Matchless by Gregory Maguire

Genre: Short story

Published: Nov. 1, 2009, 112 pgs.

Source: Library

Review: 3/5 stars

Gregory Maguire has taken the rather dark tale of "The Little Match Girl" by Hans Christian Andersen and has added a little light. This story was first heard on NPR and was written as a read-aloud Christmas story. It's a tragic story but feels a little less so as Maguire puts his spin on it. I wasn't very familiar with the story of "The Little Match Girl" when I read this book and I wonder if I would have enjoyed it more had I known the original tale better. It takes only 15-20 minutes to read so it's definitely worth the time. It really is a lovely story but I finished it feeling like I wanted a little "more". I'm not even sure what "more" I wanted but I wasn't completely satisfied. Has anyone else read this? I'm interested to hear what you think.

Rating: 1.1.1 As my mom used to call a good cleaning job--spic 'n' span clean.

The Light, the Dark, and Ember Between by J. W. Nicklaus

Category: Short stories

Published: 2009, 176 pgs.

Review: 3/5 stars

The Light, the Dark, & Ember Between by J.W. Nicklaus is a collection of short stories with themes such as love, loss, redemption, humour, death and more. I was interested in this book because I thought the cover and title were intriguing. I wanted to like it more than I did. The stories were usually uplifting and positive but I'm just not sure I'm a big fan of the short story. There wasn't enough time for me to care about the characters and that seems to make a difference in whether I like a book or not. The nice thing about it is that you can easily sit down and complete most of the stories within 10 minutes. You can also skip around since none of the stories are related to each other. It would be a great book to have on hand for those times when you are waiting for the doctor, your kids, or whoever else makes you wait.

Rating: 1.1.1 Pretty clean through and through. There may be a biblical swear word here and there. I don't really count those.

Mexican Bowl Fishing by William Douglas Little

Rating: 1.1.2
Category: Humor, short stories
Published: 2008, 248 pgs.



Review: 4/5

William Douglas Little has a knack for taking unlucky, unfortunate events and turning them into very funny stories. Most of the stories are about him and I honestly felt pretty sorry for him at times. Some of the weirdest things happen to him. It's great that he is a good writer and can share them with us. My husband also read this book and really enjoyed it. It's the kind of book that you can pick up, read one story for 10-15 minutes, get a good laugh, and then move on to other things you need to get done. Be careful though, you may very well want to keep reading.