Stubborn Light: The Best of The Sun Volume III

by Sy Safransky

New

Genres: Essays

621 pages, paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Joe Henry]

I often do not do well with collections. I got distracted, picked up something else, and never got back to it, but it is still on my shelf.

[Chana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Sun magazine but usually in small doses. Reading many stories and articles in succession was more difficult as each tends to be heavy in significance and sometimes depressing. That said, let me also say that the writing is superior, intellectual, poetic, personal and often beautiful. So that I can end with what I love best in this book I will start with what I didn't care for: I thought that the interview with Stephen Schwartz was incomprehensible, lots of words saying nothing. I also didn't care for Sparrow's Diary, I laughed but by the end of was thinking "Guru, Shmuru". OK, my favorite: Non-fiction #1 was Giving Away Gardens by Dan Barker, and #2 was An Interview with James Hillman, and #3 was Trying To Quit by Eleanor Glaze. My favorite fiction was Heart Too Big by John C. Richards. Accolades also for Why I Like Dead People by Sallie Tisdale, Letter to Maxim by Alison Luteman, and The Ward by Bruce Mitchell. I didn't care for the poetry and actively disliked She Said, Can't We Just Be Friends by RT Smith.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a compilation of stories from one of my favorite magazines, "The Sun." While I enjoyed a lot of the stories in this book, I prefer them within the context of the magazine as a whole. This is probably because each issue of the magazine has a subtle theme running throughout...the poems, stories, interviews and letters all build upon one another and make the whole better than each individual piece. The editor tried to make these stories and poems build upon one another as well, but it didn't have quite the same impact for me in this book.