2011: Book 5

War by Candlelight: Stories by Daniel Alarcon


224 pages


Completed 1/28/2011

Since reading the collection of short stories, Love Begins in Winter, my interest has been piqued towards a genre I normally am not drawn to. This collection of Central and Southern American-based stories are touching, but not moving.

Many of the stories left me wanting more; most seemed to have ended in such an awkward point in the story, that is was almost annoying. That being said, I did enjoy the book. With one exception; one VERY big exception. When a story began with a murdered dog and a group of boys chasing down more victims, I literally slammed the book shut and debated whether to continue. It took me three more days to pick the book back up and simply skip over the story. This is so not like me; I force myself to read books cover-to-cover, and so I felt so odd doing it. But the cruelness and unexpected violence mid-book was too much to handle.

LIZ: BOOK #42

Love Begins in Winter: Five Stories by Simon Van Booy

256 pages

Completed 12/14/10

Typically, I avoid short stories; they don't often offer as much depth as I like in books. However, this one piqued my interest, and I decided to give it a go - and I am so glad I did. The short stories touched upon human emotion and life as no other collection has for me, but without being sappy as I had expected based on the title alone.

The isolation of the characters was moving; reading it, I was surprised how quickly Van Booy was able to draw me into the characters with just a brief few pages. Quirkiness, memories, and unrequited love reigns throughout all of the tales.

One of the most intriguing parts of this book was the interview with Van Booy in the prologue. He answers that he bases his characters on brief moments he sees between people. His eloquent way with words transforms these chance non-encounters if you will, into wonderfully-spun short glimpses into these "characters." As Publisher's Weekly put so well, "Each of these stories has moments of sheer loveliness."