.

Do your kids a favor and get them this Potter, the one we grew up with! This is what I've been looking for, and hopefully parents who actually give a care will do the same. Awesome stuff!

David Evanier tells of his hardships in life with brutal honesty. It is wonderful and absorbing to follow his struggles to overcome these hardships and his persistent search for true and loyal love. He finally succeeds in finding it and he learns to love in return with total trust. His involvement with radical and Jewish groups are both funny and filled with pathos. I loved reading the novel and regretted coming to the end of it.
Elaine Evans

Wow. David Evanier is truly a great writer. The picture he creates is clear. The words-everyone carefully poignant - and rich dialogue make up this interesting gang of short stories I consider classics in every sense. You may compare Evanier to the short list of writers who tell great stories in very few words, every word counting. It's a book to read slowly, and, if you are an old time New Yorker, it is all the sweeter.

...or so believes the narrator, Michael, when his psychiatrist bequeaths him the tapes of their therapy sessions--spanning 30 years! While the thought of revisiting the painful times of our lives may be horrifying to most, Michael embraces the opportunity and, "listening to the forgotten tapes, I measure what is real to me now against what was real to me then."

And that line illustrates, for me, what is one of the hands-down strengths of this fine book: on a sentence-to-sentence basis, this is poignant and heartfelt writing. The language is economical, unadorned and yet packed with emotion--nostalgia and loss and gratitude and the multitude of conflicting feelings that tangle around our memories.

Except this is not memory, simply. Because memory is colored by our experience and our perceptions as we age; memory is naturally distorted. Only so much distortion can take place, however, when we are confronted by our own voice revealing what happened and what we felt ten, twenty, thirty years ago.

The protagonist here takes on each character, each event from his past as if he were living it today. It is past tense and yet immediate. We are right there with Michael--in New York, in Vancouver, wherever--soaking up the scenery and facing each character from his life right along with him, albeit with the added wisdom of age.

Evanier's deft prose highlights the complexities and paradoxes universal in all human beings, but what's special here is that the characters are illuminated through Michael's changing perceptions. I'm thinking, for example, of the quite troubled wife, Karen, who at times seems his destruction and at other times his salvation.

There is so much to be admired in this slim book, one which ultimately feels like a love letter to all those who have peopled Michael's eventful life.

I hadn't read Evanier before...what a mistake that turns out to be!

The Great Kisser by David Evanier (Rager Media, 2006)
David Evanier has been a writer all his life... He is the author of The One Star Jew, Red Love (a novelization of the life and times of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg) and dozens of stories, reviews and essays published in leading literary journals. He has also written for New York Magazine, The Village Voice, and The New York Times Magazine.
In addition to his literary work, David has also written several wonderful biographies, most prominent among them: Making The Wise Guys Weep--The Jimmy Roselli Story, and Roman Candle, The Life of Bobby Darin.

David calls The Great Kisser, a "novel in stories". And it is more or less just that. It's a collection of short and long stories, which don't always proceed in particularly chronological order but follow a different sort of time line--the time line of the heart.
This book is really a memoir, with only a few changes of name, place and date. It's at once the story of a boy, then a man, searching desperately for the kind of genuine love he never got as a child, and also the story of a born artist, a writer; someone, who no matter what other jobs or careers he ever attempted was never meant to be anything but a writer.
The stories move back and forth in time and place--but cover everything from his childhood in the forties and fifties up to the present moment... They travel from Queens to Manhattan, to Vancouver, back to Manhattan, out to Los Angeles (for a long, hard attempt at screenwriting) and finally back to New York.
The book is full of bizarre and fascinating characters; geniuses and charlatans; real and would-be gangsters; cracked literary agents, bigoted, hysterical do-gooders and a large assemblage of lost, crazy and inspired artists that Michael Goldberg (David's novelized namesake) meets on his journeys.
Of all the sad, brilliant and hilarious characters Michael encounters in his travels, by far the most fascinating is his long-time psychiatrist who, in his deranged old age, gives Michael decades of their taped therapy sessions. In fact, that's the way the book starts--with Michael beginning to listen to these thousand-and-one nights of analysis and personal revelation.
David/Michael, in this life story, writes with a kind of vicious, longing honesty about his horribly needy and destructive parents.
Not unlike a great many other people in this sad, spinning world, he spends the better part of his life trying to free himself from the chains of his parents' terrible love--it's an omnipresent plot, sub-plot and super-plot throughout the book...
Michael falls in love, in lust, chases after numerous women, engages in doomed affairs and, when teaching in Vancouver, meets the woman he will one day marry. Their long, troubled and passionate relationship is, in fact, what finally carries the torch of redemption to the finish line of the book.
The Great Kisser is compulsively readable. David/Michael's desperation leaps right from his heart to yours and you often find yourself saying, "I can't take this stuff any more-- But still, I have to know what happens next." There is always a feeling of compassion you have for this character. You find yourself, no matter how much he screws up or lurches around in a selfish frenzy, rooting for him to succeed, both in his attempts to make it as a writer and finally discover true love. His greatest virtue is that no matter what disasters befall him, he never, never stops trying.

Mike Feder
Sirius Satellite Radio

I'd say this book was the story of my life exactly, but it's not the story of my life at all. It's honest without being a bore. It's funny without being a charade. It's brave without attitude. It's just what I want in a book. It's also just what I almost never find.

Here's a sample of the text. It's unfair, really to pull it out of the context of the story, but I wanted you to read it, hear it.

" I loved them all and they loved me and they made me grasp life, even if I could
not hold on to it. But I could never hold on to despair because of them. All People
of the Book who stepped out of history to hold me and embrace me and not let me
fall. Why have I been so lucky in this life, this Jew who came after the Holocaust--
the world had expended its Jew hatred for a while, having gotten it out of its system--
and seen such bountiful goodness, so much beauty, totally unsuitable beauty to make
literature out of because it is unbelievable--so incredible it would be pointless to try
to write a story about it."

David Evanier has written a story about it. A collection of stories. Terrific stories.

What a book. Mulhauser really taps into the psyche of our generation. Through his characters Mulhauser is able to express highly distinctive human emotions against the backdrop of hilarious/tragic circumstances. A must read for anyone interested in the social dilemmas and conflicts faced by todays generation. I'll be on the lookout for future works by Mulhauser as he looks to be a star in the making! Buy this book now, you won't regret it.

This book is a fantastic collection. The interaction between the characters and their northern Michigan setting was captured phenomenally well. I found the enitre collection funny and entertaining, primarilly because the characters and situations, though compelling, remained believable.

This first book by Travis Mulhauser is fantastic. The stories are thick with tender humor, nuanced human understanding and descriptions of a geography that becomes a character in itself. They read utterly without pretension or self-consciousness, like lived experience. The author has a real ability to understand the interior world of a wide range of characters, and to present it in high-definition dialogue and action. "Brothers" is the perfect, chilling end to this collection, as it makes eerily familiar the transformation of lost hopes into misguided action experienced by so many of the characters and so many of us.

I really enjoyed the book..The short stories were just long enough to get the feeling of the characters..I grew up in a small town in the midwest and I felt like I was reading about my own experiences. I laughed and became sad throughout the entire book. I loved how the stories discribed different aspects of the community. Very good book..I can't wait until Travis writes another!!!

I agree with the earlier noted reader reviews: Mulhauser's short stories and novella are entertaining with dialogue that quickly brings the reader into a rural resort region's service-industry economies of finance and spirit. Having recently read Hemingway's "Nick Adams Stories" (circa 1923-1938), set in the same northern Michigan area, I was intrigued by some similar themes used by both Hemingway and Mulhauser that have apparently survived the past 70 or so years: social and financial tension between the seasonal "resort" population and the "locals;" the local boys who made it big via sports or other celebrity (Hemingway frequently used prize fighters while Mulhauser utilized basketball players and rock stars); shady criminal characters and skirmishes between the story's hero and the law; young (mostly) men learning truths through the "school of hard knocks;" and the cleansing beauty of the lakes, streams, and woodlands. That said, I found Mulhauser's work the more enjoyable of the two!

We recieved Slinky Malinky as a gift last year and read it so many times that the book fell apart! All of these books (any Slinky Malinky and Hairy McClary) have the cutest stories about mis-behaving animals interacting with each other and wreaking havoc for the humans in their lives. The illustrations are great and the stories are short enough that my one year old and three year old can both sit and enjoy them. I highly recommend any of the books in this series. They are just adorable.

Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy is peppy and bouncy and looking for fun. But what he really wants is something to chase and for a dog that often means cats. Hairy Maclary begins his rampage.

Through the course of the book we are introduced to quite a few of the local feline community. But they are all quickly chased away with only slight effort and no real chance for a good chase. But then Hairy Maclary spots one more twitching tale and a long chase ensues. But who is chasing who?

My kids love the Hairy Maclary books with its colorful illustrations, cute and funny animals, lyrical verse and plenty of fun. This one is somewhat reminiscent of the first in the series (HAIRY MACLARY FROM DONALDSON'S DAIRY) but still fresh and a delight. Some of these cats are truly adorable even to do fanciers. Check it out.

We've been reading this, the hairy MacLary and other Lynley Dodd books for 5 years now....started when my son was about 18 months, and still going strong! There is as much in the language for a 6 year old starting to read on their own as for the shared experience with younger children.

Lynley Dodd and Margaret Mahy MUST be New Zealand National Treasures.

Great rhymes, wonderful words ("bumptious and bustly"...) and a fun, simple tale. A real favouite of my two year old. Another great children's book from a superb author. Highly recommended.

This is a delightful book, the language is great and the pictures wonderful. Most of Lynley Dodd's regular characters such as Slinki Malinki and Scarface Claw make an appearance as Hairy Maclary bounces along through the pages in a boisterous mood. I love reading this one to my three year old niece. The words have a real rhythm to them and the story has just enough suspense to keep little ones interested. I have not yet read a Lynley Dodd book that I don't like - but this one is a real favourite!