Welcome to Litsy!

It‘s always a good day(night) to reread your favorite short story collection! Five of these six stories are in my top 10 of all time.

There‘s nothing quite as wonderful as reading your favorite short story collection! I had forgotten about the brilliance of Nirvana. And still love the darkness of Dark Meadow. Perfection! 😘

#covidrereads

This was an excellent collection of short stories, one of the most affecting I‘ve read - I can totally see why it won the National Book Award. They‘re dark and unapologetically uncomfortable, fair warning.

I‘ve come down with my annual post busy season cold 😩 so am trying to maximize the laziness today by not getting out of bed for as long as humanly possible. So will be reading this book with #SullivanCat until further notice. #catsoflitsy

‘Rules of Civility‘ 4 ⭐️
‘The Girl Who Fell From the Sky‘ 3 ⭐️
‘Diary of an Amateur Photographer: A Mystery‘ 3 ⭐️
‘Fortune Smiles‘ 4 1/2 ⭐️
‘Siddhartha ‘ 3 ⭐️

#JuneWrapUp #WrapUp #SummerReading

A brilliant collection of stories that are hard to put down, even when they make you uncomfortable. Characters here deal with the trauma caused by loss— of country, health, innocence, love, identity, or self. A few stories are among the best I‘ve ever read, others not quite as strong but still well worth reading. #shortstories

My first book recommended by Litsy . Thanks ! I really enjoyed it.

In "Fortune," the past is a place -- one that characters feels homesick for, leading an engineer to bring a dead president back to digital life; a warden to revisit his treatment of former prisoners; and a defector to turn two helium tanks and a chair into a rooftop flight to the only home he knows: North Korea. The journey to the past feels impossible, yet inevitable, and the book argues that there is an honor in taking off and making the trip.

Awww I‘m sorry you‘re having a horrible day @TricksyTails ! #catsoflitsy Angel and Kiamo are fighting over who should be the first to cuddle you. Hopefully tomorrow will be better! #letsmaketricksysmile

I may have been a bit ambitious at the library...

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I didn‘t care for this novella-length second story, ‘Hurricanes Anonymous,‘ set in Louisiana in the immediate aftermath of Katrina, but, man, this final paragraph is breathtaking!

This, the opening story in the collection, is simply stunning!

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These stories wrecked me. Not a weak tale in the bunch. #GIVEAWAYSTORIES

My Friday evening is booked. I've already read the first two stories in this collection and—pardon my French, but—holy schnikes is it great! The first story stepped into my heart and searched around ruthlessly, the second made me uncomfortable and left me mildly devastated. So yeah, so far, so good!

This a book of short stories. Some of the stories are clever. Others are fun and still others are uncomfortable. It's a quick, decent read.

Next up! I think I'm finally in the mood for some short stories and I've never read Adam Johnson before. I have high hopes!

Brilliant but devastating #shortstory collection. Incredibly well done but also I can't stop thinking about the pedophile one. #roguebookbingo

The amazing Changing Hands bookstore in Tempe, Arizona was doing "blind date with a book" and this was my pick! So excited for these stories they sound amazing and crazy!

Most of this collection was fantastic: original ideas that kept me completely engaged, until I made it to the sixth story. #triggerwarning: child porn. It was like watching a train wreck. At first I could not tear myself away, and then suddenly I couldn't bear to listen to it anymore. I decided not to give up on the book, and skipped ahead to the last story. Critics rave about almost all of the stories, but no one mentions Dark Meadow. Beware.

Loved this collection!

Is anyone else subscribed to Seasons of Stories by Penguin Random House? I subscribed two weeks ago, and I love it! Each week they email you a short story in 4 parts, 1 part per day (Tuesday-Friday) from a collection (which you can buy of course). It's a great way to "preview" a short story collection and find great stories. I just finished Nirvana by Adam Johnson and I loved it, I want to pick up his book now.

This time last year, I was wrapping up reading 'Fortune Smiles' - the short story collection from Pulitzer Prize winning author Adam Johnson. Each of the shorts is a very curious creation in tone and style, but all are solid in construction and realistic however alien the pretext (Pictured: Author & my daughter at the Fortunes Smiles book tour stop at Powell's, Portland, OR; August, 2015) #TBT

I love getting to review books before their release date because every now and ten I get one that makes me excited to spread the word of the upcoming book, sort of like a juicy secret I can't wait to share. This short story collection is just something special. There wasn't really a bad one (something hard to do with short story books) and it's no wonder this book got as much praise as it did.

When in Portland, OR... Head to Powell's! It's the mecca of books in the PNW and rivals The Strand in NYC in terms of selection. I always see something at Powell's I haven't seen before, and I never escape w/o having spent beaucoup bucks! The last time I was there for an author event (Adam Johnson) *and while I was waiting in line for the signing, picked up 4 more books that caught my eye!*#getindie

#Recommendsday: The stories in this award-winning collection – distinctly melancholy, darkly funny, bleak and sometimes surreal – are thematically consistent: they‘re about lonely people facing extraordinary challenges. Every single story is captivating and memorable, rare for a short story collection.

The short story is a format difficult to do well. Adam Johnson does them very well.

Buy one, get one (dust cover) free

I don't have any as fun as yours but this one's my favorite signed book!

5🌟 I resisted reading this, but I'm glad I gave in. The most difficult story is told from the perspective of a child porn collector. How he got inside that mind and lifestyle, I'll never understand. The collection covers a broad range for six stories, and the prose and plots are top-notch.

This was my first time reading Adam Johnson, and I really like his writing style. Great short stories. The Orphan Masters Son has just been pushed up on my TBR list.

Fresh off the Holds shelf at my local library. After The Orphan Master's Son, I'd follow Adam Johnson anywhere.