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Stories of Breece D'J Pancake
Stories of Breece D'J Pancake | Breece D'J Pancake
25 posts | 15 read | 15 to read
Breece D'J Pancake cut short a promising career when he took his own life at the age twenty-six. Published posthumously, this is a collection of stories that depict the world of Pancake's native rural West Virginia.
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jlhammar
Stories of Breece D'J Pancake | Breece D'J Pancake
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#TBT

Great short story collection. Time and Again, in particular, is one of my favorites. If I were editing a collection of best short stories, it would be there. Very unsettling. Only 6 pages long, but I think about it (and reread it) often. The first time I read it my reaction was “Oh my, did I just read what I think I read?” You‘ll see what I mean if you give it a go.

ChaoticMissAdventures This sounds very good. I love unsettling books. It is always so interesting what some authors can convey in such a short amount of time - Usually I think of Shirley Jackson and Ursula K LeGuin for these things, will add this to my list! 1y
quietjenn Such a great collection! 1y
57 likes3 stack adds2 comments
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ValerieAndBooks
Stories of Breece D'J Pancake | Breece D'J Pancake
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Ran errands today and stepped in the used bookstore 😉! Their pickings have been slim (for me) lately, since they started running price specials more often.

Still pleased with my haul, especially the middle one after seeing that it‘s a @shawnmooney pick! I had eyed the ER Book when we visited the FDR presidential library, but didn‘t want to spend full price then. And now I can take LESS off the library holds — I was like 52nd in line for it.

LeahBergen Nice! 👏🏻 6y
LauraBeth Nice haul! 6y
81 likes2 comments
review
shawnmooney
Stories of Breece D'J Pancake | Breece D'J Pancake
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Pickpick

Pancake killed himself at 26 in 1979. These, his only stories, roil with the secret histories, fossils, Indian bones, and of course coal embedded in West Virginia The seismic disturbances compel utterly, but I couldn't get past the whore-madonna simplification of his female characters, or the animal cruelty in almost every story. How tragic that this gifted young writer didn‘t live long enough to burst free of such cultural gunk.

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shawnmooney
Stories of Breece D'J Pancake | Breece D'J Pancake
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shawnmooney
Stories of Breece D'J Pancake | Breece D'J Pancake
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saresmoore Haha! Those stereotypes are relatively true, from my experience. It is mildly horrifying to be on the highway in Los Angeles while it's raining. 😳 7y
LauraBeth Georgians can't drive, period. 7y
Megabooks 😂😂😂 so true!! 7y
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Megabooks And agreed @LauraBeth ...I always get nervous in Georgia. I was hit there once by a guy running a red at 40 mph! 7y
LauraBeth Oh no @Booksandcooks - that's terrible! On behalf of GA drivers, I apologize! My dad was a state trooper so he saw a lifetime of road accidents and fatalities. His advice to me when I was learning to drive was: Try to never be in first position at a red light if you can help it. Never drive in the left lane on the interstate (they called it the "death lane"). Never drive in front of, behind or beside a tractor trailer on the interstate 7y
Megabooks @LauraBeth I had heard the last two but not the red light one. That's how the accident in GA happened. I was turning left and got t-boned. And you don't need to apologize on behalf of GA. Bad drivers are everywhere! 7y
shawnmooney @saresmoore @LauraBeth @Booksandcooks Look what I have gone and done: a veritable traffic jam of commentary… 😘 7y
39 likes7 comments
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shawnmooney
Stories of Breece D'J Pancake | Breece D'J Pancake
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shawnmooney
Stories of Breece D'J Pancake | Breece D'J Pancake
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shawnmooney
Stories of Breece D'J Pancake | Breece D'J Pancake
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shawnmooney
Stories of Breece D'J Pancake | Breece D'J Pancake
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Suet624 Oh...frostbitten for its rebellion. That just hit me in the heart. 7y
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shawnmooney
Stories of Breece D'J Pancake | Breece D'J Pancake
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LeahBergen Wow. 7y
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shawnmooney
Stories of Breece D'J Pancake | Breece D'J Pancake
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shawnmooney
Stories of Breece D'J Pancake | Breece D'J Pancake
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saresmoore I'm hooked! This is not a creature toward which I've ever felt even a modicum of sympathy, much less empathy. Huh. 7y
shawnmooney @saresmoore I see my work here is done for the day! 😻 7y
DGRachel @saresmoore I heard that they eat poisonous snakes. That makes them a-ok in my book 👌🏻 7y
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HippieChickHomeschool They eat loads of ticks! You definitely want them in your yard. And they don't carry rabies, like raccoons. (edited) 7y
saresmoore @DGRachel @HippieChickHomeschool I'm glad to know that such a misunderstood (read: totally creepy) critter is being vindicated in light of its predatory usefulness, relative harmlessness, and apparent intelligence! 😆 7y
DGRachel @saresmoore 😂😂 7y
25 likes6 comments
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shawnmooney
Stories of Breece D'J Pancake | Breece D'J Pancake
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Zelma Do you ever listen to podcasts? I think you would really enjoy the conversation on Literary Disco (one episode is about this book). 7y
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shawnmooney
Stories of Breece D'J Pancake | Breece D'J Pancake
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No doubt many of you already knew this – I sure didn't – but a "ridge runner" is a mountain farmer in the American South.

lynneamch Good to know. I assumed it was somebody running moonshine in the hills. 7y
Lindy I did not know that. Always learning. 😊 7y
27 likes2 comments
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shawnmooney
Stories of Breece D'J Pancake | Breece D'J Pancake
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Oooh, and the New Yorker profiled him in 2014, too! (35 years after his suicide…)

http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/unearthing-breece-dj-pancake

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shawnmooney
Stories of Breece D'J Pancake | Breece D'J Pancake
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Hell's bells! My dad sometimes says this, or at least he used to. He's an 80-year-old farmer – no, not at all retired - in Saskatchewan, Canada. These stories are set in West Virginia. I don't think I've ever seen this expression in print before. 😂😂

Cinfhen It's an AC-DC song!!! 7y
shawnmooney That's true – but I don't think that's where my octogenarian father picked it up… 😂😂 7y
Cinfhen Haha 😂 7y
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shawnmooney @Cinfhen Wait: maybe that's where AC/DC got it - from my dad! 7y
LauraBeth 😂😂 7y
andrew61 That's weird my dad is welsh and it was a common expression he used. Maybe generational. 7y
Marchpane Hell's bells and buckets of blood!! 7y
saresmoore Yes! I heard this from older folks when I was growing up (rural central Florida)—not inspired by AC/DC. 🙂 7y
Tamra Yes, it was common refrain from my childhood. 7y
vivastory @saresmoore There will be a new generation of the elderly soon who might be inspired by AC/DC when they exclaim "hell's bells " 7y
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shawnmooney
Stories of Breece D'J Pancake | Breece D'J Pancake
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This is from the second story, "Hollow".

Lwiesman This looks very interesting. 7y
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shawnmooney
Stories of Breece D'J Pancake | Breece D'J Pancake
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More about this author. I'm feeling slightly obsessive about him, based on reading only one story!

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/aug/08/breece-pancake-trilobites-baffled-...

saresmoore "...[H]is stories' characters are not mere inventions, but flesh and blood human beings whom he suffers along with, believes in, and ultimately loves, no matter how far they might fall." That's the quality of Haruf's writing that I find so striking. I'm looking forward to reading some Pancake! 7y
Louise Really interesting article. It's made me very curious about this short story collection! Thanks for sharing. 7y
lynneamch You and @saresmoore make this sound irresistible. When I first moved south a few years ago, i went to the local library to find novels by southern wtiters. The first one i read (and loved), coincidentally, was 7y
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saresmoore @lynneamch I hadn't heard of her! I'll definitely check that one out. 7y
Redwritinghood You always find these interesting authors that I've never heard of. Adding this one to my TBR too. 👍🏻 7y
ValerieAndBooks He is on my TBR list -- learned about Breece in this book about books -- the ebook version has a companion link in which I was able to read one of his short stories. 7y
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shawnmooney
Stories of Breece D'J Pancake | Breece D'J Pancake
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It was a post by @rebuketodali that first brought these stories to my attention quite a while ago. Now that I've read the first one, I must say I'm bewitched bothered and bewildered! ❤️❤️

batsy The three B's! Seems like good sign 7y
Suet624 I'm trying to picture "smoky with summertime". 7y
28 likes2 comments
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Jokila
Stories of Breece D'J Pancake | Breece D'J Pancake
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I'm not sure I have one single favorite collection of short stories, but this sure is a great one (and my entry for @Liberty #READSTHONSTORIES giveaway!)

quietjenn Aw, I love this one. 7y
Jokila @quietjenn powerful stuff 👌 7y
Chachic Lovely picture! 7y
38 likes1 stack add3 comments
review
Ericmanciniwriter
Stories of Breece D'J Pancake | Breece D'J Pancake
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Pickpick

I'm immensely grateful that Litsy turned me on to the dark, jagged mystery of these short stories. Most take place in the hills of W. Virginia, chock full of broken characters and stream of consciousness narration. Breece died at age 27, and this collection has some filler, but the first 3 stories are as good as anything I've read in a long long time.

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Ericmanciniwriter
Stories of Breece D'J Pancake | Breece D'J Pancake
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So...this writing is amazing. Thanks to @brooklynreads for bringing this to my attention. Can't believe I'd never heard of him.

saresmoore Stacking this! I'm reading a book with similarly rich description (set in a small town, incidentally) and I think you'd appreciate the author's tone and deftly crafted metaphors. 7y
brooklynreads Thank you @Eamann so so happy you enjoyed it! ☺️ 7y
Zelma I had never heard of Pancake until the Literary Disco podcast but am very intrigued. 7y
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