Elizabeth Crane is the author of two collections of short stories from Little, Brown: When the Messenger is Hot and All this Heavenly Glory. Her work has been featured in numerous anthologies and publications including Other Voices, Nerve, and The Believer. Her stories have been featured on WBEZ’s Stories on Stage and NPR’s Selected Shorts, and her work has been adapted for the stage and screen. Her third collection of stories, You Must Be This Happy to Enter, will be released by Punk Planet Books in February 2008.
Okay, three favorite books read this year:
- Varieties of Disturbance by Lydia Davis
- Minor Robberies by Deb Olin Unferth
- Big Cats by Holiday Reinhorn
I’m a huge Lydia Davis fan. Whenever I read Lydia Davis, I want to be Lydia Davis, and then I try and fail to be Lydia Davis. Now, though, I also want to be Deb Olin Unferth, who is in the Lydia Davis School of Genius Very Short Fiction, but somehow manages to still be very much Deb Olin Unferth. I am now also officially a fan of Holiday Reinhorn, who is hilarious and heartbreaking, and knows how to whup ass with her endings. “Get Away From Me, David” is one of the best stories (and titles) I’ve read all year. Notably, it was given to me by the artist Tony Fitzpatrick, who I would also like to be, except for my issues with glue and not being that sort of an artist. Having failed at becoming any of these people, I plan on sticking to being myself for the time being.
