Anarchy Rules! Short Stories Rule! Just Read Something, People!

In keeping with the (semi) literary theme of the last post, I wanted to expound a bit on one of my nightstand books. The collection of John Sayles stories includes the title story "At the Anarchists' Convention," and it's one of my favorite short stories of all time. As all of us are painfully aware, the holidays are upon us, and in my opinion, there is no better time to check out a collection of short stories than the holidays. Many of us will be spending copious amounts of time with extended families, and some of us go a little bit nuts being around large groups of people for long stretches. A book of short stories (along with, perhaps, several glasses of wine) is just what you need at times like this--when it gets to be too much, you can sneak off somewhere for 15 or 20 minutes, read a short story, and feel renewed, or at least have something to think about while everyone else is complaining about hip pain or talking about how to get cranberry sauce stains out of the tablecloth or pretending to be interested in the 16th football game of the day. And with any luck, your family will never even realize you were gone! It's perfect.

So, if you get a chance to swing by the library soon and pick up this short-story collection, I highly recommend it. The title story, in particular, is a gem. (Yes, it's one of the three in the book I've actually read. I plan on reading the rest . . . over the holidays!) Just think about it for a minute . . . a convention of anarchists! The whole story just drips with delicious irony, and the title character is delightfully self-deprecating. The premise rests on the fact that all of the anarchists are getting up there in years, because really, who's an anarchist anymore? And their whole group is organized around committees and subcommittees, and they have officers and circulate petitions . . . basically, everything that isn't related to anarchy per se is what they do. (There is a wonderful part where they all throw away the name tags given to them at the door to the convention--"Name tags at the Anarchists' Convention," the narrator writes disdainfully, as if this is just going too far.) This collection came out in 1975, but the depiction of utter chaos and discord that often results when you try to organize people of supposedly like minds rings perfectly true today. (In fact, it summoned up a lot of deja vu from when I worked with MoveOn.org last year . . . )

If you're looking for more great short-story selections, here's my top 10 list. (Finally, another top 10 list!) In no particular order:

1. The anarchist convention story (see above)
2. "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," Flannery O'Connor
3. "To Build a Fire," Jack London
4. "In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried," Amy Hempel
5. "The Lottery," Shirley Jackson
6. "Lust," Susan Minot
7. "Where I'm Calling From," Raymond Carver
8. "The Enormous Radio," John Cheever
9. "The Burning House," Ann Beattie
10. "Everyday Use," Alice Walker