Charles Baxter - Author

Reading a book of short stories (and, as the title indicates, a novella) by Charles Baxter. I really enjoyed 'Feast of Love' as have a couple of other friends.

The problem with the stories, and for my penny, short stories in general, is that they leave me feeling unsettled. They represent a slice of life or a situation that leaves me feeling sad.

(note: paraphrasing)
Molly's response, "But the best stories are sad."
'no, the best stories are hopeful'
"That means sad"
'i disagree'

I think with a story arc, you inhabit more of a character's struggle and see how they'll do against it. Casablanca, for example, has an 'unhappy' ending, but there's something redemptive and hopeful about it.

It's a sunny day. So, I'm going to stop sitting inside in front of my computer, and go outside and see if the wireless signal reaches my courtyard.

Charles Baxter - Author: "Believers: a novella and stories
© 1997
read/print an excerpt - >>

The seven stories and novella in Believers revel in the surfaces of seemingly ordinary characters while uncovering their bedrock of passion, madness, levity, and grief: the young women with a sweetly nurturing boyfriend who may have a secret history of violence; the housewife whose upstairs neighbor is either a child-killer or a pathetic fabulist. In the main novella the narrator works to piece together his father's history, and tells the story of a Catholic priest whose involvement with a sinister, wealthy couple leads him away from his promise of faith."