A GOOD READ byLeslie Utsunomiya
As our society grows increasingly frenzied in speed, we often hear people say, "I don't have time to read - I get all the information I need from the internet."
What they don't realize is that they are missing out on a lot of great entertainment from the printed page, and there is a great way to keep up with your reading, without spending hours.
Short story collections are a quick way to discover a new genre of reading or explore a theme in literature. Many writers hone their skills by writing short pieces for magazines or structure their longer works in small, jewel-like chunks describing a character or a situation that can be read with great delight on their own.
The representative anthologies mentioned here are a fantastic way to find new authors you will enjoy and might like to explore further in their novels or full-length non-fiction.
Stuart McLean's collection When We Were Young shows many of the hallmarks of his Vinyl Café radio series. He has chosen works by famous Canadian authors about being a child, mainly because they explore situations akin to his own childhood experiences. Whether you're a parent or just have vivid memories of childhood, you'll enjoy the views expressed by the cream of Canadian writers, from Margaret Atwood to L.M. Montgomery.
If you're looking for a new crime fiction writer, you might want to try The Prosecution Rests: New Stories About Courtrooms, Criminals and the Law, edited by Linda Fairstein. Covering venues as diverse in time as the Salem witch trials and Depression-era Chicago, and in locations from rural courthouses to modern big-city courtrooms, Fairstein's well-chosen stories explore what happens after the crime is committed. As a prosecutor in the New York Country DA's office for 30 years, Fairstein worked with smart cops, hardworking lawyers and criminals of all kinds. Her expertise shows in the company she presents here.
Gathering the Bones is a horror anthology edited by authors from three continents: Ramsey Campbell in the U.K., Jack Dann in Australia and Dennis Etchison in the U.S. Their desire to present a little of everything, from traditional horror to the avant-garde, illuminates a genre where, increasingly, anything goes, from high literature to pop culture. You'll find settings based on our deepest urban fears, highlighting our thrill with ghosts and even some futuristic science fiction. Since I once spent a sleepless night after finishing an Etchison collection, I would trust this one for a spine-chilling read.
Contemporary Irish literature is a passion of mine and Dermot Bolger has produced two unique compilations of the best. Finbar's Hotel and Ladies Night at Finbar's Hotel are actually serial novels, documenting the occupants of each room in a once beautiful but now decaying hotel. Most unique is that the authors of each story are never identified - it's left to each reader to imagine who created the paranoid art thief, the pathetic man searching for adventure or the grieving widow. Could it have been Roddy Doyle or Colm Toibin? Perhaps Maeve Binchy or Emma Donoghue?
For a taste of whimsy, you can't do better than Once Upon a Time: A Treasury of Modern Fairy Tales, edited by Lester Del Rey and Risa Kessler. Some of the world's best fantasy writers have put their own special spin on traditional fairy tales, intended for adult readers. Gloriously-coloured full-page illustrations by Michael Pangrazio add greatly to the charm of this older anthology, where magic holds sway and heroes shine with inner light.
For a whirlwind trip through multiple universes, story collections can't be beaten. Investing a little time out of your busy schedule to check them out will lead to a wealth of reading pleasure.
A Good Read is a column by Tri-City librarians that is published every Wednesday. Leslie Utsunomiya, is adult services co-ordinator at Coquitlam Public Library.
