How I Met My Husband

I really enjoyed Alice Munro's short story How I Met My Husband. I would Definitely recommend it to someone else. I felt like I could relate to the main character Edie. I feel as though many women would relate to Edie as well. When you are younger,you are naive. You have hope for love and when you think you have it,you believe it will never end. I know when I was younger I wasted too much time and energy on the wrong "men",much like Chris Watters. "Men" who never followed through on their promises. Like Edie I lost faith in the idea love.

Much to my surprise...I met my husband when I least expected it. I wasn't looking for love,but it sure found me. My husband restored my faith in men,and made me realize they are not all the same.

Looking back it is funny how things turn out. We now have 2 children. Clayton 4 years old and Lauren 6 months old. I hope to teach my son and daughter respect,not only for themselves but for people throughout their lives.

"Treat others the way you want to be treated"

Submitted by Alyssa Rutherford

Sonny's Blues & Fire

Baldwins story Sonny"s Blues was really interesting to me. It reminded me of a book I read entitled "The Corner", the story was a year in the life of an inner city neighborhood, the corner was in Baltimore. The story was similar to that of Sonny trying to escape from the streets of Harlem, without addiction or a record. Like Sonny, most of the characters in The Corner did not escape unscathed from Baltimore, they did not escape at all. Just attempt after attempt to clean up their act, only to fall victim to the drug and street life once again. I find reading about these people sad yet captivating. I found I could not put the textbook down until I finished the story of Sonny and his brother and I found that I actually wanted to read more and find out what happened next. It was sort of a tease, did Sonny straighten up? Did his music provide him an out? Did he remain a victim of Harlem forever? What about his relationship with his brother? Many unanswered questions.......

The story "To Build A Fire" was also another one to captivate me, I was suprized how much I was rooting for the dog in the story and how little sympathy I felt for the man. Does that make me a bad human being or a huge animal fan? I actually think if the man was a nicer person and was not so mean to the dog I would have felt sorry for him, however, it is hard to feel compassion for an arrogant animal abuser. I do hate that he froze to death, a horrible price to pay for anyone, but I was relieved that the dog survived.

Submitted by Margaret Russo

Pilots and Pianos

I enjoyed reading Alice Munro’s How I Met My Husband. I liked how she portrayed the characters in the story, even the annoying, nosy Loretta Bird. It was easy to get into the story and follow Edie’s memories. I felt sympathetic towards Edie, up until she comes to the conclusion about the letter. I don’t think you can blame her for what happens. She’s young and mostly naïve, which gets her into even worse trouble back at the house when Alice finds out. She’s asked if they were intimate, and Edie answers yes, thinking it just means kissing. Edie does come out of the situation for the better, though. Although at first she waits for the letter, she doesn't wait forever, and she meets her husband because of it.

I would probably recommend this to someone to read, and I wouldn’t mind reading other stories by Alice Munro.
Sonny’s Blues, on the other hand, I had trouble getting into. I am not quite sure why, but it took me a bit. At first I didn’t like it, and put the book down for a few days, then came back to it and started over. In the end I did enjoy it, especially the last part (from where Sonny and his brother are in the apartment, to the end). I would try reading something else by James Baldwin.

Submitted by Jessica Rais

Sonny's Blues

My favorite short story so far was "Sonny's Blues." I loved how the brother told the story from his point of view but in the end we got to see it a bit more from Sonny's point of view. I had a cousin who died of a heroine overdose so this story put her story into perspective for me. Everyone has a reason for the things they do, its just that we don't always know or understand what the reasoning is. People struggle with addictions everyday but I could never fully understand why my cousin did what she did. Addicts have a hard time seeing their lives without their addiction, which is probably the hardest thing to overcome. So this story was extremely enlightening for me in that respect.

Submitted by Lauren Pike

10 for Sonny

Hello, everyone!

On the scale 1 to 10 "Sonny's Blues" gets 10 plus! It is hard to be very specific about the reasons for it, but it is definitely the story that touched me the most. Feels that it's extremely relevant to the times we live in, and although I personally cannot relate to the drug addiction theme, the pain the older brother feels for Sonny breaks my heart. Maybe because I also have an older brother... Do you think that the narrator had done enough to prevent Sonny from going down the hill? Or there was nothing at all that he could have done and it was bound to happen regardless of all his efforts? I tend to think there wasn't much the older brother could had done. We all have our own journeys to travel and Sonny was so set on his...It must be quite a burden for someone in their early twenties to become a role model and a caregiver to a younger sibling. I would be scared to death...And what about your own expectations, plans, etc.? I think the narrator took his mother's words too literally. All she was asking for was "to hold on to your brother" meaning not to loose the connection with him. By making it his own responsibility not to let anything happen to Sonny, the narrator made his load so much heavier.

The events in the story feel very real to me, as something that could be happening in your own family. Real issues, real fears, real losses.

This is my first reading of James Baldwin...But definitely not the last.

Submitted by Aksana Norman

Short Story of the Month club

My top two picks are definitely the A&P by John Updike, and The Storm by Kate Chopin. First I’ll talk about the A&P, if you like stories based in the 1950s era, this is a story for you. I could almost feel Sammy’s frustrations throughout entire story. The setting was clearly defined by the author even though I never lived in the 1950s reading this story made me feel like I had. The way you know how the town’s people are, president upon president generation after generation centered on conservative and uptight views of life in general. Clearly setting the tone describing the beautiful girls and their mysterious clothing, as for today, if girls were to walk into a store dressed like that no one would even turn around and bat an eye. And the reason its acceptable today are because of more and more Sammy’s in the world. You could completely feel the intolerance of everyone in that store, except for Sammy felt towards the girls. The author did a great job of painting such a clear picture of the story, made me feel like I rooted for Sammy, questioning society and its harsh judgment on individuality. I am already trying to find more stories by John Updike. Another fan favorite for me was The Storm by Kate Chopin. The author in my opinion makes me feel like 2 wrongs make a right. Now generally I am not for adultery, but you feel like the only way Calixta could be happy, and Alcee could feel secure with him with his family being away would be for this growing lust over many years. My favorite line in the whole story, without giving too much away is the very last line, “so the storm passed and everyone was happy.” It sets the tone for the author’s originality to let the weather set the tone for each up and down of this story. I believe that he is referring the author is trying to get across that every character and this story benefited from a usual family wrecking event to something more beautiful and earth shattering.

Submitted by Jennifer Morgan

Normal Appearances

The Storm by Kate Chopin is about the normal appearances of a woman performing her wifely and motherly duties. A raging storm brings an old friend to her doorstep. The sexual tension and conflicts that develops through out the encounter are comparable to the sexual tendencies of adolescence in high school. Passion, lust, and desire are not only part of human sexuality, but are primal. It does not matter what century you live in, human nature is sexually active. Whether you act on your sexuality or suppressed it that is a personal matter. Chopin wrote about females and their sexuality when it was inappropriate in society. I was surprised reading this short story. Chopin was a head of her time and she knew it. Kudos!

Submitted by Kate Misler