Great short stories are described my Milton Crane as:

the sudden unforgettable revelation of character; the vision of a world through another’s eyes; the glimpse of truth; the capture of a moment in time.

This week I set my sails for different worlds.

“What They Write in Other Countries”, by Mary Sojourner, Delicate 2004

I got powerfully drawn into a writing teacher’s world, a world of discovery and connections. Ms. Green hopes that teacher and students will surprise each other. They surprise each other and themselves. Superb writing.

“Peters”, by Tatiana Tolstaia, Balancing Acts, Contemporary stories by Russian Women, Dell Publishing 1991

Just as I was lamenting lack of access to female Russian writers I discovered this anthology in the Sonora Used Book Store. Peters is the unlovely, lonely and unloved misfit who rolls the rock of hope up the hill and retrieves it each time it rolls back down over him. He continues to appreciate what he can’t have. Lovely language and vivid personification:

Life stood on tiptoes and peeped in at the window: Why was Peters sleeping? Why didn’t he come out to play her cruel games with her?

• “Horsecamp”, The Unreal and the Real, Selected Stories of Ursula K. LeGuin, Volume One Where on Earth

Worlds are richer when experienced from more than one perspective. This is particularly so when the boundaries between two worlds dissolve. I’m beginning to get magical realism.

• “Muzungu”, by Namwali Serpell, The Best American Short Stories 2009, edited by Alice Sebold

The Wall Street Journal reports that infants can understand some of what goes on in others’ minds and even take another’s perspective. In this story, the expat world is insular and desultory to the point of cliché and Isa is nine years old before she is able to catch a glimpse of herself as the natives view her.

• “Them Old Cowboy Songs”, by Annie Proulx, The Best American Short Stories 2009, edited by Alice Sebold

Old cowboy songs provide a mournful chorus to the hardscrabble life of the 19^th Century Wyoming cowboy.

• “Bear House”, by Mary Sojourner, Delicate 2004

I love this collection of stories that draw you into the world of independent older women living in one of my favorite places, the desert Southwest.

•  “Yurt”, by Sarah Shun-Line Bynum, The Best American Short Stories 2009, edited by Alice Sebold

In the notes, Bynum reveals this is a character sketch. I read it for insight into the unique pressures of being a school teacher. Ms. Hempel concludes:

One could be quite unhappy and never have a chance to know it.

Words to meditate upon.