Short Stories in September, Part III/Roundup: Ausubel, Bynum, Roberts

A rare second post in a day from me – there’s just too much to try to fit in at the end of a month! This year I read a total of 11.5 short story collections in September, nearly matching last year’s 12. I’ve already written about the first three and the next four. I’ll give details on a few more below, but the final 1.5 are going to be part of a later Three on a Theme post on “Birds” story collections. The highlight of the month was one of those: Birds of a Lesser Paradise by Megan Mayhew Bergman. However, I read lots of winners, including Brown Girls, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies and the three below. Just shorthand responses this time; all were .

 

Awayland by Ramona Ausubel (2018)

Basics: 11 stories, grouped under 4 mythical locales

Settings: California, Beirut, Africa, Turkey, a museum, an unnamed island

Themes: motherhood, loss, travel

Links: Greek myths (opener “You Can Find Love Now” is the Cyclops’ online dating profile); the sister in #2 is the main character in #4

Stand-out: “Template for a Proclamation to Save the Species” (the mayor of a Minnesota town, concerned about underpopulation, offers a car to the first mother to give birth on a date 9 months in the future)

Similar authors: Aimee Bender, Lydia Millet

Aside: I’d want to read her novels just for the titles: No One Is Here Except All of Us and Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty

(New/remainder purchase from Dollar Tree on a recent USA trip)

 

Ms. Hempel Chronicles by Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum (2008)

Basics: 8 linked stories following 7th-grade teacher Beatrice Hempel through her twenties and thirties

Setting: Massachusetts

Themes: love, loss, motherhood, adventure vs. overprotectiveness, idealism vs. being jaded

Stand-outs: “Crossing” (Ms. Hempel, previously an English teacher, is asked to cover history, and takes her students to Plimoth Plantation; meanwhile, her department chair wishes she’d hyphenate her name to make it more clear she’s half-Chinese); “Satellite” (after her father’s death, Beatrice’s mother and younger sister decide to turn the family home into a B&B)

A similar read: Olive Kitteridge, though that takes more of an interest in the town and its other residents than this – it’s ironic that this came out in the same year, and even got lots of positive and high-profile reviews based on the quotes in my paperback copy, yet I doubt it’s been remembered as Strout’s book has. Such is the power of the Pulitzer.

Aside: I’d read Bynum’s other story collection, Likes (2020), and didn’t care much for it, but I’m glad I tried her again.

(Secondhand purchase from 2nd & Charles on a recent USA trip)

 

Playing Sardines by Michèle Roberts (2001)

Basics: 18 stories, some of flash fiction length

Settings: France, England, Italy

Themes: reinvention, love affairs, obsession, food, literature

Stand-outs: The ones with funny twists/shock endings: “The Sheets” (French maid beds visiting English author), “The Cookery Lesson” (woman stalks celebrity chef), “Lists” (pillar of the community prepares for Christmas, starting months ahead), “Blathering Frights” (a Wuthering Heights spoof)

Similar authors: Julian Barnes (one story is indeed dedicated to him!), A.S. Byatt, John Lanchester, Helen Simpson

Aside: I own two unread novels by Roberts and need to prioritize them.

(Secondhand purchase from local charity shop)

---

Alas, I also had some DNFs for the month. I read one or two stories in each of these and didn’t take to the style and/or contents:

• The Quarry by Ben Halls
• One Good Story, That One by Thomas King
• Speak Gigantular by Irenosen Okojie
• What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi