55 Books in a Year: Book #13 A to Z Stories of Life and Death

After joining Blogging from A to Z Challenge April 2012, I surfed around the blog and its leaders and participants and found Damyanti Biswas and her book A to Z Stories of Life and Death and I figured that for $1.99 I could download and read 26 stories about life and death.

I gotta tell you, I'm pretty impressed with these stories and they remind me a lot of Annie Proloux's Wyoming Stories and Sue Miller's book Inventing the Abbott's and Other Stories. They are sparse and true and sexy and tragic. They are about life and each one has a taste of bittersweet.

Below you will find a list of all the story with asterisks indicating how many stars (1-5, like a book review) I gave each and then a sentence or two about it and why I liked it.

Aquarium ***
A girls aquarium gets snails, at first she thinks it's cool, but in the end she realizes they mean so much more.
Burn *
A teacher wants his protege to learn how to burn.
Commas **
A teacher with AIDS teaches her student about more than commas.
Do What You Do **
A man picks up a Dontella Versace look alike.
Ecstasy **
"Ecstasy is not death, it's a release from pain."
Fickle **
A person with ugly hands is comforted Mr. and Mrs. Winter
Girls ****
A family of children are saved by their brave sister Sakhi.
Heart ****
Ruth is a stealer and taker of hearts.
I Have A Secret *****
A woman finds out so much about herself when she takes her god-daughter to buy her first bra.
Jasoda's Children *
Jasoda is a baby-snatcher.
Kill ****
A man dreams of getting revenge on a doctor, can he go through with it.
Life ****
"Smoking Can Kill You"
Mannequin ***
Behind every mannequin is a person, or is that the other way around.
Nothing *****
A couple deals with the loss of their child.
OK ****
A boy digs through trash every day to help his family.
Perilious ***
Walking on the edge of life.
Quit ***
The Blue Tilapia must behave.
Reunion ***
Sula is the best host of childhood games.
Sacrilege *****
A boy must decide to be a man.
Tell Me A Story *****
A little girl teaches her father about living.
Under the Skin ****
Tattoos go deeper than the top layer of the skin.
Victorious *****
Although her neighborhood is gone, an older woman remembers and it's still there.
Women ****
A woman passively fights against the kidnapping of women.
X-Ray ***
Can you be dirty inside and out?
Youth ***
A murderer puts it all to an end.
Zone ****
A man is with his wife for the last time.

And, you can find the author and more interesting stuff about her at...
Twitter: damyantig
Blog: damyantiwrites.wordpress.com

4 Stars