I just found your Substack. Thank you for reminding me about short stories—I always want to read more, but often can't seem to bring to read them. I've read a few collections though, including by Jhumpa Lahiri and Te-Ping Chen. I'm excited for Curtis Sittenfeld's latest one this year.
Will you please be quiet please is my favorite carver collection. It’s a good mid way between the lish-less cathedral and the bare bones, chopped up WWTAWWTAL. Do it!
I've read Carver here and there, but maybe never with this much focus or this thoughtfully. Cathedral really knocked me out. I think I like the post-Lish'ness of them, but also probably just his older POV? I'll prob finish What We Talk About in the coming weeks; will pull Will You Please off my shelf for a 2025 read!
Also think you'll appreciate: just got a story accepted with this note:
"I was transformed when reading this piece. The tone and style had me thinking of Carver's "Cathedral." I love it!"
Hi Aaron, thanks for this. I’m looking to read some more of these. I loved the first half of Between the Shadow and the Soul, but felt the second half slipping out of my hands. Groff’s The Wind gave me Flannery vibes, whom I still love, this one gave me Ethan Frome vibes, which I loved when I read in school, but I read it more recently and it disgusted me.
Thanks, David! Interesting, I think we had kinda inverse responses to the the new Groff story. I wonder if I "liked" the second half more, or if it took me that long to fully give myself over to the story and so by then I was a bit more under its spell. I don't think I read "The Wind." Maybe I'll circle back to it at some point this coming year?
I just found your Substack. Thank you for reminding me about short stories—I always want to read more, but often can't seem to bring to read them. I've read a few collections though, including by Jhumpa Lahiri and Te-Ping Chen. I'm excited for Curtis Sittenfeld's latest one this year.
Glad you found it. Hope you're enjoying it! Hope it encourages you to read more stories! To maybe discover some new-to-you writers! :)
Will you please be quiet please is my favorite carver collection. It’s a good mid way between the lish-less cathedral and the bare bones, chopped up WWTAWWTAL. Do it!
I've read Carver here and there, but maybe never with this much focus or this thoughtfully. Cathedral really knocked me out. I think I like the post-Lish'ness of them, but also probably just his older POV? I'll prob finish What We Talk About in the coming weeks; will pull Will You Please off my shelf for a 2025 read!
Also think you'll appreciate: just got a story accepted with this note:
"I was transformed when reading this piece. The tone and style had me thinking of Carver's "Cathedral." I love it!"
Hi Aaron, thanks for this. I’m looking to read some more of these. I loved the first half of Between the Shadow and the Soul, but felt the second half slipping out of my hands. Groff’s The Wind gave me Flannery vibes, whom I still love, this one gave me Ethan Frome vibes, which I loved when I read in school, but I read it more recently and it disgusted me.
Read "The Wind" this morning and it really wowed me! Good call on the "Flannery vibes."
Thanks, David! Interesting, I think we had kinda inverse responses to the the new Groff story. I wonder if I "liked" the second half more, or if it took me that long to fully give myself over to the story and so by then I was a bit more under its spell. I don't think I read "The Wind." Maybe I'll circle back to it at some point this coming year?