Les Contes des Femmes
November recommendations are up on Miss Grace. Whenever I find another woman who reads seriously and who seriously reads, I jump immediately into swapping must-reads.
Some amazing and recent-ish short story collections from women over the past few years that you might consider picking up at your local bookstore: Judy Budnitz's Nice Big American Baby (paperback comes out in February); Heidi Jon Schmidt's Darling; Lily Tuck's Limbo and Other Places I Have Lived. And, mais bien sur, Aimee Bender, whose books combine the absurd with that frisson of the relatable. Have a look at Eryn Loeb's review on Miss Grace of Bender's exquisite new collection Willful Creatures:
Bender seems particularly transfixed by mortality in these pages. Through stories like "Death Watch" and "Job's Job," we get the sense that Bender is looking for some kind of ultimate meaning, but the searching doesn't feel heavy-handed. Although the two characters featured in these stories are plainly dealing with life or death situations, the dilemmas that face the characters in her other stories feel no less immediate. The intimate complexities of relationships are treated with reverence, even as she exposes their secrets. The final story in the book reads like a prayer.
These women with their wry, wise, reverential short fiction just absolutely rock the genre. Talk to me of these women, bend my ear, and I will buy a round of whatever they're having.