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grammargirlI'm not usually a huge fan of short stories. I want character development and plot and fictional people I can love like friends, and there's just not time for that kind of attachment in short stories. But a couple days ago I found myself growing thoroughly sick of rereading Harry Potter for the zillionth time, and I had this book of short stories by an author I'd never heard of that the lovely Miss Hilary loaned me ages ago, and I figured if nothing else it'd make for good subway reading.
I didn't expect to fall in love.
These stories are amazing. Sad and funny and hopeful and so real it hurts. The characters are people I know, or have known, or wish I knew, awkward and confused and perfectly imperfect. When I finished the book over lunch today, it was like saying goodbye to a friend I've known my whole life. I loved it so much I might have to go buy my own copy.
An excerpt that made me gasp out loud yesterday:
"Love is an entity unto itself. There are patches of it all over the place. It's not really tangible but it's there, pools of it. Blue pockets, swirling like eddies. People don't meet because they both like Burmese food, or because someone's sister has a friend who's single and new in town, or because Billy's nose happened to crook just slightly to the left at an angle that made me want to weep." Lynn leans toward me again. "People don't fall in love with each other," she says. "They just fall into love."
(...)
"Some people are lucky enough to bump into each other in the middle of a path of love," she says, feeling it necessary to clarify her point. "On the express line at Grand Union," she grins at me, her eyes sparkling, "on a mountaintop in Wyoming . . . My advice, Lilith, is just don't fall into one alone. It's devastating." She looks at me concertedly to make sure I'm understanding this. "It wells in you," she says, "and there's no outlet. No place for it to go."
(...)
"It aches," Lynn says, rubbing. "It aches."
--"Accidental Love"
I didn't expect to fall in love.
These stories are amazing. Sad and funny and hopeful and so real it hurts. The characters are people I know, or have known, or wish I knew, awkward and confused and perfectly imperfect. When I finished the book over lunch today, it was like saying goodbye to a friend I've known my whole life. I loved it so much I might have to go buy my own copy.
An excerpt that made me gasp out loud yesterday:
"Love is an entity unto itself. There are patches of it all over the place. It's not really tangible but it's there, pools of it. Blue pockets, swirling like eddies. People don't meet because they both like Burmese food, or because someone's sister has a friend who's single and new in town, or because Billy's nose happened to crook just slightly to the left at an angle that made me want to weep." Lynn leans toward me again. "People don't fall in love with each other," she says. "They just fall into love."
(...)
"Some people are lucky enough to bump into each other in the middle of a path of love," she says, feeling it necessary to clarify her point. "On the express line at Grand Union," she grins at me, her eyes sparkling, "on a mountaintop in Wyoming . . . My advice, Lilith, is just don't fall into one alone. It's devastating." She looks at me concertedly to make sure I'm understanding this. "It wells in you," she says, "and there's no outlet. No place for it to go."
(...)
"It aches," Lynn says, rubbing. "It aches."
--"Accidental Love"
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Date: 2007-01-10 03:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-10 03:20 am (UTC)I'm excited to start her novel next. And yeah, I'll borrow any book you recommend me. Clearly you have excellent taste. :)