Now that Midnight’s Children has released me from the grip of Shiva’s powerful knees, I’ve added The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis to my rotation. Much more to my liking.
Ms. Davis has a very spare style that makes every word count. Last night I began “Story” from her 1986 collection of short stories called Break It Down. It is written in the first person and has the following sentence:
“I will have either him or my own anger, and this might be alright, since anger is always a great comfort, as I found with my husband.”
There’s a whole novel just in that sentence.
miltotto.com 
Yes. I wish it were a novel, I’m looking for a good one to lose myself in right now!
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I have inherited a bunch of Elmore Leonard and Larry McMurtry novels from my brother John’s library and I am working them into my rotation right now. They both write in a fairly spare style that is driven by dialogue. I wouldn’t say they are meaty, but they are fun. Have you read any Zadie Smith? I can commend her work without reservation. It’s not a novel, but if you are looking for something to lift your spirits, I can recommend Chernow’s biography of Grant. If you like reading about slavers getting their butts kicked all the way from Paducah, Kentucky down to Vicksburg, Mississippi, you’ll enjoy reading about Grant’s Western campaigns. I guarantee it.
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