OK, one more thing this morning before I get down to business. (Business today: playing with dog, reading story for Kelly H., readying for vacation to Wisconsin, picking up diploma(!), having wine with Kelly H. to talk about her story, and maybe, just maybe, putting some words on the screen that weren’t there a few minutes ago.)

I said I would talk about writing and reading here, but so far it’s been all about writing. Here’s the convo I’d like to start: What are the short story collections (or anthologies) that you love? Love so much that if you lent it out and didn’t get it back, you would buy it again. Love so much you would never ever lend it out.

I will start.

A Good Man Is Hard to Find– Flannery O’Connor
How to Breathe Underwater– Julie Orringer
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love– Ray Carver
A Kind of Flying– Ron Carlson
We’re in Trouble– Christopher Coake
St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves– Karen Russell
Wildnerness Tips– Margaret Atwood
Selected Stories– Alice Munro (still reading it, but it is yummy)
Collected Stories– Amy Hempel

I know I’ve left out some major favorites. I can’t see my bookcase from here. You know who I need to read that I haven’t? Cheever and Chekov. Alliterative masters of the short story form.

And last, here’s a story I read online that I enjoyed.

http://www.theparisreview.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/1338

For those of you in writing programs, can you imagine what would be said about how this story starts?