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GIVEAWAY! Here Come’s Another Lesson by Stephen O’Connor (Book Review 2010-140)

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Product Description

STEPHEN O’CONNOR IS ONE OF TODAY’S MOST GIFTED AND ORIGINAL WRITERS. In Here Comes Another Lesson, O’Connor, whose stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Conjunctions, and many other places, fearlessly depicts a world that no longer quite makes sense. Ranging from the wildly inventive to the vividly realistic, these brilliant stories offer tender portraits of idealists who cannot live according to their own ideals and of lovers baffled by the realities of love. The story lines are unforgettable: A son is followed home from work by his dead father. God instructs a professor of atheism to disseminate updated Commandments. The Minotaur is awakened to his own humanity by the computer-game-playing “new girl” who has been brought to him for supper. A recently returned veteran longs for the utterly ordinary life he led as a husband and father before being sent to Iraq. An ornithologist, forewarned by a cormorant of the exact minute of his death, struggles to remain alert to beauty and joy.
As playful as it is lyrical, Here Comes Another Lesson celebrates human hopefulness and laments a sane and gentle world that cannot exist.

About the Author

Stephen O’Connor is the author of three books: Rescue (a collection of short fiction and poetry), Will My Name Be Shouted Out? (a work of memoir and social analysis), and Orphan Trains: The Story of Charles Loring Brace and the Children He Saved and Failed (a narrative history). His fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Conjunctions, The Quarterly, Partisan Review, The New England Review, and elsewhere. His poetry has been in Poetry Magazine, The Missouri Review, Agni, Knockout, and Green Mountains Review. His essays and journalism have appeared in The New York Times, The Nation, The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, and elsewhere. O’Connor is the recipient of the Cornell Woolrich Fellowship in Creative Writing from Columbia University, the Visiting Fellowship for Historical Research by Artists and Writers from the American Antiquarian Society, and the DeWitt Wallace/Reader’s Digest Fellowship from the MacDowell Colony. He teaches in the writing MFA programs of Columbia University and Sarah Lawrence. For eight years he directed and taught in Teachers & Writers Collaborative’s flagship creative writing program at a public school in New York City. He has received a B.A. from Columbia University, and an M.A. from the University of California at Berkeley, both in English literature. He lives with his wife and daughter in New York City.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Free Press; Original edition (August 3, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1439181993
  • ISBN-13: 978-1439181997

SOURCE:  PUBLISHER

LOVED IT 

The first thing I thought of when I finished reading this collection of short stories was:  Twilight Zone.  These short vignettes could easily be some of the greatest thirty minutes on television today.  The first story is a shining example and probably my favorite in the whole book.  A minotaur (yes, the Greek mythological one), finds true love in what is supposed to be his next meal.  It truly turned out to be a beauty and the beast type tale that would please any paranormal romance fan.  Well, except for the fact that his gamer girl gets away.  

There are several stories in this collection and here are the ones that truly stood out to me. 


Aunt Jules — just sooo creepy, it looks like a normal story, but there is a wicked twist in there.
I Think I’m Happier — this just sums up life in general.  
Bestiary — reminds me of my favorite English class.  


This book is definitely on my keeper shelf since I can reread these stories over and over again to find something new each time.  There are some truly touching moments in the book, but all with a strange slant on life. 

WANT TO WIN A COPY OF THIS BOOK?

Please use a NEW AND SEPARATE comment for each entry.

Contest is open to anyone with a US mailing address (no PO Boxes)
Winner will be chosen by Random.org on 8.18.10
Winner will have 48 hours to respond to email or a new winner will be chosen
This giveaway is sponsored by Free Press and two (2) copies will be available.

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Comments

  1. For some reason, I don’t tend to read short stories, but your review has made them sound very interesting! Thanks for the chance to win.
    JHolden955(at)gmail(dot)com

    Reply

  5. Stephen finished college in the mid-seventies and did what I always imagined lots of people did back then, hitch-hiked around the US for a year.
    JHolden955(at)gmail(dot)com

    Reply

  50. bevsharp

    j.t.oldfield

    An email has been sent to the three lucky people named above (first part of their email address in case my note ends up in spam). They have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.
    Thanks to all who entered.

    Reply

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