Keeping Track: Fiction of Lists

by Yelizaveta P. Renfro (editor), Steve Edwards, Kathie Giorgio

From ex-lovers to holiday ornaments, from resolutions to stay sober to fantasies about home-cooked meals, the stories in this anthology chronicle losses and upheavals through that most basic of forms-the list. In despair or frustration, with determination or sorrow, the characters in these eighteen stories frame their lives with lists to make sense of the turmoil, to learn what is most important to them--and why. A young biologist bands songbirds in Alaska and discovers a new destiny. A grieving son attempts to save what remains of his father's legacy from a flood. A social worker at a halfway house tries to make it through the day. Teenage girls burn the symbols of rejected lives. An immigrant suffers the loss of a child and her husband's cruelty far from her native Africa. These stories--and many others--list the things we lose and the things we keep.

--Yelizaveta P. Renfro

204 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2012

About the author

Yelizaveta P. Renfro
Yelizaveta P. Renfro is the author of a collection of short stories, A Catalogue of Everything in the World, winner of the St. Lawrence Book Award. Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Glimmer Train Stories, North American Review, Colorado Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, South Dakota Review, Witness, Reader's Digest, Blue Mesa Review, Parcel, Adanna, Fourth River, Bayou Magazine, Untamed Ink, So to Speak, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from George Mason University and a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska. Born in the former Soviet Union, she has lived in California, Virginia, Nebraska, and Connecticut.

Reviews

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this through a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.

What can I say, really? It is what it sounds like: A book with short stories about or containing lists, in some way or another. It's an unedited ARC, so there are obviously a few mistakes here and there, but nothing that won't be polished up before it's released, I'm sure. I don't usually like short story collections, but this one was interesting enough. Granted, getting started on this book was kind of hard because the first story just bored the crap out of me, but once I got over that hump, it was smooth sailing. And since they are short stories, I could sit down and just read a story here and a story there before bed and after school work or whenever and not be anxious and on edge to see what was going to happen next, so that was definitely an upside. It was a nice break, especially if you're used to reading books that do keep you on the edge of your seat the whole time - because sometimes it's just nice to relax for a bit. There were some stories I liked better than others, - ugh, do not get me started on a couple of these! I mean seriously, just... ugh! - but every one of them deserves its place in this collection, whether I like it or not.

Basically, if you're into lists and short stories, I say go for it; what have you got to lose by checking it out?

I gave it a three because I wanted to give it a 2.5, but since you have to give full stars, I rounded up. Because I'm an optimist.

[Wg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this GR giveaway. It is an unedited Advance Review Copy. If you like unique short stories, you might be interested in this book.