I don't like sweet potato. I don't understand her point. The first time I tasted a sweet potato it was sweet and it felt a little insulting because I'm a potato person. And salt, lots of salt. And since then I've had a hostile relationship to the limit with sweet potatoes. Or so I thought.
That's what children are for - they know very well how to put a mirror on all kinds of things, including sweet potatoes. So it was when my youngest said, "Maybe it's time you stop saying you don't like yams - you're about to finish the tray..." And indeed, I nibbled more and more of the oven-roasted yams that the little chef had prepared. did i give up Not really. I answered her with a full mouth, "I only like what she makes" and she fixed one of her piercing looks on me and then added, "And only in orange soup, and only only, so like I said, you do like sweet potatoes."
Same with the short story genre. For years and a whole life I declare that I don't like short stories that are combined into a book. Because I like to open a book, get drawn into the story and close it when it's over - a beginning, middle and end that take me on a long journey. And short stories, how to say, it's like reading a column in a newspaper, I read a minute and that's it. And how do you go from story to story? I need a break and then I actually didn't realize the reading time I intended to spend. And that's it, the defense finished its arguments.
Nevertheless, somewhere in 2000, I purchased the book of Etgar Keret, Missing Kissinger, because... I don't know, someone or many beings told me that this is a must-read book. So on Saturday morning, a beautiful day in the rented apartment in Yafa Nof, the apartment where the blinds had not been lowered in the almost three years we lived there, because I wanted to fall asleep looking at the lights of Haifa Harbor and wake up to a deep blue with red and white cranes - I did what I used to do on Saturday mornings, open a new book and read
There is such cheerfulness that surrounds me when I hold a book in anticipation, perhaps like people feel before a first date. And I started. Waiting to burst out laughing as I was promised by knowledgeable recommenders. The book starts with the story "Break the pig" and all I felt were tears in my eyes when the story ended and so another story and another. And I began to filter with increasing silence, that I would already see to this and the way they recommended the book (because if there is something I hold a grudge against - it is a recommendation of a book that makes me feel bad).
At this point, the man intervened and asked what happened. I shared the face of a girl who had her popsicle taken away after she ate all the chocolate around and got to the really delicious part - "This book was recommended and it's so sad! And terrible! What's written there is just terrible, I don't understand why they told me it was funny."
The man from his side looked at the cover and said with a smile "Oh, it's a cold challenge, wait a minute." Stunned by the fact that he even knows the names of authors, because apart from quantum mechanics and Fourier series, my private engineer hasn't really made time in his life for leisure reading.
When he finished the one story he read he looked up at me and said while continuing to laugh, "That's great!"
After two more such stories in which he laughs and I grumble from the side, he stopped. "I don't understand what's so funny," I complained. And he tries to appease, saying that "maybe the first stories weren't good."
So he started from the beginning, and again the same melody of laughter on his lips. At this point I got really angry - "How do you even know his name?!" And he, with his annoying calmness that always calmed my hot temper, patiently explained to me, "What, it's a cold challenge, he writes the skits for the quintet." Ah, I already understood that, we really liked the chamber five, but how can someone who writes such shocking stories write such a funny one? Then Ishii Beloved made the suggestion that changed everything, "When you read the next story, think about which of the five is playing the character.
"But this is the last time I try," I rebelled, and took the book back. And the miracle happened - I didn't stop laughing and we both exchanged impressions of the stories and not only did I enjoy a book that collects short stories, it also raised the bar of friendship between me and the man, from now on we will enjoy sharing with each other a great and important love of mine - reading.
Longing for Kissinger by Etgar Kerat
Many days and years later, we met Etgar Kerat in Beit Gabriel on the banks of the Sea of Galilee. At the end of the fascinating meeting, I approached him with the book I brought from home, I told him the story and he signed the book for us, in his unique way with an added illustration. "Thank you for insisting and not giving up on me quickly."
I assume that at this point you already know about the matter Stay or free? In my new private library - I miss Kissinger Of Etgar Kerat, definitely remaining.
Book details: Longing for Kissinger by Etgar Kerat, Zamora-Beitan Publishing, 1994.
Recommended story: "Exclusivity" (when I read it, I imagined Dov Navon the narrator with the hammer, Karen Moore the friend, Rami Hoiberger the journalist he does not agree to be interviewed by).
Croissants by Yossi Rivlin
When the writer's friends Yossi Rivlin He published a new book which is a collection of short stories of the same name croissants, I told him "I'm not a fan of short story books, but I'll give your book a chance, because we're friends." what? I'm being honest okay? I'm not going to lie to a friend. And even then, you can see right away if I'm not happy with something.
And so, during the book week of 2019, between the days I was standing at my publishing booth, I started reading Yossi's book. I told myself that it's actually good, I'm too tired anyway to sink into a long story so it will be a break to read a short story.
And as Meir Shalu said, it was like this, that at the end of reading I wrote to Yossi: "I'm so glad we're friends, because I know I wouldn't have read the book (because it's not in the genre I claimed I didn't like) and the loss was all mine and only mine... there is no A story that I didn't like how it started and how it ended. I don't know who the favorite is and maybe I shouldn't either, and yet, the cholent entered me deeply."
Book details: Croissants by Yossi Rivlin, Katav Publishing, 2019.
Recommended story: "Last Cholant, and a dance".
Stay or free? Of course he stayed.
Cardiff Drums by Danny Sanderson
Strike number 3: A few years ago I rummaged through the books on sale in Stimatsky Zemach. Suddenly one of them caught my eye and I asked myself out loud "What? I didn't know that Danny Sanderson writes books". That's how I purchased without bothering about the content Cardiff's drumbeat.
In the evening at home when I enthusiastically took the book next to me, I was disappointed to see that it was a collection of short stories. At this point, I still haven't given up on my statement - I don't like the genre of short stories. Yes, yes, it starts to sound like the Flashdance record I have and jumps right when she gets to the exciting part of "what a feeling...".
So I read a story or two and left it until this week when I reached a decision point in the matter Stay or free? In my library and yesterday I finished reading.
It is clear that Danny Sanderson is funny and witty, we know him from the performances and the songs he wrote which are basically like short stories that we recite enthusiastically. I enjoyed reading story after story, also learning a bit about the exploits of the Hive band. But it was quite clear to me that the book loose, because I knew I wouldn't read them again. It was nice, very even, but I can pass it on.
Then came the story. The one that made me burst out laughing at myself in my living room at noon. It's a story about a message on Danny's voicemail that Efrat's mother accidentally leaves, someone he doesn't know and doesn't know how to get back to and correct her mistake. It was such a great story that it made me want to share it.
So, when I sat down to lunch with the man, I asked him if he would like me to read him a short story by Danny Sanderson while he ate. He agreed. Reading the story made me laugh even more and I knew this was it, the book remaining. Later I went out to meet my friend Nurit in Japanika and brought the book. While she was enjoying the sushi and extra ginger - I read her the story and the third time, when we both giggled at what could have been the story of each of us, I loved it even more.
Book details: The Cardiff Drum by Danny Sanderson, Zamora-Beitan Publishing, 2007.
Recommended story: "Efrat, this is mother".
If so, just as my young daughter proved me about the sweet potato, so I prove myself about the short story genre - maybe it's not my elite super dish, but for the moments when I allow myself to visit its regions, it might be really tasty.
Pleasant reading and may good words be by your side always,
Lily
Thank you Arit, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
You definitely need to know not to give up so quickly,
And yet, knowing how to back off when you've really had enough.
As for the Kerat challenge, I definitely benefited from the insistence.
Thank you Mrs. Lilly, it was a pleasure to read you. Conclusion: don't give up on life, not even on a book. 🙏🫠
Dear Ofer, even if you were the only reader and no one else would - I would continue to write. Thank you and happy Saturday.
Xiaoli, what a great article.
Extremely funny and at the same time brings the literary review in a witty way that makes you want to read on.
And above all, they are a lot of gossip. You get the stories casually.
tell me Did I tell you that you are great?!?
There is no doubt that for me, you stay!!!!