∎ [PDF] Precarious Stories of Love Sex and Misunderstanding Al Riske 9781935462323 Books

Precarious Stories of Love Sex and Misunderstanding Al Riske 9781935462323 Books

Download As PDF : Precarious Stories of Love Sex and Misunderstanding Al Riske 9781935462323 Books

Precarious Stories of Love Sex and Misunderstanding Al Riske 9781935462323 Books

One of my best childhood memories was summer break, when I could stretch out on a hammock with a stack of books next to me and just read. I've retained that love of reading over the years, and admit that with my Kindle, I've never been more hooked. But print or electronic, when I love a book, I reread it. So I find myself re-reading Elizabeth Stout's book, Olive Kitteridge, at the same time that I'm reading Al Riske's new book, Precarious, for the first time. What a lovely combination.

Al's book is a compilation of short stories, and what he shares with Ms. Stout is his ability to tell a good story beautifully. No gimmicks. No flash. Just wonderful storytelling, in all of its understated glory. These are stories that you find yourself in - the highest compliment I can pay an author. You see your own foibles and, if you're lucky, an occasional glance at your own grace.

Greedy reader that I am, the day Al's book finally arrived, I canceled all meetings and put chores on the back burner so I could curl up and read. But I found myself putting the book down after just the first story. Why? Because I didn't want to finish the book too quickly. These are stories I wanted to relish.

So I've rationed the book to myself, allowing only one story a day. It gives me something to look forward to, and a reward for being good - or a small piece of self-forgiveness if I haven't.

Find yourself a comfortable chair, a good light and a cup of tea. Open Al's book and be transported in the loveliest way possible.


Tags : Precarious: Stories of Love, Sex, and Misunderstanding [Al Riske] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The stories in PRECARIOUS are about doing the right thing and regretting it. About men who are still boys. About making bets and dancing naked.<br /><br />They play out in rain-soaked Seattle and drought-stricken California. In the front seat of Mom's Malibu and a vacation cabin on Cape Cod. On a tiny island and in a desert filled with light and heat and sand that slips through your fingers like friendships you once had.<br /><br />In these fifteen stories you will meet a boy trying to make it through that summer between the end of high school and the start of something else. A girl so alive you can feel her heartbeat from half a mile away. A woman attracted to a man with muscles,Al Riske,Precarious: Stories of Love, Sex, and Misunderstanding,Luminis Books,1935462326,American Novel And Short Story,Contemporary Women,FICTION Romance Contemporary,Fiction,Fiction - General,Fiction Contemporary Women,Fiction Literary,Fiction Short Stories (single author),Literary,Short Stories (single author)

Precarious Stories of Love Sex and Misunderstanding Al Riske 9781935462323 Books Reviews

You will want to find out what happens with Riske's people as he fearlessly explores the gritty underside of relationships, the uncertainty of sexual encounters, and the restless longing for love just out of reach. I was compelled to read all the stories in one sitting -- an undisciplined approach, just like some of his memorable characters.
"Precarious" is a gem. A hugely talented writer, Al Riske beautifully captures the nuanced behavior of relationships and the universal struggle to understand why we do what we do. I defy anyone not to recognize him or herself in one of these stories.
Riske's spare and thoughtful style remind me of Raymond Carver--but without the pervasive sense of despair. In these stories, love is still possible.
The subtlety of human relations is teased out in a comfortable and knowing way by Al Riske. Using clean writing that seems so rare these days, "Precarious" captures those human signals we know -- or think we know. Was that a knowing glance or just a friendly gesture? That hand on the shoulder - an invitation to more or just a motion of comfort? This collection of short stories is simply a pleasure to read - tales of life, told in such genuine human terms you hardly know the author's in the room!
These stories are beautiful -- elegant without trying, revealing without really showing why, brief in a satisfying way, scandalous with a light touch -- and they stick with you, key images and dialogue etching themselves into your subconscious.
Before I was about to sleep, I picked up this book and flipped to "Pray for Rain." It was so effing real. I flipped to another story, "Hold On." I loved, loved, loved it! I kept feeling, "I know her! I know that feeling! I've been there!"

I love to read books that pull me completely inside of it. These stories pulled me completely inside of it. I got to take that ride with the characters. I love this book!

This book is my new "preccciiiiioooouuuusssssss!"
I don't typically read short stories, preferring longer form fiction that allows me to lose myself in a fully developed narrative. Yet... there's something about Al Riske's writing that compelled me to keep turning pages. His economy of prose makes a novel feel almost bloated by comparison. He says so much with just a few words set off in quotation marks, that you feel as if each line of dialogue has whole chapters behind it. There's a bit of James M. Cain about his style, but with a more tender sensitivity to the emotions experienced only by those in the blush of their first romance or caught in the first missteps of otherwise well-plotted lives. Precarious contains wonderful variety and an unpredictability that fully pays off the promise, and the threat, of the title. I highly recommend it.
One of my best childhood memories was summer break, when I could stretch out on a hammock with a stack of books next to me and just read. I've retained that love of reading over the years, and admit that with my , I've never been more hooked. But print or electronic, when I love a book, I reread it. So I find myself re-reading Elizabeth Stout's book, Olive Kitteridge, at the same time that I'm reading Al Riske's new book, Precarious, for the first time. What a lovely combination.

Al's book is a compilation of short stories, and what he shares with Ms. Stout is his ability to tell a good story beautifully. No gimmicks. No flash. Just wonderful storytelling, in all of its understated glory. These are stories that you find yourself in - the highest compliment I can pay an author. You see your own foibles and, if you're lucky, an occasional glance at your own grace.

Greedy reader that I am, the day Al's book finally arrived, I canceled all meetings and put chores on the back burner so I could curl up and read. But I found myself putting the book down after just the first story. Why? Because I didn't want to finish the book too quickly. These are stories I wanted to relish.

So I've rationed the book to myself, allowing only one story a day. It gives me something to look forward to, and a reward for being good - or a small piece of self-forgiveness if I haven't.

Find yourself a comfortable chair, a good light and a cup of tea. Open Al's book and be transported in the loveliest way possible.