SOUNDTRACK:
[READ: December 14, 2022] “I’ve Thought About Taking Up Another Life”
This year, S. ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar. This is my fifth time reading the Calendar. I didn’t know about the first one until it was long out of print (sigh), but each year since has been very enjoyable. Here’s what they say this year
Like we always do at this time: the Short Story Advent Calendar is back for 2022. We had such a great time last year working with our first-ever guest editor, the one and only Alberto Manguel. This year, however, we’re bringing things back to basics. No overarching theme or format, just 25 top-class short stories, selected in-house, by some of the best writers in North America and beyond. It’s December 14. Ander Monson, author of The Gnome Stories, will get to the sports pages eventually.
This story had a very strange bookending component. The narrator, as the title says, would like to start another life.
And so, he (I believe) cites the example of a couple, usually middle-aged, let’s call them Diana and Henry. They have been married for a while and have two kids. And then one of them suddenly disappears. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 