From the #1 bestselling author of Me Talk Pretty One Day and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim comes a collection of the short stories David Sedaris loves most. Containing the work of both contemporary and classic writers, CHILDREN PLAYING BEFORE A STATUE OF HERCULES, edited and introduced by Sedaris, gives his legions of fans a glimpse at the writing he finds inspiring - and helps them discover the truth about loneliness, hope, love, betrayal, and certain, but not all, monkeys.
David Sedaris fell in love with short stories while living in Odell, Oregon. Sedaris writes, "When apple-picking season ended, I got a job in a packing plant and gravitated toward short stories, which I could read during my break and reflect upon for the remainder of my shift. A good one would take me out of myself and stuff me back in, outsized, now, and uneasy with the fit." Featuring such notable writers as Alice Munro, Tobias Wolff, Lorrie Moore, and Joyce Carol Oates, readers will reconnect with classics, as well discover fantastic but lesser-known writers.
Included in CHILDREN PLAYING BEFORE A STATUE OF HERCULES are:
<ul compact type="square">
Introduction by David Sedaris
"Oh, Joseph, I'm So Tired" by Richard Yates
"Gryphon" by Charles Baxter
"Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
"The Garden Party" by Katherine Mansfield
"Half A Grapefruit" by Alice Munro
"Applause, Applause" by Jean Thompson
"I Know What I'm Doing About All the Attention I've Been Getting" by Frank Gannon
"Where the Door Is Always Open and the Welcome Mat Is Out" by Patricia Highsmith
"The Best of Betty" by Jincy Willett
"Song of the Shirt, 1941" by Dorothy Parker
"The Girl with the Blackened Eye" by Joyce Carol Oates
"People Like That Are the Only People Here: Canonical Babbling in Peed Onk" by Lorrie Moore
"Revelation" by Flannery O'Connor
"In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried" by Amy Hempel
"Cosmopolitan" by Akhil Sharma
"Irish Girl" by Tim Johnston
"Bullet in the Brain" by Tobias Wolff
Epilogue by Sarah Vowell
Borrowing the book's name from an Adriaen van der Werff painting, CHILDREN PLAYING BEFORE A STATUE OF HERCULES is David Sedaris's attempt to share his passion for short stories with a wider audience-and his enthusiasm is contagious. "The authors in this book are huge to me, and I am a comparative midget, scratching around in their collective shadow. 'Pint sized Fanatic Bowing Before Statues of Hercules' might have been more concise, but people don't paint things like that, and besides, it doesn't sound as good."
David Sedaris is publishing this book to support 826NYC, a nonprofit tutoring center in Brooklyn, New York. All of his proceeds, after permission expenses, from CHILDREN PLAYING BEFORE A STATUE OF HERCULES will benefit this organization designed to help students ages six to eighteen develop their writing skills through free writing workshops, publishing projects, and one-on-one help with homework and English-language learning. In the book's epilogue, Sarah Vowell describes the fine work done by 826NYC.
I've always been a casual reader on holidays, which is why I brought the book on a trip to a small island in Yunnan. My passion of any work done by David Sedaris makes me confident in my option, then I realize it wasn't technically his book. It was a book c...
评分I've always been a casual reader on holidays, which is why I brought the book on a trip to a small island in Yunnan. My passion of any work done by David Sedaris makes me confident in my option, then I realize it wasn't technically his book. It was a book c...
评分I've always been a casual reader on holidays, which is why I brought the book on a trip to a small island in Yunnan. My passion of any work done by David Sedaris makes me confident in my option, then I realize it wasn't technically his book. It was a book c...
评分I've always been a casual reader on holidays, which is why I brought the book on a trip to a small island in Yunnan. My passion of any work done by David Sedaris makes me confident in my option, then I realize it wasn't technically his book. It was a book c...
评分I've always been a casual reader on holidays, which is why I brought the book on a trip to a small island in Yunnan. My passion of any work done by David Sedaris makes me confident in my option, then I realize it wasn't technically his book. It was a book c...
这本书的语言风格是它最让我惊艳的部分之一,它拥有着一种近乎诗意的力量,但又绝不矫揉造作。作者的词汇选择非常精准,常常能在不经意间抛出一个令人眼前一亮的比喻或者一个充满画面感的动词,让原本平淡的句子瞬间焕发出光彩。我发现自己常常需要放慢语速,细细品味那些精妙的措辞,甚至会忍不住拿出笔来,在空白处做一些标记,记录下那些特别打动我的段落。这种文字的美感,不是空洞的辞藻堆砌,而是与故事内容紧密结合的,语言本身成为了推动情感和氛围表达的重要工具。它使得整部作品在信息传递之外,还提供了一种纯粹的审美愉悦,读起来就像是在欣赏一幅用文字绘制的、细节丰富且光影交错的油画。
评分我不得不称赞作者在人物塑造上的功力,那些活在纸页上的角色,仿佛拥有了独立的呼吸和生命力。他们不是扁平化的符号,而是充满了矛盾和深层的心理活动。我特别喜欢主角身上那种微妙的脆弱感与坚韧不拔的意志力之间的拉扯,这种复杂性使得他们的每一个决定都显得真实可信,让人产生强烈的代入感。作者通过大量的内心独白和精妙的对话,层层剥开了角色的伪装,让我们看到了他们光鲜外表下隐藏的挣扎与渴望。即便是次要角色,也被赋予了独特的口音和习惯,他们的出现虽然短暂,却对主线故事产生了微妙却深远的影响。阅读过程中,我好几次因为某个角色的某个选择而感到心头一震,仿佛感同身受了他们所经历的巨大情感波动,这才是真正高明的文学作品所能带来的体验。
评分这本书的探讨深度远远超出了我的初始预期,它不仅仅是一个表层的故事,更像是一面映照复杂人性与社会结构的棱镜。作者巧妙地在叙事的主干中,编织了诸多关于时间、记忆和存在的哲学思考。这些思考并非说教式的灌输,而是以一种非常自然和潜移默化的方式融入到角色的命运和选择之中。我特别欣赏作者对于灰色地带的描绘,他拒绝给出简单的“好人”或“坏人”的标签,而是展示了在特定情境下,个体如何被环境和内在驱动力所塑造和扭曲。每次当我以为我已经完全理解了故事的某个主题时,作者总能在结尾处抛出一个新的视角,让我对已读内容产生新的理解和反思。这是一部需要反复阅读,才能真正体会到其思想深度的作品,它带来的思考回响,会在合上书本后很久,依然萦绕在心头。
评分这本书的封面设计简直是视觉的盛宴,色彩的运用大胆而富有层次感,一下子就抓住了我的眼球。我尤其喜欢那种略带复古又充满现代感的笔触,它让我想起那些老电影的海报,充满了故事感和神秘的氛围。从封面就能感受到作者在美学上的用心,这绝对不是一本随随便便就能完成的作品。我拿到书的时候,那种沉甸甸的质感也很好,纸张的触感细腻顺滑,让人舍不得翻动。我花了好长时间单纯地欣赏封面和扉页的排版,字体选择非常考究,既保证了易读性,又提升了整体的艺术品味。可以说,光是这本书的外在包装,就值回了票价,它成功地构建了一个引人入胜的初始印象,让我对接下来的阅读内容充满了期待,感觉自己即将踏入一个精心打造的艺术世界。
评分这本书的叙事节奏把握得极为精准,简直就像一位高明的音乐指挥家在控制着乐章的快慢强弱。开篇部分使用了大量细腻的环境描写,那种铺陈的手法,不是那种拖沓的流水账,而是充满了意境和暗示,每一个场景的转换都像是一个精心设计的镜头切换,将读者慢慢地拉入故事的核心地带。然后,当情节开始加速时,你会感觉那种紧迫感是自然而然累积起来的,而不是突兀地强加于人。作者在关键冲突点上的留白处理得尤其精彩,他没有急于给出答案,而是巧妙地设置了悬念,让你不得不停下来,反复咀嚼前文的信息,试图去推演出下一步的发展。这种张弛有度的叙事策略,使得阅读过程非常享受,你不会因为情节推进过快而感到迷失,也不会因为节奏过慢而感到枯燥,每一次翻页都是一次恰到好处的释放或积累。
评分编书就是应该把作者之间的cue都撞进来,half of grapefruit 里说起 the garden party就很可爱了。这本里的applause和之前看的另一本书里的a visit放在一起看也很有意思。
评分编书就是应该把作者之间的cue都撞进来,half of grapefruit 里说起 the garden party就很可爱了。这本里的applause和之前看的另一本书里的a visit放在一起看也很有意思。
评分编书就是应该把作者之间的cue都撞进来,half of grapefruit 里说起 the garden party就很可爱了。这本里的applause和之前看的另一本书里的a visit放在一起看也很有意思。
评分编书就是应该把作者之间的cue都撞进来,half of grapefruit 里说起 the garden party就很可爱了。这本里的applause和之前看的另一本书里的a visit放在一起看也很有意思。
评分编书就是应该把作者之间的cue都撞进来,half of grapefruit 里说起 the garden party就很可爱了。这本里的applause和之前看的另一本书里的a visit放在一起看也很有意思。
本站所有内容均为互联网搜索引擎提供的公开搜索信息,本站不存储任何数据与内容,任何内容与数据均与本站无关,如有需要请联系相关搜索引擎包括但不限于百度,google,bing,sogou 等
© 2026 book.quotespace.org All Rights Reserved. 小美书屋 版权所有