Better World Books Reading Challenge discussion

I read The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson. She's enjoyably weird. Some of the twists I saw coming, others flabbergasted me. Most of her stories lack a definite resolution; she leaves you to assume the ending.

I love Shirley Jackson!! I just discovered her last year

I thinking about reading 'The Turning' by Tim Winton for the short story collection of the challenge.

The Tsar of Love and Techno, 4 Stars

A Constellation of Vital Phenomenawas one of the best books I finished the year I read it. It was hard to imagine that his sophmore effort could even begin to compare. But the fact that so many readers whose taste I trust raved about it, combined with it being a collection of short stories, convinced me it was a must read. Though I didn't feel it was quite as strong as his debut, I am happy I didn't put it off reading this book any longer.

Much like another collection of short stories I read in 2016, The Imperfectionists, The Tsar of Love and Techno stories are all connected to each other, in this case through a censor who erases polital dissidents from artwork and photographs. His first official task was to remove all traces of his own brother, a religious dissident. From his story in Leningrad/St. Petersburg we move across the continent to a gulag in Siberia where we learn the fate of a prima ballerina whose story is told from a singular multi-person (we) point of view. Each story branches of from there, taking us to the city of Grozny in Chechnya, back to St. Petersburg, and even the furthest reaches of our solar system.

Each story is unique to the person whose story we are learning. Marra does a fantastic job of giving each person a unique voice. I was initially a bit confused by the final story, the one set in space, but upon reflection, I find it to be the perfect conclusion to this collection. My favorite stories were The Leopard, Wolf of White Forest, and A Temporary Exhibition. There was not a single on I did not enjoy. Because of how each of the stories are linked, I believe that even those who don't like short stories would like this book. So while, I didn't like it as much as his first, it is still an excellent book that I highly recommend.

Kelli, same here. Last October I was immersed in Halloween-y Old Time Radio shows and ran across The Lottery.

I read Kinsey and Me: Stories by Sue Grafton since I had read a number of her Kinsey books. There were short stories about Kinsey, and there were also a couple of essays and some stories that the author wrote about her childhood and growing up. It was insightful although I'm still not normally a fan of a book of short stories.

I plan to read Birthday by Koji Suzuki.

Teresa, I love listening to old radio shows!

I read Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote. it's short, less than 200 pages and only has four stories, but I enjoyed three of them very much

I will be reading Men of the Otherworld, which I'm also using for BookRiot's Read Harder Challenge (A collection of stories by a woman).

I'll probably be rolling with Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders.

I read The Early Stories of Truman Capote. Lovely book if you're a fan of Capote. These were written in his teens and early '20s, but I loved them.

I read Blasphemy: New and Selected Stories by Sherman Alexie.

I like Jeffrey Archer. All of them. But my favorite is And Thereby Hangs a Tale

I expect to finish up While the Light Lasts before too awful long. And I'm sure it's not the only Christie collection I'll finish this year.

Anne Perry presents Malice Domestic 6. Was a great way to learn about new authors plus it had a short Phryne Fisher story

The one I'm planning to read for this is Difficult Women. I just love everything Roxane Gay writes.

So, I moved The Lottery and Other Stories to a different challenge and read I, Robot by Isaac Asimov for this category. I really enjoyed it. I'm surprised I hadn't previously read it.

Because You Love to Hate Me

I finished Smoke and Mirrors, a collection of Neil Gaiman's short fiction.

Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fiction and Illusions