So, this is where I simultaneously break with tradition and reveal my shallow nature.

For the first time since the mid 1990s, I did not finish a book I started reading. I’ve been stubborn about not only finishing what I started, but about giving books and authors a chance. To see if maybe although I don’t completely enjoy the story, the author still has something important to say.

I decided going into this year that I was going to change my ways. No longer would I force myself to read something I wasn’t enjoying. After all, I’m not going to keep eating a meal that I find repulsive: I’m going to toss it and find something more suitable for my tastes.

I am not a big fan of short stories. There are exceptions. Poe and Henry (and to a lesser extent, Stephen King) immediately come to mind. But I went into this knowing Welty was an award-winning author and highly regarded, so my mind was completely open.

There are things I think some people will find problematic. As many of these stories are set in the south during a time when African-Americans were deemed less than whites (sadly, still true in some areas today), there was not-infrequent usage of the “n-word” and variations thereof.

Personally, I don’t like the word and don’t use it in my vocabulary, but I can accept it in literature if it is relevant, such as used in a time period where it would not have been uncommon, or demonstrating a trait of a racist character.

What I absolutely could not stand was the repeated use of “could of,” and its friends “should of” and “would of.”

See. Told you I was shallow.

But I absolutely wanted to throw my Kindle across the room when those started appearing. Okay, once might just be an editing mishap, but when it is prevalent, that is not an editing slip: it’s either an editor who is incompetent, or is afraid to correct a writer. Either way, I made it through less than half of this book before I had been worn down by the repeated lack of contractions. Out of the stories I made it through, there was only one I actually found engaging and interesting, but I can’t even remember its title and don’t feel like searching through this waste of storage space to find it.

Did not finish.

I did not spend nearly as much time on these as they deserve. Here are a few thoughts, though.

- Had the feeling I was reading somewhat above my grade level! Any of these would be great to dive into and dissect. People talk about what a great short story writer Chekhov was, but Welty could give him a run for his money.

- I was surprised by how many stories were set in Natchez and/or the Natchez Trace. What a great evocation of place.

- I was also surprised by the feeling of magical realism many of these had. And maybe a Southern Gothic vibe. Her novels seem comparatively more mundane and did not prepare me for this. Some of this is down to just how she writes, I think, in a highly visual manner. As if the story is an eyeball and the reader has to transmit image into meaning by herself. Like instead of saying a fellow was shot, describing him falling and the bloom of dark color on his shirt. You kind of have to think a minute to realize what has happened.

- I definitely only skimmed some of the longer stories. If I'm reading a short story, I want it to be short, dadgumit!

I'm not much of a short story fan, but something about these short stories appealed to me this summer. My three star rating is an average, some of these stories were great, some good, and some just okay. I think I am beginning to discover some of the charms of a well written short story.

2

I should have known better.

After taking a class on Welty, Woolf, and O'Connor in college, I knew Welty was my least favorite author of the three. I had bought this book for the class, though, and having only had to read a handful of the stories in it, determined that I would finish it someday.

I never understood the appeal, though. Her writing voice is annoying, her characters are all maimed (either physically or mentally), and her plots are mostly boring. Maybe I'm just too Yankee to appreciate her (or maybe I'm just not as easily amused by cripples or albinos).

I feel like weeping tears of relief that I am I finally on the other side of this. I don't think this is the intended reaction to this tome. I don't think that Eudora Welty should ever be jammed in a single book, suggesting that it's a single serving. Each book should be taken on its own with years between. As it is, I've spent seven months listening to it in bits and pieces.

I do still think that [b:The Green Curtain|12599|Selected Stories of Eudora Welty A Curtain of Green And Other Stories / The Wide Net and Other Stories|Eudora Welty|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1166505053s/12599.jpg|14884] benefits wonderfully from being read aloud. The humor shines with the performance. [b:The Wide Net and Other Stories|12593|The Wide Net and Other Stories|Eudora Welty|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348459411s/12593.jpg|14878] is about half and half. Basically, Welty sometimes gets into these long wandering passages, and they are clearly not meant to be heard. I so often found myself buried in what I thought was the middle of the story only to tumble into the last lines without warning. I have to think this would work better on the page, which is why I'm willing to argue that The Golden Apples should never be listened to. Someday, when I can stuff back down my gorge at the thought of going through it again, I truly intend to read rather than listen to it, and you know, maybe chart out all those families and relations. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy "The Wanderers," which brings everything in together, but that I think I would have appreciated it more if I didn't feel that I'd spent the entire book in some kind of half-hazed, drone-induced dream state.

[b:The Bride of Innisfallen] swings back into being mostly being listenable, and I think both "Bride of Innisfallen" and "Circe" shine in the audiobook format.

How do I rate this book? An average of its parts? By the best bits? Do I measure it in pain? I'll go with this--3.5 rounded up to 4, assuming that one skips The Golden Apples. DO NOT LISTEN TO THE GOLDEN APPLES.

---

It occurred to me recently while I was debating whether or not to renew my 4-year-old daughter's subscription to High Five that my love of short stories probably began with my childhood copies of Highlights for Children. I can remember longing for the new issue to arrive and then skipping the other features to read the stories first. My love of being read short stories happened much more recently and has everything to do with Selected Shorts. While I had dutifully read the Eudora Welty I was assigned in class, it was Selected Shorts that taught me to enjoy her as an adult, particularly performance of Marian Seldes reading "Lily Daw and The Three Ladies," which has a delicious comic tension.

This was my first time hearing "Why I Live at the P.O" read aloud, and it was utterly delightful. I'm afraid that I have to admit that perhaps I'm shallow, but I really do prefer the lighter stories to the darker ones. I have every intention of finishing the collection, but now them I'm into some of the longer, heavier stories, I'm enjoying it much less.

I read this book on and off for like 5 months, so I feel like I should say some things. Welty is an undeniably great writer. Place and setting are emphasized so much in her writing that you really do feel like you’re breathing the same air as her characters. Most of the time though, this means that not a whole lot happens. And what does happen is usually buried far beneath the subtext. Definitely do not read this if you’re looking for an exciting page-turner or anything like that. That being said there are a select few that I would describe as somewhat exciting, but those are sort of exceptions. As far as my personal enjoyment goes, I REALLY loved some of the stories, but quite a few were absolute slogs. Though, even when her stories are boring (they usually are) they’re still pretty enjoyable most of the time. It’s one of those cases where even if I’m not into the story, it’s more due to me and my preferences than her lacking skill as a writer.