<p>I’m just now reading the book. I don’t know if I’ll have time to read all the stories. Which ones did people like best? </p>
<p>I think the story I liked best was “What feels like the world”. </p>
<p>Thanks, mathmom. I can’t find the text of that story online. Maybe if some of you succeeded in finding many of the stories online, you could post links to help those of us who are running behind?</p>
<p>I finished the book (took two days!) and I’d like to read at least a few of the stories.</p>
<p>I read this book over the weekend and enjoyed it. I’m going to try and read the stories.</p>
<p>I’ve read most of the stories. My favorites were “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz” and “A Conversation with My Father”. Oh, I like Flannery O’Connor, too. My least favorite is the Bananafish story which I find to be vile. I haven’t yet read “What Feels Like the World” because I couldn’t find it online or at the library. However, I bought the book (used, online), * The Stories of Richard Bausch *! </p>
<p>PlantMom, I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves in discussion, but can’t resist saying that I have always really liked “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” despite the content – yet found Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” almost too horrible to get through! It’s always so interesting to compare our various likes/dislikes. Okay, I will make no more comments until the 1st.</p>
<p>NJTheatreMOM, I will post links to the available online stories shortly. </p>
<p>Part I:</p>
<p>“Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl: <a href=“Lamb to the Slaughter--Roald Dahl (1916-1990)”>http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lamb.html</a></p>
<p>“The Diamond as Big as the Ritz” by F. Scott Fitzgerald: <a href=“The Diamond as Big as the Ritz - Wikisource, the free online library”>http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Diamond_as_Big_as_the_Ritz</a></p>
<p>“The Luck of Roaring Camp” by Bret Harte: <a href=“The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales, by Bret Harte”>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales, by Bret Harte;
<p>“A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor: <a href=“http://djwolfenden.files.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2014/03/a-good-man-is-hard-to-find.pdf”>http://djwolfenden.files.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2014/03/a-good-man-is-hard-to-find.pdf</a></p>
<p>“The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” by Mark Twain: <a href=“The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”>http://twain.lib.virginia.edu/projects/price/frog.htm</a></p>
<p>“The Girls in Their Summer Dresses” by Irwin Shaw: <a href=“The Girls in Their Summer Dresses--Irwin Shaw (1913-1984)”>http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/dresses.html</a></p>
<p>Part II:</p>
<p>“A Conversation with My Father” (audio) by Grace Paley: <a href=“Short story podcast: Ali Smith reads A Conversation With My Father by Grace Paley | Culture | The Guardian”>http://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2010/dec/07/alismith-short-stories</a></p>
<p>“A Perfect Day for Bananafish” by J.D. Salinger: <a href=“http://www.nyx.net/~kbanker/chautauqua/jd.htm”>http://www.nyx.net/~kbanker/chautauqua/jd.htm</a></p>
<p>(original version in The New Yorker, January 31, 1948: <a href=“http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1948-01-31#folio=020”>http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1948-01-31#folio=020</a>)</p>
<p>“The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe: <a href=“http://www.literature.org/authors/poe-edgar-allan/tell-tale-heart.html”>http://www.literature.org/authors/poe-edgar-allan/tell-tale-heart.html</a></p>
<p>“Bullet in the Brain” by Tobias Wolff (A.J. mentions this story in one of his introductions, but it isn’t a chapter title): <a href=“Tobias Wolff's short story, "Bullet in the Brain"”>http://pov.imv.au.dk/Issue_27/section_1/artc2A.html</a></p>
<p>“What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” by Raymond Carver: <a href=“http://headzthenovel.com/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-love/”>http://headzthenovel.com/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-love/</a></p>
<p>The only stories I couldn’t find online are “What Feels Like the World” by Richard Bausch, “Ironhead” by Aimee Bender and “The Bookseller” by Roald Dahl. I checked those three out of the library.</p>
<p>Thanks so much, Mary!! I’m certain I’ve read Bananafish, Telltale Heart and Celebrated Jumping Frog (and perhaps Lamb to the Slaughter) at some time in the distant past, but I don’t remember them at all, so I need to revisit them. </p>
<p>I think I hate “Bananafish” even more than The Catcher in the Rye. 
But I will say no more!</p>
<p>For those so inclined, for $2.99 you can buy this kindle version - a summary of all those wonderful links Mary shared, and the relevance of each story. ( I know cliff notes mentality- guilty as charged )
<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JMO2G4S/ref=oh_d__o01_details_o01__i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1”>http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JMO2G4S/ref=oh_d__o01_details_o01__i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1</a></p>
<p>^ too tempting – I just bought it. I’ll let you folks know if the author has any brilliant insights. Thanks SJCM.</p>
<p>I have read three of the short stories so far and have found them to be superb…simply delightful. I like them better than the book, which I guess makes sense, given that they are pretty much classics!</p>
<p>Two libraries that I visited did not have either “What Feels Like the World” by Bausch, “Ironhead” by Bender, or “The Bookseller” by Dahl.</p>
<p>I ended up reading “The Bookseller” sitting in a chair at the local Barnes & Noble. </p>
<p>And I submitted an inter-library loan request for short story collections that include the Bausch and Bender stories.</p>
<p>I received my copy of The Stories of Richard Bausch and finished “What Feels Like the World”. I’m moving it to my favorite, so far!</p>
<p>Thanks for the links, Mary! If anyone wants a few more stories, these were suggested by A.J. to Maya in Section II:</p>
<p>The Beauties, by Anton Chekhov
<a href=“The Beauties, by A. P. Chekhov, 1888”>http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/ac/beauties.htm</a>
<a href=“Short story podcast: Philip Pullman reads 'The Beauties' by Anton Chekhov | Books | The Guardian”>http://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2010/dec/08/philip-pullman-the-beauties-anton-chekhov</a>
(read by Philip Pullman)</p>
<p>The Doll’s House, by Katherine Mansfield
<a href=“http://www.lamaquinadeltiempo.com/mansfield/04dollh.htm”>http://www.lamaquinadeltiempo.com/mansfield/04dollh.htm</a></p>
<p>Brownies, by Z Z Packer
couldn’t find this one online</p>
<p>Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, by Z Z Packer
<a href=“http://www.lamaquinadeltiempo.com/mansfield/04dollh.htm”>http://www.lamaquinadeltiempo.com/mansfield/04dollh.htm</a></p>
<p>In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried, by Amy Hempl
<a href=“"In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried" by Amy Hempel — Fictionaut”>http://fictionaut.com/stories/amy-hempel/in-the-cemetery-where-al-jolson-is-buried</a> </p>
<p>Indian Camp, by Hemingway
<a href=“http://www.nbu.bg/webs/amb/american/4/hemingway/camp.htm”>http://www.nbu.bg/webs/amb/american/4/hemingway/camp.htm</a>
<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube; (audio)</p>
<p>^ Thank you, buenavista!</p>
<p>If you want to read “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere” try this: <a href=“Drinking Coffee Elsewhere | The New Yorker”>Drinking Coffee Elsewhere | The New Yorker; </p>
<p>The Mansfield short story got linked twice. </p>
<p>“In the Cemetary where Al Jolson is buried” is heartbreaking, but I think it’s my favorite of the ones listed so far.</p>
<p>Oops–thanks, mathmom! That’s where I meant to link!</p>
<p>@plantmom - you’ll enjoy this link- about Bausch and " what the world feels like" with a very moving story about another writer and an amazing moment about a lost child on the highway.
<a href=“http://fictionwritersreview.com/interview/an-interview-with-Richard-bausch/”>http://fictionwritersreview.com/interview/an-interview-with-Richard-bausch/</a></p>
<p>And we’re off! Welcome to our discussion of The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. (The book’s title in the UK is The Collected Works of A.J. Fikry. Why the difference, do you think?)</p>
<p>I really liked this book. As Shrek would say, it’s like an onion; it’s got layers. In particular, I enjoyed the experience of reading the book because it led me to more than a dozen terrific short stories.</p>
<p>Beginning at the end—or close to it—one of the stories I liked the most (and this surprised me) was Ironhead. A ridiculous tale, right? And yet during the final pages, I found myself suddenly and unexpectedly tearing up. Much like my response to The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. </p>
<p>At one point in the novel, Ismay says to Lambiase, “Endings can be happy or sad, I don’t care anymore as long as it’s earned” (p. 206). I think The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry earned its ending.</p>
<p>And although it is truly an ending for A.J., I think the book emphasizes—especially through the linked short stories—that the next (unwritten) chapter for Amelia and Maya could very well be happy. A. J. himself survived a terrible loss and moved on—years afterward, looking at Amy and Maya, he thinks, “I am happier than I can ever remember being” (p. 129). </p>
<p>The ability to recover after the death of a loved one is both miraculous and bittersweet. This is mentioned in A.J.’s favorite story, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love”:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The same idea is expressed beautifully in “Ironhead”: “While she cut the mushrooms, she cried more than she had at the grave, the most so far, because she found the saddest thing of all to be the simple truth of her capacity to move on.”</p>
<p>I am going to post two separate lists of discussion questions. One is from the publisher and the other is from the reading guide that SJCM told us about. Don’t feel obligated to plow through every question. It’s an extensive collection, but I figured I might as well share them all and people can dip into whichever questions they find appealing. </p>
<p>List #1:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>At the beginning of the story, Amelia says she is considering quitting online dating. How would you compare the act of buying books online to the act of dating online? Is it relevant to the story that Amelia meets her eventual husband in a very analog location, a bookstore?</p></li>
<li><p>Consider the setting. Why do you think the author chooses to set the book on an island? How does the island setting reflect A.J.’s character?</p></li>
<li><p>Perhaps oddly, vampires are a recurring motif in the story: for example, when A.J.’s wife throws the vampire prom and when A.J. watches True Blood to court Amelia. What do you make of the references to vampires?</p></li>
<li><p>Lambiase moves from an occasional or nonreader, to a reader, to a bookseller. How do you think becoming a reader changes him? Consider the scene where he decides not to confront Ismay about the backpack. Do you think Lambiase’s reaction is different than it would have been if he hadn’t taken up reading?</p></li>
<li><p>The author chooses to begin each chapter with a description of a short story. Discuss some of the ways the stories relate to the chapters with which they are paired. Is A.J. creating a canon for Maya? How does the book itself function as a kind of canon? If these are A.J.’s favorites, what do they say about A.J. as a reader and as a man?</p></li>
<li><p>Did you find Ismay’s motivations for stealing Tamerlane to be forgivable? How do you think she should pay for her crime? Why do you think Lambiase lets her off?</p></li>
<li><p>At one point, Maya speculates that perhaps “your whole life is determined by what store you get left in” (page 85). Is it the people or the place that makes the difference?</p></li>
<li><p>When did you become aware that Leon Friedman might be an imposter? What did you make of Leonora Ferris’s reasons for hiring him?</p></li>
<li><p>How do you think Daniel Parish might have changed if he had lived? Do you think some people never change?</p></li>
<li><p>Were you surprised by the outcome of the short story contest? What do you think of A.J.’s comments to Maya about why certain books and stories win prizes and others don’t? Does the knowledge that a book has won a prize attract you to reading it?</p></li>
<li><p>Compare Maya’s “fiction” about the last day of her mother’s life to Ismay’s version. Which do you consider to be more accurate and why?</p></li>
<li><p>How do you think the arrival of the e-reader is related to the denouement of the story? Is A.J. a man who cannot exist in a world with e-books? What do you think of e-books? Do you prefer reading in e- or on paper?</p></li>
<li><p>At one point, A.J. asks Maya, “Is a twist less satisfying if you know it’s coming? Is a twist that you can’t predict symptomatic of bad construction?” What do you think of this statement in view of the plot of The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry? Did you guess who Maya’s father was? If so, what were the clues?</p></li>
<li><p>The author chooses to end the novel with a new sales rep coming to an Island Books that is no longer owned by A.J. What do you make of this ending?</p></li>
<li><p>What do you think the future holds for physical books and bookstores?</p></li>
</ol>