Reading path
What We Talk About
After the war the short story moved to the suburbs and lowered its voice. Nothing much happens: a man swims home across his neighbours' pools, a checkout boy quits over three girls in bathing suits, a blind man teaches a husband to draw a cathedral. Then you set the story down and realise your hands are not steady. This is the age of the quiet catastrophe, told in kitchens and parked cars, where what is not said does all the damage.
In the app a path keeps your place, marks what you have read, and hands you the next work when you are ready for it.
The first button needs the app on this device; the second gets it there.
The route
- 1. A Worn PathEudora Welty, 1941
- 2. The AlephJorge Luis Borges, 1945
- 3. The LotteryShirley Jackson, 1948
- 4. A Perfect Day for BananafishJ.D. Salinger, 1948
- 5. A Good Man Is Hard to FindFlannery O'Connor, 1953
- 6. Tell Them Not to Kill Me!Juan Rulfo, 1953
- 7. Sonny's BluesJames Baldwin, 1957
- 8. Blow-UpJulio Cortázar, 1959
- 9. A&PJohn Updike, 1962
- 10. The SwimmerJohn Cheever, 1964
- 11. Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?Joyce Carol Oates, 1966
- 12. A Conversation with My FatherGrace Paley, 1974
- 13. CathedralRaymond Carver, 1983
- 14. EmergencyDenis Johnson, 1992
- 15. The Bear Came Over the MountainAlice Munro, 1999
- 16. A Temporary MatterJhumpa Lahiri, 1999