The “Short & Wonderful Things” Book Haul

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews. I get to show off all the books I’ve gotten recently.

Here are some short story and poetry collections I’ve picked up in the last few weeks.

The “Short & Wonderful Things” Book Haul

Dome of the Hidden Pavilion: New Poems – James Tate

Though they are diverse in scope, a theme of dialogue and communication—and often miscommunication—links these poems. Accessible yet subtly surrealist, filled with dark wit, dry humor, and a deceptive simplicity, Dome of the Hidden Pavilion confirms Tate’s continuing relevance as one of the most celebrated American poets of the modern age.

The Complete Stories of Truman Capote – Truman Capote

A landmark collection that brings together Truman Capote’s life’s work in the form he called his “great love,” The Complete Stories confirms Capote’s status as a master of the short story. 

Ranging from the Gothic South to the chic East Coast, from rural children to aging urban sophisticates, all the unforgettable places and people of Capote’s oeuvre are here, in stories as elegant as they are heartfelt, as haunting as they are compassionate.

Some Possible Solutions: Stories – Helen Philips

What if your perfect hermaphrodite match existed on another planet? What if you could suddenly see through everybody's skin to their organs? What if you knew the exact date of your death? What if your city was filled with doppelgangers of you? 

Forced to navigate these bizarre scenarios, Phillips' characters search for solutions to the problem of how to survive in an irrational, infinitely strange world. In dystopias that are exaggerated versions of the world in which we live, these characters strive for intimacy and struggle to resolve their fraught relationships with each other, with themselves, and with their place in the natural world. We meet a wealthy woman who purchases a high-tech sex toy in the shape of a man, a rowdy, moody crew of college students who resolve the energy crisis, and orphaned twin sisters who work as futuristic strippers—and with Phillips' characteristic smarts and imagination, we see that no one is quite who they appear.

The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night – Jen Campbell

Spirits in jam jars, mini-apocalypses, animal hearts and side shows. 

A girl runs a coffin hotel on a remote island. 

A boy is worried his sister has two souls. 

A couple are rewriting the history of the world. 

And mermaids are on display at the local aquarium.

Have you read any of these? What did you think?