May is National Short Story Month, and we hope you've had a chance to browse our display on the first floor of the library. Last week's blog post with recommendations for Tenth of December and The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, may've tipped you to the fact that I'm a fan of short fiction. Or maybe you were left wondering if I'd gotten lost looking for Janet Evanovich or James Patterson? The short story love probably would've been more obvious if I'd had time to include a short review of  Junot Diaz's This is How You Lose Her*.

Either way, the focus today is on short shorts. Really short stories. Sometimes referred to as microfiction, sometimes as flash fiction, the idea is to tell an entire story in the smallest number of words possible.

Lou Beach's 420 Characters is a collection of this type of short fiction. Beach started crafting these stories to fit within the restrictions of the 420 character limit to a Facebook status update. Occasionally you'll see someone who attempts to write stories within the confines of a Twitter update, which limits the author to 140 characters.

Ernest Hemingway is often cited as the progenitor of the short fiction movement, as the author of the variously punctuated "For Sale: baby shoes. Never worn." Unfortunately, there's no proof that Hemingway wrote this story. Still, you can let this famous six word story serve as inspiration! That's right, we're asking you to try your hand at flash fiction. You can check out the stories already posted to our Facebook event page, and share your own creations here or there.

Looking for more information?

• Check out this article with tips for writing flash fiction.
• Vestal Review, a flash fiction periodical that has been in publication since 2000.
• 365tomorrows, a new work of speculative flash fiction every day.
• SmokeLong Quarterly and Flash Fiction Online, more flash fiction periodicals.
• FlashFiction.net has compiled an even longer list of publications with a focus on flash fiction.
• This Wired article touches on flash fiction as part of larger changes to reading and writing driven by technology.

*Extra short review of This is How You Lose Her: It's excellent. There are swear words. You don't have to have read The Brief Wonderful Life of Oscar Wao to enjoy it, but it does add to the experience.

Studies consistently show that most people discover new books from people they trust, whether friends, family, or a book industry professional (bookseller, librarian, author, or reviewer). Those of us at Carnegie-Stout's Recommendations Desk are always happy to talk books with you, and if you give us a week, we'll give you a whole list of books we think you'll like! We also invite you to share your favorite books with other Dubuquers on our Pinterest board. Don't have a Pinterest account, or want to submit an anonymous review? No worries, you can pick up a review bookmark at the Recommendations Desk!

Today I'm here to vouch for a mixed list of recent books that have received a number of good reviews and press. I've read them all personally, and it's not just hype. So if one of these titles has been on your radar, but you weren't quite sure if it was worth your time, pick it up! This list is also a bit of a grab bag for genre and style, so you might spot some unexpected title worth checking out!

Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
Robin Sloan’s first novel is an offbeat adventure tale built around a love of books and reading. In addition, he provides a thought-provoking look at how technology is changing our relationship with information. Quirky characters, an ancient conspiracy, and the human drive for innovation. Plus? Glow-in-the-dark cover!

Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis
The fact that this was the second title selected for Oprah's Book Club 2.0 should not put you off. Ayana Mathis’ haunting debut is a collection of interconnected stories that explore the lives of one African-American family during the 20th century. A lyrical and bittersweet story of family, identity, and race that captures both universal human experience of a dynamic historical epoch.

Tenth of December by George Saunders
Critics-darling George Saunders hovered on the edges of my awareness, so when his latest short story collection popped up on several most-anticipated lists for 2013, I bit. Tenth of December is dark, funny, and thought-provoking, with just a touch of the fantastic. Saunders voice is distinctive and infections.

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
After enjoying her first novel, I was already inclined to like Rainbow Rowell's second book, Eleanor and Park. A young adult novel about the intensity of first love, Eleanor and Park are mismatched outsiders thrown together when Eleanor changes schools in the middle of their sophomore year. The 1986 setting mean that adult readers will likely catch more references than the average teen.

Among Others by Jo Walton
Jo Walton blends reality with the fantastic in her character-driven debut novel, Among Others, winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards. This ambiguous and engaging story is set in a world where magic might, or might not, influence reality. A British boarding school, an evil mother, a dead twin, Welsh fairies, and a love letter to the classics of science fiction that added a dozen titles to my To Read list.

Suspect by Robert Crais
I picked up Suspect, a stand alone title by Robert Crais, author of the Elvis Cole series, as part of my quest to incorporate more mystery novels into my reading life. A suspenseful and fast-paced tale of an LAPD cop hunting for the men who killed his partner/love interest with the help of his new partner Maggie, a German Shepard suffering from PTSD after deployment in Afghanistan.

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
While most Dubuquers are probably familiar with Kate Atkinson as the author of the Jackson Brodie mystery series, I've spent the past ten years with my fingers quietly crossed that she would return to her quirky, family-centered literary fiction. Life After Life is just the witty, complex, time travel reincarnation mashup, Downton Abbey era novel I've been waiting for.

Next up on my Everyone's Talking About It Reading List are: The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer, The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker, and The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes. How about you?
 

*Family and friends beware! These are titles you will likely be unwrapping at gift giving occasions.

In one of my favorite passages from the graphic memoir A Chinese Life, young artist Xiao Li and his wife Fengfeng go to see old Bureau Chief Wang and his wife in their cramped room in the night-shift dormitories of the Yunnan Ribao newspaper. It's a friendly visit, but Xiao Li and Fengfeng are obviously checking out the room, since they'll likely be assigned to live there after Chief Wang gets a bigger place.

The young couple tries to be optimistic about the dorm, but gangs of kids are running wild, smoke is pouring out of one of the rooms, the halls are cluttered with junk, laundry is draped across indoor clotheslines, an old man is bathing in the open near a woman who's chopping vegetables, another woman is screaming and throwing dishes, and someone else is frantically searching for a lost chicken.

In A Chinese Life, illustrator Li Kunwu and French writer/diplomat Philippe Otie present the history of modern China to Western audiences from Li's intimate perspective as a "Chinese everyman." While they offer a sweeping view of China, the view is sharpest when focused on ordinary, everyday life.

A Chinese Life more or less covers major Chinese events from about 1950 to 2010, including Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward, the famines of 1958-1961, the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms, the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, urbanization, and increasing prosperity.

But even at 700 pages, some historical details in A Chinese Life are sketchy. Li admits, for example, that he doesn't know anyone who was directly affected by 6/4, the Chinese name for the Tiananmen Square protests which were violently suppressed on June 4, 1989. During the crackdown, the Chinese military killed hundreds if not thousands of students and civilians.

Li skims over 6/4 by saying he believes many Chinese people value stability and order over human rights because of the earlier decades of famine and political upheaval which killed tens of millions of Chinese. Li's portrayal of the "indescribable torments" of those earlier decades is powerful. One of his uncles literally ate dirt while trying survive the Great Famine, and his father was publicly denounced during the frenzy of the Cultural Revolution and was forced to perform manual labor in re-education camps for ten years.

It is remarkable that a member of the Chinese Communist Party would be so forthcoming, and that this is happening in a graphic novel. To some Westerners though, Li's depictions of such events may seem more like an apparatchik's apologia than a critical attempt to understand what happened.

More so than the grand historical overview, intimate scenes like Xiao Li and Fengfeng's visit to the dormitory are what make A Chinese Life worth reading. With a subtle mix of humor and sadness, Li examines his strained relationship with his larger-than-life father, describes an awkward moment when he asks his girlfriend if she would pose nude for his drawings, and recalls helping his elderly mother make dumplings.

Besides being a great storyteller, Li's artwork is brilliant. A Chinese Life is illustrated almost entirely in black and white. The contrast is stark and the composition is striking. Fascinating, energetic lines reveal austere landscapes, earthy villages, and chaotic cities. Characters' hands and faces are especially expressive. Some of the most compelling panels lack dialogue; they are simple portraits of children at school, soldiers in barracks, villagers in markets, and workers in factories.

Page 275 from A Chinese Life © Kana (DARGAUD-LOMBARD s.a.) 2011, by Li Kunwu, P.Otie. Published in English by SelfMadeHero. Used with permission.

Li describes his own style as "rough," but "bold and playful" is a better description. The illustrations appear to be done in brush and ink, and they look like extensions of the flowing Chinese calligraphy which Li includes on most pages.

A Chinese Life was originally published in France in several volumes. It was translated from the French by Edward Gauvin and published by SelfMadeHero in 2012. Some transitions between passages and stories in the English edition are abrupt, but the work as a whole is easy to follow. The book is hefty at about 700 pages, but it doesn't seem long when read. Instead, it ends far too quickly.

Michael May