50 book challenge: #46, 47, #48.

#46: Selected Letters of Marcel Proust. This is the other "0.5." What a snob! No surprise he did nothing remarkable in his life, har har.

#47: Chekov, Complete Short Novels, Complete Stories, trans. Pevear & Volokhonsky. Of the short novels, I read The Steppe and The Duel, and a smattering of the stories. I would have gladly continued, but the silly library refused to let me renew more than I already had. Anyway, never having read any of this writer's stuff before, this was brilliant.

#48: George Saunders, In Persuasion Nation. Too often, these stories were "funny" but not all that funny. Also, the stories didn't really tell a story - and that wasn't their purpose, to be fair - as much as present variations on a theme, that theme being rampant consumerism is deadening our souls omigod amirite? And the thing is, sure, I agree, but I'm not ready to join the church. The Red Bow was good, with some subtle touches, and again, it was true - the madness that can follow in the collective response to a tragedy, sometimes well-intentioned but sometimes not - but its force was monotonic. Good long interview with Saunders here.