At the Barnes in Chicago, I worked with a guy named Jose. He used to sing random Paul McCartney/Wings songs to me, which led to him calling me "Jet" all the time. He was an English writing major at Brown (now a successful writer by profession) and was snottier than me. Richard Ford was his favorite contemporary author. I picked up (Pulitzer/PEN/Faulkner winner) Independence Day by his recommendation. Didn't love it, but liked Ford's writing enough to also pick up this book of short stories.
Whenever I can't "get into" a novel, I go back to short stories. This one is dog-eared to no end and has a random Post-It note in the front cover that reads "next Thursday night baseball game with Mark & Al" and includes two phone numbers with 303 area codes, which means I first read this after living in Colorado.
Random backstories to say that I am intrigued by Ford's characters and the way they unfold. He uses words like "fugue" to explain their emotional outpourings. This collection explores the larger theme of intimacy. This week I've been reading them while listening to The National and Tom Waits, which leads to a beautiful melancholy. Whether the relationships are breaking or rebuilding, it's just right.
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