Welcome to Litsy!

Friday night done right (at least they waited until I was settled with my book) 😹 #catsoflitsy

“Maybe the truth does not matter, but I want to know it if only so that I can come to some conclusions about such questions as: whether he is angry at me or not; if he is, then how angry; whether he still loves her or not; if he does, then how much; whether he loves me or not; how much; how capable he is of deceiving me in the act and after the act in the telling.”

1st story in and this whole paragraph has me stunned. The truth definitely matters

I recently asked an online book friend for their favorite short story collection, the one that changed their opinion of the genre more favorably and she said Lydia Davis‘ collected stories. I‘m always glad to hear these answers because I believe short stories are for everybody! They might take some time getting used to but once you find that first book, that writer that gets you and whose writing you appreciate, you can usually be led to more 😇📚

My all time favorite short story collection, followed by Kafka's full collection. The shorter the story, the better she writes. She's a master at interpersonal relationships and subtle mundane drama. A must read. Don't know why it's not stocked in every bookstore! #LydiaDavis #shortstories #collectedstories #anthology #summerreads

The younger Lydia Davis stories are just as good as the more "mature" ones, but their narrators are living younger-people lives, raising young children, gentle - stepping around their misogynist husbands, and displaying on balance more vulnerability than wit, though the wit's always there, of course. I just love her work. Interestingly, her mother was also a writer and at one time an ardent communist, which she wrote about in a memoir.

We feel an affinity with a certain thinker because we agree with him;or because he shows us what we were already thinking;...

#shortstories #riotgrams This book was stunning.Some stories were a sentence,or a paragraph.Some , pretty normal short story length.But oh ,do they have an emotional heft.There‘s a lot going on here.When James Wood writing in the New Yorker notes Davis‘s “sly comedy,metaphysical bleakness,philosophical pressure and human wisdom.”I don‘t know what to add to that.Except that maybe you want to go down the rabbit hole too.🐇

Some of these stories are only two lines long. The perfect gift from my sister-in-law for a busy mom. Example: Housekeeping observations "under all this dirt| the floor is really very clean." #shortontimeshortstories #backtoreading #shortstories

Some of these stories are very short, some are very good. Not all though.

I spied My favorite translator hanging out on a window ledge today. Well, her book anyway. I love browsing the books in other people's homes.

Read in 2016, one that really stuck with me. Her stories ,some as short a sentence ,are to be savored. Often stunning insights into the human condition with all ranges of delights , private joys and agony . Even at their most quiet there's a lot going on.

#orangecovers #photoadaynov16 this poor book is wine-stained and sun faded but I love it so much. "I imagine that when I am old, I will be all alone, and in pain, and my eyes will be too weak to read. I am afraid of those long days. I like my days to be happy. I try to think what would be a happy way to spend those difficult days"

#love #romance

This fabulous photo of Lydia Davis just came across my Twitter feed and is crying out to be shared here…

Found an old friend browsing before HP 😌