Stories...

If I could make a living being a critic of restaurants, amusement parks, magazines, and on and on... naturally, I would in a heartbeat; however, I think my favorite job would be to critique and write about books and short stories. I think that is why I absolutely love the New Yorker's fiction podcast. With the latest controversy the magazine is involved with, I was thinking about how the New Yorker often goes somewhat unnoticed to the average individual, which is unfortunate because I personally love to hear the featured stories the New Yorker presents. Each author has a different style they use when telling a story, but yet they all seem to have the same ability to capture the reader's attention (or in this case the listener).

My favorite story so far has been this story about a cynical book critic who has an, uh, interesting visit to a bank (the irony of my choice of favorites will become clear to anyone who happens to find the time to listen to the story). The name of the story is called Bullet in the Brain and the podcast is called One with a Bullet, under the New Yorker: Fiction on iTunes. I liked the way the writer created a character that actually speaks the things that a lot of people think and manages to show the impact of saying whatever comes to mind without consideration of others' feelings. The author also shows how somewhere along the line, people in modern society seem to have built up a facade to protect ourselves to the point where we forget life is not some reality television show that we are watching. We are human beings in the flesh. There is also this somewhat interesting story I listened to today called A List of Books (the name of the podcast, not the story) where the editor and another author discuss the story, but also discuss a study that shows how people tend to act like characters in their own life stories and their intentions are based on the people they would want to be, but our "real" selves always hold us back from fulfilling the acts that would make us that "fantasy" person (that was my interpretation anyway). I think that is true. We never really act around others how we do when we are alone with ourselves.

Anyway... I think what is truly incredible about the entire list of stories presented on the podcast is that the stories are usually simple tales about some subtle twist in some non-extravagant person's life. It's as though each writer peeks into the window of a normal person's home at a strange moment and sees just enough to tell an interesting little story. I feel like having the ability to write a story that sounds so simple, yet grabs the attention of thousands of readers, is such a gift; especially compared to a girl who is talking to herself. ;)