About this title: From classics such as Chekhov's The Lady with the Lapdog to such modern fare as Richard Ford's Fireworks, this anthology of great love stories captures the desire, obsession, power, and spirit of the emotion that drives and transforms lives.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: HarperPerennial
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780007291106ISBN:0007291108
Description: Good. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: HarperPerennial
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780007291106ISBN:0007291108
Description: Good. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: HarperPerennial
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780007291106ISBN:0007291108
Description: New. NEW-SHOP SOILED COPY-TRUSTED DEVON (UK) BASED SELLER-IN STOCK-SENT WITHIN 1 WORKING DAY-AVAILABLE BY EMAIL FOR QUERIES-NO QUIBBLE REFUND IF NOT COMPLETELY SATISFIED- read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: HarperPerennial
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780007291106ISBN:0007291108
Description: New. NEW-SHOP SOILED COPY-TRUSTED DEVON (UK) BASED SELLER-IN STOCK-SENT WITHIN 1 WORKING DAY-AVAILABLE BY EMAIL FOR QUERIES-NO QUIBBLE REFUND IF NOT COMPLETELY SATISFIED- read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperPress
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780007257485ISBN:0007257481
Description: Good. Our aim is to create value for our customers through the provision of low cost, affordable products and an overall satisfying buying experience. read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Harper
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780061240379ISBN:0061240370
Description: Good. Used Condition-GOOD can be a well cared for Book that is in great condition to a Book that may show some signs of wear. GOOD Books sometimes are permanently marked; have some spine or page creases; exibit signs of aging or an ExLibrary copy. ** Sometimes grease pencil or permanent marking on cover. May contain limited notes and or highlighting. 100% Satisfaction guaranteed on all purchases. ** SHIPS FROM USA-Domestic Delivery takes 5-14 days ** read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 2009-01-01
ISBN-13:9780061240386ISBN:0061240389
Description: Fair. PLEASE NOTE: Book contains slight water damage throughout book. Does not effect reading. This is a used book in good condition with normal wear and tear and may contain some writing, minor shelf wear and creases. Items are uploaded via ISBN and stock photo may be different from actual book cover. read more
Description: Fair. Purchasing this book supports the King County Library System Foundation. Thriftbooks and KCLSF have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Fine. 0061240389 Ships next business day. NEW/UNREAD! ! ! Text is Clean and Unmarked! --Be Sure to Compare Seller Feedback and Ratings before Purchasing--Has a small black line on bottom/exterior edge of pages. May have light shelf wear to cover from storage, if any. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780007291106ISBN:0007291108
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 576 pages. A wide-ranging and eclectic collection of short stories on the theme of love in its various forms: romantic, erotic, impossible, undying and exhausted. (Paperback) read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780061240386ISBN:0061240389
Description: New, Publisher overstock, may have small remainder mark. Excellent condition, never read, purchased from publisher as excess inventory. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780061240386ISBN:0061240389
Description: New, Publisher overstock, may have small remainder mark. Excellent condition, never read, purchased from publisher as excess inventory. read more
"The moment I love best about any book, is the moment I start the first sentence. That sense of anticipation when starting something new. It's the moment when I open myself to a whole new discovery of characters, plot and settings. It's also an intimate conversation with the author, a small personal confession perhaps or an admission of values whispered through dialogue between characters.
I don't tend to read anthologies of short stories. I only bought 'My mistress's sparrow is dead' because I accidently spilled coffee over it and felt compelled to purchase it. But what a great find it turned out to be! In this anthology of love stories, Eugenides has brought together an eclectic collection of both well known as well as some lesser known authors.
I cannot think why I had not gravitated towards anthologies before. They are like a beautiful jewelry box that presents you with a new treasure every time you open it. Each story repeated for me the trill of a new begining, a cast of new characters and a whole new backdrop waiting to be discovered. It was like a ten course meal, presented with humility and muted fanfare.
Although I enjoyed most of the stories, some did bore me which is another thing I found wonderful about such anthologies. If the story failed to grab me in the first couple of paragraphs, I just skipped to the next one and started the journey of discovery all over again.
The only disadvantage I can think of with such anthologies is, how can one review a book with 27 stories, each written by a different author? Although Anton Chekhov's story was by far my favourite in both prose and plot, I did enjoy most of the others in the collection as well. My mistress's sparrow is dead, is a great collection to keep by your bedside and open at anytime and at any story. Most are short enough to be finished in around 30 minutes, so you can pick it up in between books or when you are looking for something to read over a cup of coffee. And if the story does not match your mood, then you can let your fingers and eyes roam like a pair of talismen, till they lead you to one that does."
"Let's revisit the definition of love story, shall we?
While I have to admit most of these are excellent stories, I'm not sure I'd peg them as "love" stories. Maybe my idea of love is just completely different than the authors of these short stories.
In all, this book deserves 5 stars, as most of the writing in here was truly amazing. (and this is high praise coming from a girl who is not big into short stories) I had to knock it down a few stars as the stories simply did not conform to what I wanted in a love story. (damn, I'm so selfish and demanding!)
(edited in response to Jessica's question) What do I expect in a love story? Good and fair question, Treat.
I want: 1. Love that spans time. you know, boy meets girl, they may have a brief separation from one another, but as time goes by they never forget one another - they reconnect and sparks fly and they grow old together (happily) and die. Or they meet late in life and grow old together and die.
This may be why The Notebook is one of my favorite stories ever. (SHUT UP, haters!)
2. dedication. devotion... but not if one is being used and abused.
I don't have the words I guess to explain what hits me in a love story. The whole growing old thing pulls at my heartstrings in a serious way. For example, I hated the movie Titanic. The one part that had me choked up was when the ship was filling up with water... this old couple laid down together on the bed and held hands as the water rose around them.
One of my favorite stories in Mythology is the story of Philemon and Baucis.
Some of the stories in this collection were difficult for me to accept as "love stories".
In one, a young couple plays a game where he picks his sweet girlfriend up and she pretends she's a hitchhiker and it gets out of control.
In another, a less than affectionate lesbian couple breaks up and one goes to work at a Peep show place..
In yet another, a man goes to a marriage broker to find a wife. He rejects the old 35 year old hag. He wants 'em young! (who doesn't!) and then he sees a picture of "the one". Because a photo will convey if we will be compatible partners in life! Bull-POOP.
And in another story, a guy finds the most beautiful woman, longs for her. They connect and she refuses (is unable) to have an orgasm. He spends the next 30 pages trying to make her have one. Gotta give him points for determination!
So, what I want in a story and what I got were two very different things. I don't mean to take away from the stories themselves, as I said, they were very well done."
"Love stories, nearly without exception, give love a bad name. - Jeffrey Eugenides
My late grandmother was quite ill the last time I met her. She confused me with her stories as she mixed up my late grandfather with one of my uncle. I did not have a chance to know either of my grandfathers as they died when I was few months old. So the only way to know them was through my grandmother's stories about my grandfather or my father's about his father. I don't know if she had loved her husband, my grandfather, because my mother once told me she's quite young when she married my grandfather who lost his first wife. Or maybe it was love because she raised his two sons from his first wife as if they're her own sons.
During her few last years, she began to forget where she put her stuff, and as I said before, mixing people from the past with the present. I remember once I spent my school's holiday in my auntie's house and several cousins joined me. One morning, my grandmother had all of us jumped from whatever we're doing that time because she said she lost her money. So we're all busy looking for the money, we removed things and the house was a bit in chaos then. Suddenly one of my cousin asked, "Grandma how much did you lose?" and she indignantly said, "Three thousand rupiah!" And we're all burst out hysterical laughing.
Now that she's gone I've always miss her. We still have a good laugh any time we talked about her, about how she had had eaten ice creams in the middle of the nights and had never let us touched any of her ice creams. She's still a beauty even in her old years. Such a grandmother who had always taking care of us -me and my siblings- and talked to us gently not to chop down her plants for our cooking games.
And so I love her and it's for real.
Reading this collections of love stories reminds me that there are dozens, hundreds, even millions kind of love. You have to believe that love matters as the more it can hurt you the more you realise that you're alive.
***
Love stories, nearly without exception, give love a bad name. - Jeffrey Eugenides
Beragam kisah cinta ada di sini, tidak selalu berakhir bahagia walau biasanya kebanyakan orang berharap demikian. Satu hal yang pasti kita membutuhkan cinta dan menyadari cinta itu penting. Terkadang cinta bisa begitu menyakitkan tapi bukankah dengan demikian kita juga sadar bahwa kita masih hidup?
"I loved the variety of stories in this collection--and was happy to be introduced to some "classic" contemporary writers whose work I'd never actually read before.
Okay, I'll admit it. I hadn't read Harold Brodsky before, and for my money, "First Love and Other Sorrows" was worth the whole book. (However, I didn't like the other Brodsky story in the book.) The glacial movement through time and emotion in that story was deceptive; next thing you know, time has passed and all has changed.
I also lovedthe Eisenberg story in the collection, about a middle-aged gay couple named William and Otto, and Otto's relationship with his family and his schizophrenic sister--and William and Otto's friendship with the lesbian couple who rent from them and who adopt a baby. She did a great job getting into Otto's mind, his goodness and his failures. Complicated but with a light touch. Funny and moving."
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