Teaser Tuesday: Annie Proulx’s “Them Old Cowboy Songs”

The Teaser Tuesdays meme originated at Should Be Reading.

To participate, flip your current read open to a random page and share two sentences from that page, avoiding spoilers.

“Back in the swamp it was just coming light, like grey polish on the cold world, the air so still Archie could see the tiny breath cloud of a finch on a willow twig. Beneath the hardened crust the snow was wallowy.”

-Annie Proulx, “Them Old Cowboy Songs”- a short story from the collection, Fine Just the Way It Is

I’m about halfway through Fine Just the Way It Is and so far, I’m not sure what to think of Annie Proulx. The short story is a delicate art that can be easily botched, in my opinion. I’m trying to figure out if Proulx is just not my style or if there is something missing from these stories. “Them Old Cowboy Songs” is the first story that made me care about the characters. Every story before it seemed utterly random.

A fellow student in college recommended Proulx’s The Shipping News. It took me over a year to check it out and when I visited the bookstore, all they had by her was Fine Just the Way It Is. This should give you some idea of how long it takes me to get around to my TBR list- but also that I’m rather open-minded when discovering new authors and will read just about anything.

That said, I’m not sure if I want to read The Shipping News. Although it’s possible that later in life I will find a way to appreciate Proulx.

Anyone have any opinions about Annie Proulx (she was also the author of Brokeback Mountain) or short stories in general?

Don’t forget to leave your teaser in a comment below or link back to your blog!

Teaser Tuesday: Dorothy Allison’s Bastard Out of Carolina

The Teaser Tuesdays meme originated at Should Be Reading. I discovered it at A Book Blog of One’s Own.

Rules for Teaser Tuesdays:

Flip your current read open to a random page and share two sentences from that page, avoiding spoilers.

For those of us that can’t possibly find the time to read a new book each week, why not pick out some we’ve read in the past?

Last week, I quoted Elizabeth Strout‘s Olive Kitteridge. I’m almost finished with it, but I had to take a short break to benefit my dwindling sanity and read something happier. The book I chose is actually not happier but definitely a change of pace.

“After that, when I passed the Woolworth’s windows, it would come back— that dizzy desperate hunger edged with hatred and an aching lust to hurt somebody back. I wondered if that kind of hunger and rage was what Tommy Lee felt when he went through his mama’s pocketbook.”

Page 98, Bastard Out of Carolina, by Dorothy Allison.

The narrator is a child and the story is (can you guess?) set in Greenville, South Carolina. The writing is interesting and the story is disturbingly honest. So far, it’s helping me with my restlessness for travel that I blogged about here.

Feel free to leave your teaser in a comment below or link back to your blog.

Happy Reading!

Teaser Tuesday: Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge

Image via Wikipedia

The Teaser Tuesdays game originated at Should Be Reading. I discovered it at A Book Blog of One’s Own.

Rules for Teaser Tuesdays:

Flip your current read open to a random page and share two sentences from that page, avoiding spoilers.

“When you work in a pharmacy,” Olive told Denise, setting before her a plate of baked beans, “you learn the secrets of everyone in town.” Olive sat down across from her, pushed forward a bottle of ketchup.

From Elizabeth Strout‘s Olive Kitteridge.

Happy Reading.