A twisted tale

Posted on January 7, 2010
Filed Under Books, Friendship, New Hampshire, Technology, Television |

Since my last post, some issues have been resolved, making 2010 slightly less horrible. I called the RMV about my registration and while I was on hold for a long time, they quickly agreed to send me a new sticker. And because of my post, someone from Comcast contacted me and was very helpful in getting me on the phone with someone who could discuss my situation. I also used Comcast’s live person chat and it was awesome, the person was prompt and helpful. Also, Mike got a Norah Jones CD for donating to public radio (to give me to me) and it came yesterday–so far it’s great and I’m thinking about going to her concert in Boston in March.

Last week while I was in New Hampshire, I finished reading “Olive Kitteridge” by Elizabeth Strout. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2009 and was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award. The book is a collection of connected short stories that all center around a woman, Olive Kitteridge, in the town of Crosby, Maine. I really enjoyed some of the stories, but my biggest complaint is that I felt like I didn’t get enough information about any of the characters. Unlike most short story books, where the tales are unrelated, these seemed almost novel-like in their connections, but were also disjointed from each other. I would have preferred to read a novel about Olive and her fellow townspeople instead of this short story book about them.

Although one problem may be that I didn’t know the book was short stories until I was already reading it, so it took a bit to catch on. Also, I’m not a huge fan of short stories, though in recent years I’ve found several authors that write delightful tiny tales. Despite that, Strout’s writing was eloquent and a pleasure to read, and I did love the way she revealed different parts of Olive’s character through each story. I’d recommend to short story lovers, but not to anyone who really prefers to read full-length novels.

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