Huntington Public Library Adult Reading Challenge

  I'm usually not a fan of short stories, but this book is an exception. The writing is so beautiful! There are short stories to start, but the second half of the book is one longer story, so that was a surprise since I thought the entire book was in short story format.. Highly recommend for anyone who loved A Gentleman in Moscow, like I did.

In this book a young woman desperately tries to get to Stockholm, but along the journey a there is much to be imagined about the nature of the woman's frantic efforts to escape.  

  An academic treatment of four great Russian short story writers: Chekhov, Tolstoy, Turgenev, and Gogol with examples of their work. it is amazing how these writers from an alien world can bring one to tears of both joy and sorrow in such a compact space.

  This is a series of short stories of young women who visit funerals and sit shiva with family members, all the while pretending to know the deceased. It is a story of loneliness and grief, of a woman searching for meaningful relationships through the eyes of others. Told through a witty, daring voice, The Joy of Funerals is both disturbing and delightful.