Reading Saunders

Posted on by Lana Spendl

I watched an interview with George Saunders the other day, about his recent book on writing, and drove out to a local Morgenstern Books to pick up a copy.

And it’s been such a pleasure to watch him break down the complexities of several Russian short stories with his characteristic humility and care.

Here’s a lovely passage from the opening: “The resistance in the stories is quiet, at a slant, and comes from perhaps the most radical idea of all: that every human being is worthy of attention and that the origins of every good and evil capability of the universe may be found by observing a single, even very humble, person and the turnings of his or her mind.”

I highly recommend this thoughtful, inquisitive, funny book to both writers and readers! ❤️

Published by Lana Spendl

I am a writer living in Bloomington, Indiana. My chapbook of flash fiction, We Cradled Each Other in the Air, was published in 2017 by Blue Lyra Press. My short stories, poetry, and personal essays have appeared in The Rumpus, Hobart, The Greensboro Review, The Baltimore Review, New Ohio Review, Zone 3, Notre Dame Review, and other journals. I hold an M.F.A. in creative writing and an M.A. in Hispanic literature from Indiana University Bloomington, where I served as nonfiction editor to Indiana Review. I am originally from Sarajevo, Bosnia, and my childhood was divided between the Balkans and Spain due to the Bosnian war in the early 90s. I am working on a short story collection that explores pockets of life in southern Europe following the war in the Balkans. Stories from this collection have appeared in The Baltimore Review (Spring 2018), The Cortland Review (2014 Winter Feature), The Greensboro Review (Issue 91), and Epiphany (Women Writing Women series).