The Story and Its Writer, 5th Edition – ed. by Ann Charters

Fiction / Short Stories, varied

5 Stars

At almost 1800 pages, this is not a book to read in bed, unless you are a weightlifter as well as a reader, and have exceptionally strong wrists. The pages are thin, but it still weighs a ton! And that's exactly what it is—a ton of good reading.

Part One of the book is a collection of short stories arranged alphabetically by author. I started them all and finished most of them. It is a great collection of stories by authors as varied as Salman Rushdie, Flannery O'Connor, and Leslie Marmon Silko. Part Two is a collection of commentaries by and or about the authors. I did not read all of them, but since it is my book, I shall probably go back to them in the future.

This book is, I am sure, a textbook used in various colleges, and perhaps even high schools. Don't let that be off-putting. It is a marvelous collection, and if you aren't sure if you like an author, it's a good way to find out. Some authors I like better than others. We're all like that.