what i'm reading: a guide to being born

I love short stories. I think they are completely underrated and everyone should read more of them. Short stories give authors a chance to stretch and show what they are capable of by capturing moments and events instead of the long struggles or journeys that novels give us. 

I was excited for this series of short stories by Ramona Ausubel because I had read a few good things about her writing in general. A Guide to Being Born* was a little bit of a disappointment to be honest. It's not that Ramona Ausubel is a bad writer, it's just that the voice in all of these stories was fairly consistent, even when the characters were supposed to be incredibly different. 

The voice she writes in is elegant and really lovely to read (I use lovely sparingly when describing writing but hers really is.) But the problem I had with this particular series of short stories was that even when the characters were extremely different and the stories focused on different people and events, the writing felt the same. What I usually love about reading a series of short stories is that you get to see the breadth of an author and in this series, that felt missing. 

But the series of stories was still beautifully written. It was unlike anything I have read in a long time. The characters were incredibly unique and many of the stories bordered somewhere between truly heartbreaking and beautiful. 

Next week I will be reviewing the YA Novel, Cinder*. So far it is a really fun light read and I am excited to see where this modern sci-fi take on Cinderella goes. Feel free to read along so you can join in the discussion next week.

Have you read A Guide To Being Born? What did you think?

xoxo,

kat