| Title | : | Selected Shorts: For Better and For Worse (Selected Shorts: A Celebration of the Short Story) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 193403309X |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781934033098 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Audio CD |
| Number of Pages | : | 3 |
| Publication | : | First published October 1, 2008 |
From a couple's rocky, college love affair that lasts a lifetime and a mother who nervously chaperones her retarded daughter's honeymoon to a supernatural tale of marriage and transformation and a grieving man who buries his young wife and makes amends with her family—this anthology captures the powerful and complicated lives of married couples. Among the stories are Sherman Alexie's "Do You Know Where I Am?" read by Keir Dullea; Karen E. Bender's "Eternal Love," read by Joanne Woodward; Ursula K. LeGuin's "The Wife's Story," read by Joanna Gleason; Shahrnush Parsipur's "Mrs. Farrokhlaqa Sadraldivan Golchehreh," translated by Kamran Talattof and Jocelyn Sharlet and read by Frances Sternhagen; and Luis Alberto Urrea's "Bid Farewell to Her Many Horses," read by Robert Sean Leonard.
Selected Shorts: For Better and For Worse (Selected Shorts: A Celebration of the Short Story) Reviews
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Sherman Alexie's "Do You Know Where I Am?" - A Native American couple's rocky college love affair lasts a lifetime. (4 stars)
Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Wife's Story" - A supernatural tale of marriage and transformation. (3 stars)
Karen E. Bender's "Eternal Love" - A mother nervously chaperones her retarded daughter's honeymoon. (3 stars)
Shahrnush Parsipur's "Mrs. Farrokhlaqa Sadraldivan Golchehreh" - The unexpected twists and turns in a longtime marriage. (This story was banned by the Iranian government in the mid-1990s.) (4 stars)
Luis Alberto Urrea's "Bid Farewell to Her Many Horses" - A grieving man visits the reservation to bury his young wife and makes amends with her family. He is white, she was Native American. (3 stars)
Ethan Canin's "We Are Nighttime Travelers" - The arrival of a mysterious visitor sets off new sparks in a longtime marriage. (4 stars) -
Do you know where I am? 4 Stars
The Wife's story 4 Stars
Eternal love 3 Stars
Mrs. Farrokhlaga Sadraldivan Golchehreh 2 Stars
Bid farewell to her many horses 2 Stars
We are nightmares travelers 2 Stars -
This was a fun (and very short) listen. I've listened to several of these live readings of various short stories and I think this one of the better collections I've heard. 'Do You Know Where I Am?' by Sherman Alexie and 'We Are Nighttime Travelers' by Ethan Canin were probably my favorites.
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I listened two two of the stories, and it was only marginally enjoyable. Not worth finishing.
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These were some good short stories to listen to while working in the garden. My favorites were Karen E. Bender's "Eternal Love," read by Joanne Woodward and Ursula K. LeGuin's "The Wife's Story," read by Joanna Gleason.
I almost ignored this collection as the lead story was by Sherman Alexie. I appreciate what he's done to popularize indigenous writing but have I've distanced myself from his work after learning about his treatment of women. His short story in this collection does little to mitigate those concerns. -
This anthology contains some really lively vignettes about marriage (a topic I’m not generally interested in reading about). However, I’ve enjoyed every Sherman Alexie story I’ve read, so i gave it a try. Lucky the other stories were just as engaging. There is no mawkish sentimentality or finger waggling—in them, marriage ranges from funny to frustrating, from endearing to alarming...and to even cold war. Plus it’s short! What’s not to love?
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Short stories about marriage. As with most short story collections, this was uneven. Unlike most, this included marriages that were not only marriages of only white people.
I found this because Sherman Alexi worked on this. -
I enjoy these stories so much (especially the second one in this book!)! I can't wait to read the rest of the Selected Shorts :)
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Well done, good production value, great actors.
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Very strong set of stories that deals with aging, marriage, love, and death. This is my favorite book in the Symphony Space collection so far.
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Some decent stories, but nothing that lit me up. Maybe in a couple of years, they will hit the right spot.
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Oh this is just fantastic.
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Selected shorts are always a favorite of mine - both on the radio and their audiobook compilations. I don't really care for novels about marriage and love, but these were okay since they were vignettes that let you glimpse into a life without a long backstory and an abundance of detail. There's something special about short story authors who can jump right into a story and you immediately feel a connection and understanding about the characters. I also usually like the endings of short stories since there's not a big dramatic conclusion...it's usually just the characters making a slow development or realization.
There's also something romantic about selected shorts. Not love romance, but literary romance where you are immersed in a sort of literary alternate universe where writing and the perfect story are the only things you need to be content. The combination of a good story read by the right author can draw you in like no movie ever can. And when the story ends your in a dreamlike state where you want to think, explore, create and connect with the world. Almost like the feeling after you get a massage or meditate.
Anywho, enough of that. Definitely read this compilation if you like selected shorts or if you are interested in trying out audiobooks but want short doses at a time.
Spoiler alert:
One of he most interesting stories (and the shortest) was really unique - about a reverse werewolf. It was a wolf who turns into a human once a month. Very imaginative and also the most intense story of the bunch. -
This was a great collection of short stories, originally aired on NPR's program Selected Shorts. They were really well performed, although it took me a while to get used to the audience sounds and the feedback from the microphone on some of the (somewhat low quality) recordings. The collection contained two stories that I absolutely loved (5 stars): 'Eternal Love' by Karen Bender and 'The Wife's Story' by
Ursula K. Le Guin.
'Eternal Love' follows a mother as she struggles to let go of her need to protect her mentally-challenged child, as her daughter gets married and begins a life of her own.
'The Wife's Story'...well, you'll just have to check it out. It's the shortest story in the collection, at just under twelve minutes long. Amazingly performed. I've already listened to it three times. This one's definitely going on my top ten list of all-time favorite short stories.
I also enjoyed several of the other stories (a mix of 3-4 stars). The final one just could not keep my attention, though it may have been my state of mind rather than the quality of the story that was at fault. -
I particularly liked Sherman Alexie's humorous tale, the bittersweet "Eternal Love" by Karen E. Bender, and the soothing voice of beautiful Robert Sean Leonard for Luis Alberto Urrea's story.
I would try another volume of this series. -
I am seriously obsessed with these wonderful audio stories. This one had a story read by Joanne Woodward, another by Robert Sean Leonard. Combine wonderful writing with amazing reading and it's like storytime for adults. Luckily my library system has a good dozen of them.
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I think I needed this. I'm getting married soon...4th of July. These were uplifing and sad, but all very real. I appreciated them all.
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Deeply touching and sad with wry storytelling. The kind of stories that follow you around.
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These stories are fantastic! a wonderful collection!
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amazing stories of love life and marriage
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Listen to these being read - the readers are excellent!!
