Writer's Choice

by Lawrence Rust Hills

Book by Hills, L. Rust

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[Brian]

It's a wonderful concept, really.

Richard Yates

A collection of 20 short stories by 20 different authors.

George P. Elliott

Rather than the editor choosing the story, each author gets to pick their own favorite.

Truman Capote

Before their story each author pens an introduction explaining why they picked the one they did.

Stanley Elkin

Each story is particularly fabulous. I understand why it is an author's favorite child.

Philip Roth

All but two of the stories were new to me.

Donald Barthelme

I came to this collection by way of The Friday Book

John Barth

I found some new authors I've never heard of, a couple I now want to read further.

Reynolds Price

But then I start to notice something as the book tilts towards the end of its 432 pages.

Arthur Miller

Stories are bleeding into another.

R. V. Cassill

Middle-aged men.

John Updike

Middle-aged middle-class men.

Evan S. Connell, Jr.

Middle-aged middle-class white men.

James Jones

Middle-aged middle-class white men with raging libidos.

Norman Mailer

Middle-aged middle-class white men with waning libidos.

Bruce Jay Friedman

Wait a minute, who is this editor Rust Hills?

Herbert Gold

What year was this published?

James Purdy

In 1974 it was not difficult to find brilliant short fiction written by authors not white, not male.

Terry Southern

Aha, there is one exception in this collection to the rule.

Hortense Calisher

Otherwise, this collection was too much

Thomas Williams

White space

[Simon A. Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent collection of stories, in fact one of the best I've ever read. Each author, and there are about 15 of the best, introduce each story by telling how they came up with the idea for the story they selected, why it is their own personal favorite and what they were thinking about when they wrote it. "Writer's choice" literally means that the editor, Rust Hills, of Iowa Workshop fame, picked probably his favorite authors and let them "choose" which story they would like to include and asked them to explain why.

This book is out of print and very hard to find but I highly reccomend buying one if you can find it. My copy is very old and worn, but I reread it often. Richard Yates, Donald Barthelme, James Purdy, Evan S. Connell and Truman Capote are all present here and at the top of their game.

[Jeff Hobbs]

Read so far:

Lost in the funhouse / John Barth --1
Paraguay / Donald Barthelme --1
In the absence of angels / Hortense Calisher --3
Children on their birthdays / Truman Capote --3
*The biggest band / R.V. Cassill --
*Saint Augustine's pigeon / Evan S. Connell, Jr. --
I look out for Ed Wolfe / Stanley Elkin --1
Children of Ruth / George P. Elliott --1
Black angels / Bruce Jay Friedman --
*A death on the East Side / Herbert Gold --
The ice-cream headache / James Jones --
*The time of her time / Norman Mailer --
The misfits / Arthur Miller --2
*Waiting at Dachau / Reynolds Price --
*A good woman / James Purdy --
*"I always wanted you to admire my fasting"; or, Looking at Kafka / Philip Roth --
The road out of Axotle / Terry Southern --
*Leaves / John Updike --
Goose Pond / Thomas Williams --
A really good jazz piano / Richard Yates