In the early 2000's we took a trip to Vermont. Coincidently, it was almost ten years after the publication of this anthology, and as I pause and look back on that coincidence, I realize that time was so much shorter and closer back then. I'm so far from the 90s and early 2000s now related to progress on this reading adventure, but I'm so fortunate to be able to continue on it with my reading and thinking.
It was just the two of us, and there wasn't a purpose for
our getaway – it was just that. We made our base camp at the offseason
Killington resort hotel and explored the various attractions within 50 miles.
Of course, Norwich was a highlight, and we had a wonderful time walking around
the campus and spending some time with some old friends there. And as these
stories and this project does, it allows me to drift back to visiting Ellin and
reflect on her sudden death several years ago.
One afternoon, as we strolled through a typical Vermont small town, we happened into a small bookstore, and I picked up a collection of short stories. I was still a few years away from truly loving and appreciating the short story form, but the book's subject matter was more aligned with my interests at the time. It was a collection of stories all taking place in or about libraries.
At the time, I was considering making library work a more serious occupation than my work as a library clerk at the newspaper. Of course, library school was on the horizon, but my lack of interest in engaging in any additional schooling at that time was preventing me from moving forward.
Contained in this collection of short stories was the story
that BASS 1992 brought forward, "Community Life." Here we are, reunited
with this story in BASS 1992, read some 20 years after first coming across it.
Now, I struggle to recall if I read Community Life in the
other collection. I would have remembered it since there is a Romanian aspect
to it, and to put the icing on the cake, portions of the story occur in
Vermont. So, we have libraries, a Romanian and Vermont. The closest I ever came
to matches like that was Donna Tartt's "The Secret History" novel.
Given that I felt so close to the main character, Vermont
and libraries, I think these story ingredients are what pulled me through it.
There is a more profound message that Moore points out in the Author's notes
contained at the back of the anthology, and I recognized those messages…but if
it were not for my connection to "the three," I would have struggled
through this story.
Let's be honest… I'm struggling through all of these stories
anyway. I wrote the introduction to BASS 1992 back on February 20, 2020. It's
now March 2022, and I still have nine stories to read and write about in this
collection.
At this pace, I'll finish the book sometime in 2023?
I've read and listened to a lot of writing advice, and most
of it encourages reading and writing to get better at writing.
I'm trying.
I run to get healthier and to be a better runner. I lift
weights to get stronger and to be healthier.
I need to work on my reading and writing to be a better
writer.
I'd also like to bring my writing about these stories back
to what they once were. I invested much more research into the authors and a
deeper analysis of the story. I'll work on doing that moving forward.
Unfortunately, as I make this effort, I see that the next Author
is Alice Munro…one of my most challenging authors.
Fortunately, this is the third time we've run into Lorrie
Moore in this anthology, and it appears that I'll encounter her several more
times as we move through the project – Moore has a total of seven stories included
in the BASS.
