44 Irish Short Stories, edited by Devin A. Garrity

On the short story theme for a moment, I do want to mention this collection that I picked up last Monday at BN at City Place in WPB. I was killing time waiting for my son up there, and spotted this 1955 reprint that contains some real gems at only $10.98, although I'm sure on alibris or someplace, this could be had for less. In any case, it contains some stories I'd never heard of by authors I'd never read. If you like Joyce (especially Dubliners), you should really enjoy some of these. Here are a few of my favorite titles to get you started, in case you want to sit down at the store and try a few out before committing, as I did: Mary Lavin's "The Story of the Widow's Son" (which I was rather ashamed to see, having looked it up on the web is very famous and has according to some posts been a staple of college lit courses--but was new to me); David Hogan's "The Leaping Trout," and Arnold Hill's "Miss Gillespie and the Micks." Oh, and also, "She Went by Gently," by Paul Vincent Carroll and "The Islandman" by Desmond Clarke. These are just lovely.

Nathan Englander's story in May 17, 2010 New Yorker

Has anyone else read and loved "Free Fruit for Young Widows," Nathan Englander's new story in this week's issue of the The New Yorker? When I first got the magazine a couple of days ago and read the story, I was absolutely taken with it, but was surprised by how much it stuck with me, and how much I kept thinking about it, so I re-read it last night (early morning insomnia) and still really love it.

If you're not familiar with Englander, but you love well-crafted but also beautifully told short stories, then do get a hold of what I believe is his first short story collection entitled, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges. It's a real treasure, and one whose stories I return to and re-read from time to time, in the same way that I've done with Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies over the years. In the meantime, though, read "Free Fruit for Young Widows."

I don't want to ruin the story for anyone even by hinting at one thing about it; I want you to read it like I did, if you can. Just open the magazine and begin.