Springtime on Mars - Susan Woodring

Title: Springtime on Mars
Author: Susan Woodring
Date Finished: June 23, 2008 #35
Pages: 177 (ARE)
Rating: 3.5/5

In Springtime on Mars, a collection of eleven short stories, Woodring delves into the lives of very different people and their hidden desires, fears, wishes, and secrets. From an estranged father who doesn't quite know how to interact with his teenage daughter, to an elderly second-marriage couple coming to terms with their new life together, a woman who lusts over the bag boy at the grocery store, and a woman who loves a boy that no one else can.

While these stories couldn't be more different from one another, the common thread throughout them all is the introspective look at what makes ordinary events extraordinary to the individual--the way that the person handles the death of the President, the way that a woman yearns to know her place within a new family, the way that a young girl searches for acceptance and care from her neighbors. On the surface the events in the stories are mundane, but the honesty that Woodring explores within her characters is what makes this collection one that can be appreciated by a range of people.

I marked several passages throughout the book where Woodring takes a simple event and shows how it emotionally affects the character. In the below example, the main character has had an emotional breakdown in the middle of the grocery store:

"Maud dabbed at her eyes with the tissue Donald had handed her and she wondered where it came from. He was not the kind of man to carry tissues, and now, he had given her one and he was moving his hand, rubbing lightly across her back. The picture came to her of what Donald himself had looked like in high school, the person he had been, and she saw his clam, quiet manner, him sitting at the back of every classroom... She thought of his birdhouses in the backyard, of how he had let the children god, of how he stood on the porch and looked back at their house and found something new to start each time. She wondered if it was the same with her, if she ever seemed new to him, if there was anything more for them to do with each other" (97).

I don't know that it is the best example of what I am trying to get at, but it shows the quiet way in which the reader can see the innermost thoughts of the character. I didn't love every story in the book--I felt myself drawn more to the character's whose emotions I could really relate to, but because of the wide range of emotions, I think that all readers can find a little bit of themselves in these stories. Because the stories are so deceptively layered, I think this would be a great selection for a bookclub--nothing fantastical happens in these stories, but in a way I think that makes these stories more relatable and real. Overall, a pleasant and enjoyable read.

**Part of Blog Stop Book Tours--check out the website for more information on Springtime on Mars and Susan Woodring

Nine Stories - JD Salinger and other Miscellany

Title: Nine Stories
Author: JD Salinger
Date Finished: Feb 13, 2008
Yearly Count: 8
Pages: 198
Rating: 2.5/5

I feel like I should probably re-read this volume again to better grasp these stories. This slim collection includes:
-A Perfect Day for Bananafish
-Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut
-Just Before the War with the Eskimos
-The Laughing Man
-Down at the Dinghy
-For Esme – with Love and Squalor
-Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes
-De Daumier-Smith’s Blue Period
-Teddy

The stories are easy to read – all short, the language accessible and smoothly written – but at the end of each story I was left with the feeling of wanting either a decent explanation or at least some closure to the story. I like short stories—and I’ve read a fair amount. I know that a lot finish with a moment of irony or some type of twist, but most of the time I can at least make sense of the ending. With these stories, I always wanted to scream “What???” From searching around the blogosphere, I have found that people seem to really like these short tales, but perhaps I missed something. Please enlighten me!!!

On another note, I am testing out my first audiobook - Eragon. I am very easily distracted. When at work I will start a number of projects so I can work on a little bit here and there otherwise I can’t stay focused on anything. If a book drags on for too long, I tend to get bored and won’t read at all (or will start wishing I could read something new). So, audiobooks is going to be a challenge.

I’m trying out audiobooks during my commute home in the afternoon. I listen to talk radio in the morning, so I’m pretty entertained, but on the way home I feel tortured with commercials and bad songs. The first day went pretty well. I only had to rewind the CD a few times. Yesterday, though, I was VERY distracted. And my sister called and we chatted for a while. Any tips for a first time listener? Joy, at Thoughts of Joy is an avid listener and I’ve been picking up tips from her for a few months now, but how many of you listen to audiobooks? Do you find one genre easier to listen to than another? (I don’t read a lot of fantasy, so I’m having a difficult time hearing descriptions and visualizing rather than reading a description and visualizing).