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Laddar... Dictionary stories : short fictions and other findings (utgåvan 2018)av Jez Burrows
VerksinformationDictionary Stories: Short Fictions and Other Findings av Jez Burrows
   Ingen/inga Det finns inga diskussioner på LibraryThing om den här boken.  Kiramke | Jun 27, 2023 |    Det här är en av LibraryThings förhandsrecensioner. ) bethnv | Aug 28, 2018 | Det här är en av LibraryThings förhandsrecensioner."Open this book on a random page and you could find yourself reading a noir thriller, a fantasy epic, a sci-fi romance, a family melodrama, a locker-room pep talk, a eulogy, a recipe, or a drawing-room murder mystery. Some stories take place over decades, while others are over in seconds. There are at least three talking animals, two sinister cults, and one headless ex-boyfriend. But while the subjects and forms of these stories are decidedly disparate, the stories themselves are unified by one constraint: each is composed entirely of example sentences taken from the dictionary. Twelve different dictionaries, to be precise." I love this concept. This was an ER book. The dictionaries have a lot of variety - e.g. two are for British and American slang - and the sentences often are colorful and surprising. Some are taken from existing literature. Burrows has done an awesome job of cobbling together the stories. The technique creates often startling combinations, and occasionally reads like a game of Mad Libs. Here's: The Lord's Prayer, From Memory Heavenly Father, What a great guy. Keep up the good work. Magic, supernatural powers, and the like. I beg forgiveness. I swear by all I hold dear that I had nothing to do with it. Deliver us from evil. Or point me in the right direction. Let's all get the hell out of here. Amen to that. In "All You Can Eat", the protagonist at a restaurant orders a staggering amount of deliciously described food (along with some weird menu items), and then is relieved to hear that the restaurant always has five ambulances at the ready. In "Creatures of the Atlantic Ocean Commentary Take 3" we find out that: "Living in the digital age can be fiercely expensive, but fish of the Atlantic coast have devious ways of making money They enjoy playing cards, and they play basketball, although on different teams. They don't like to trust their money to anyone outside the family, like crabs and other shelled creatures." So, it contains a lot of fun material, and it may be of particular interest to writers - I could see this approach as a writing prompt. Having said that, it probably would've benefited from being shorter - for me, the parade of oddball stories got a little long. And I couldn't read it straight through - I'd go read something else and come back. If you're looking for something different, this sure fits the bill. (  ) jnwelch | Aug 27, 2018 |  ) danhammang | Aug 17, 2018 | Det här är en av LibraryThings förhandsrecensioner.Jeez Burrows has invoked an array of genres and styles to keep your interest peaked. Enter the book anywhere for a quick literary pick me up. Dictionary Stories (Short Fictions and Other Findings) needs to be on your bedside table, ready to jumpstart your dreams. (  )1  abealy | Jul 29, 2018 | inga recensioner | lägg till en recension
"A collection of very short stories composed entirely of example sentences from various dictionaries, perfect for fans of The Lover's Dictionary and The Interrogative Mood: A Novel? " Dictionary Stories brings to literature the spirit of the musical mashup, digging in the crates to find old hooks and arrange them into new delights with an appeal that's not merely academic but truly pop. This kind of work reminds us: it's all there, love and disappointment and deep humor, latent in our language and its storehouses; but it takes a keen eye to connect the dots. Jez Burrows is keen indeed."--Robin Sloan, New York Times bestselling author of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. One day, while looking up a word in the New Oxford American Dictionary, Jez Burrows was stopped in his tracks by an example sentence: "He perched on the edge of the bed, a study in confusion and misery." It seemed like a tiny piece of fiction had gotten lost, wandered out of another book and settled down in the dictionary. With that spark, and a handful of experimental stories posted to Tumblr, Dictionary Stories was born. Genre-bending and wildly inventive, Dictionary Stories is a giddy celebration of the originality, flexibility, and beauty of narrative. Love stories, horror stories, noir mysteries, recipes, eulogies, confessions, thrillers -- each one a miniature literary remix of unlikely parts hidden in plain sight, created by flipping through the dictionary and knowing where to stop. Burrows is a master of immersive, immediate narratives. Effortlessly transcending sentence level, he lights between the profound and the absurd with a few carefully assembled sentences, transporting readers into moments, worlds, and experiences of remarkable variety. From the everyday (dating, family, jealousy, memory) to the extraordinary (the apocalypse, fantasies, murder, the occult). Organized alphabetically by theme and featuring original illustrations by the author, this continually surprising and wonderfully weird collection glows with humor, emotion, and intellect. Dictionary Stories will speak to language lovers, creative minds, and anyone who has ever appreciated the power of small things. "Jez has long been one of my favorite illustrators, and now he comes up with Dictionary Stories -- sentences stolen from dictionaries and pasted together into tiny, delightful narratives. A brilliant literary remix."--Austin Kleon, New York Times bestselling author of Steal Like an Artist"-- Inga biblioteksbeskrivningar kunde hittas. |
Deltog i LibraryThing FörhandsrecensenterJez Burrowss bok Dictionary Stories delades ut via LibraryThing Early Reviewers.  Pågående diskussionerIngen/ingaPopulära omslag  
 Google Books — Laddar...GenrerMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyKlassifikation enligt LCBetygMedelbetyg: (3.75)
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My rating ("I didn't like it") is because the stories don't work as a collection, at all. The idea is exciting. The first few stories are as well, interesting in their humor or form or unexpectedness or conveyance of a subtlety. The author suggests in the introduction that you could open to a page at random, and this is what I mean: the first few stories you read, chosen from anywhere, in order or not, are exciting. After that though, the form becomes more apparent. There's no unifying theme, no authorial voice, no direction, no truth, and the effect of a literary trick accumulates. By being about anything and everything, they end up being about nothing at all.
One story would be amazing to run across in an article or journal or somewhere online. I would probably clamor for more like anyone else. They would be inspiring to read one at a time, over time. But realistically, the one best of all these stories should be incorporated into an actual collection of writing, where it could shine on its own. Instead the sheer bulk of them reduces it all to a parlor trick. (