Opening Sentence ofthe Day: Saving Stanley

"When the cat was sick and slowly dying, Hannah canceled vacation plans, dinner parties, hair appointments, a manicure."

Saving Stanley: The Brickman Stories by Scott Nadelson (Oregon Book Award winner; Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award). 

I was immediately sucked into the first story in this interconnected collection of stories about the Brickman family because my own cat recently died of old age. I know just how Hannah felt! I ripped through the whole story in one sitting. It was excellent -- subtle, tense, funny, sad, and gracefully written. I can't wait to read the rest. 

This is one of the beautiful Hawthorne Books editions that make you re-think the idea of "paperback" because they are taller and skinnier than a typical trade paperback and feature "acid-free papers; sewn bindings that will not crack; heavy, laminated covers with double-scored French flaps that function as built-in bookmarks."  Hawthorne is a Portland-based, independent publisher specializing in literary fiction and narrative non-fiction.