Almonds To Zhoof: Collected Stories (triquarterly Books)

Praise for Richard Stern’s Short Fiction “If the task of reading Stern requires a greater concentration than we are accustomed to apply to mere jewels of literary art, the reward of reading him is proportionately greater as well.” — Mark Harris, New Republic “Stern has the temperament, the technical ability and the confidence in his audience to be by turn sharp, sentimental, erudite, whimsical, astonishing, even amusing.” — Norman Shrapnel, The Guardian “A depth of sensitivity and clarity rare even in novels.” — Robert Boyd, St. Louis Post-Dispatch “Richard Stern has always had a wonderful way with short stories, and in his new collection is more wonderful than ever.” — Saul Bellow “The quality . . . that really disturbs and astonishes is the truth of the characters. How does Stern know how an American teenage girl in Rome perceives the world around her? How does he know how a bus driver feels on his 50th birthday when his whole family has forgotten it, a character whose stoicism and gratitude for the barest shreds of emotional response bring tears to the eyes. . . . His comprehension of people’s lives is truly remarkable.” —Alice Shukalo, Daily Texan “Stern is a writer who uses language and situations in a way all his own. He is imaginative, with a rare eye for detail, and a bitter sense of humour that is altogether to my taste. Read him please.” — Mordecai Richler, The Spectator “ ‘Teeth,’ ‘Wanderers,’ and ‘Dying’ would be the envy of any contemporary writer.” — Frederick C. Crews, New York Review of Books “As tightly packed and potentially explosive as the heart of an atom. In ‘Mail,’ for example . . . there are germs for at least five promising novels squeezed into fourteen pages. . . . Richard Stern’s [stories] are simultaneously rich gifts and murderous booby traps. You open them at your own risk and for your own reward. Please do open them.” — James Frakes, Cleveland Plain Dealer “Every once in a while some genius of a satirist gets the exact pungency of aconite emanating from professors: Mr. Stern can do it to perfection.” — Guy Davenport, National Review “Read him and laugh, read him and weep, read him.” — Thomas Rogers, Chicago Sun-Times “What a feast of other people’s troubles! . . . The stories are a kind of game, a sensual vicarious gambol in a room full of naked people, intense as gossip, exhilarating as a suddenly opened window on a sparkling eye-blue sea. In a nutshell (make that a coconut), Stern is fun to read.” — John Seelye, Chicago magazine “Stern has done as much to pry open the possibilities of the short story and the long story as any of his more illustrious contemporaries.” — Philip Roth “I tried hard, I really did, to find just one sentence that, in or out of context, didn’t provide pleasure. Of course I failed.” — Albert Goldbarth “Often compared to his fellow Chicagoan Saul Bellow, Richard Stern is an almost equally masterly c