Monday, April 6, 2015

READ THIS BOOK: The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake


There are stories and then there are STORIES!  Somehow I managed to miss one of the greatest writers of my generation: Breece D'J Pancake, until about a month ago when I stumbled upon his book in someone's "must-read" list on Twitter.  It was fate.  Tragically, he committed suicide at the age of 26, leaving only a handful of stories collected in this book:

"The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake"

If you Google him, you can find several of his stories online which were published in "The Atlantic Monthly" magazine. There's also a fine review by Joyce Caeol Oates and a few articles.  But mostly his life and death remain a mystery...

His stories are pure poetry/art. He paints with words so vividly that I became lost in them...I vanished from my world directly into his, blinking and disoriented when each story ended.

If you only read one book this year, make it this one. You won't regret it.

xo,
Marion

"I effing love books. It was books that saved me & made me. I'm nowt but the residue of books wrapped in skin."   #MarkOneInFour, from: Twitter

3 comments:

erin said...

effing love them, eh? (me too)

and then i make a straight face. the story you sent me to had a voice that didn't speak to me but spoke through me. i'll definitely be reading more. perhaps i'll remind james to bring pancake's book the next time he comes)))

glnroz said...

Thnx,, the "lost" authors are sometimes the greatest treat.

Marion said...

Erin, definitely have James bring his book. I'm reading one story a week to stretch them out. And still they haunt me. Even the preface and afterwards are awesome. xo

Glen, this book fulfills a year of treats, it's sooooo good! I'm just glad I found it before I die. LOL! My greatest fear is to die with a really good book lying on my chest---unread! ;-). xo