Can't and Won't
by Lydia Davis
Buy on AmazonA fifth collection by the author of the National Book Award finalist, Varieties of Disturbance, includes pithy one-liners, exploratory observations and letters of complaint, including "A Small Story About a Small Box of Chocolates," in which a professor is stymied by her choices.
Recommended by
"Lydia Davis’ stories are like those clown cars you see in the circus stuffed impossibly full of people. Actually, it’s hardly fair to call them short stories. Haiku-like, they seem to call for some other word, like this one, about a vacation: “He could be my husband. / But he is not my husband. / He is her husband. / And so he takes her picture (not mine) as she stands in her flowered beach outfit in front of the old fortress.” In tiny snippets of language, Davis manages to pack every essential element of a good read: characters, history, action, plot and feeling."
NPR Books We Love — 2014 · apps.npr.org
"I loved her collection of short stories 'Can't and Won't' so much. Can a translator have groupies? If so, I am hers."
By the Book: John Waters · nytimes.com