Symphony Space

Overall, an interesting set of short stories, all with some speculative fiction aspect to them. Aside from the two well-loved classics (Bradbury’s The Veldt and Jacobs’ The Monkey’s Paw), they were new to me and mostly pretty good, but not my kind of thing. They were the kind of short stories that are filled with imagery and emotion but also whose point, if there was one, sort of sailed over my head. The performances, on the other hand, were all top notch, as they are recorded from the public media and Symphony Space live show.

Audiobook, borrowed from my public library via Overdrive.… (más)

Selected Shorts is a weekly radio broadcast, produced by Symphony Space and recorded live on stage in downtown New York City. Each of the short stories commonly is performed / read by a different, professional actor. The collection “Wondrous Women” contains six short stories, described as “passionate stories dedicated to mothers, daughters, wives, and lovers.”

The six stories are as follows:

Teolinda Gersào's “The Red Fox Fur Coat" read by Kathleen Chalfant; Kim Edwards' “The Story of My Life” read by Holly Hunter; David Haynes' "Taking Miss Kezee to the Polls" read by Michael Genet; D. H. Lawrence's “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter” read by Jon DeVries; Allan Gurganus' "It Had Wings" read by Marian Seldes; and Richard Russo's "The Whore's Child" read by Harold Gould.

While well- performed, the stories in this collection were not among my favorites; thus my 2.5 star rating.

The Comments section of this listing offers one sentence summaries of each of the stories.… (más)

The six stories are listed below, with one line summaries, taken from the Selected shorts website.

C.S. Montanye’s "A Shock for the Countess" performed by Fionnula Flanagan: Intrigue in the alps in this clever tale of a jewelry heist

Dashiell Hammett’s "The Creeping Siamese" performed by John Shea: The Continental Op gets his man

Ed McBain’s "Improvisation" performed by Isaiah Sheffer: A hilarious story of two tall and willowy sisters up to no good

Louise Erdrich’s "Gleason" performed by Robert Sean Leonard: A simple plot goes terribly awry

Shirley Jackson’s "The Summer People" performed by René Auberjonois: Spooky goings-on at a country cottage

Nadine Gordimer’s "Country Lovers" performed by Hattie Winston: Forbidden love on a South African farm.

Somehow, the collection did not quite appeal to me, despite my love for the genre.… (más)