I am really enjoying these stories. I've now read all that are included in the The Best of Frank O'Connor I was able to obtain from my local library system. A am still waiting to receive the special request for different collection of his stories which I hope will let me further complete this list. For now I am continuing to read additional titles that intrigue me. First up Stretched on Your Grave, just because I always loved that Sinead O'Connor song .



I find so many just little bits wonderful in these stories. Like in The Genius when his mother tells the boy her version of the facts of life (with the mother's engine needing the father's crank to start it ). At least three generations later some parents were just as uncomfortable with the subject. I remember that my sex talk was not even a talk. My parents just handed me a medical encyclopedia open to the section of reproductive anatomy and told me to read it. That at the same time told me much more than I needed to know about internal organs and failed to provide me with much information I was in need of.