EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOU * THE EARLY STORIES OF TRUMAN CAPOTE

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng - At the halfway mark, I'd decided that I was having enough of this story, then a bit past that, there was a change in narration, and I enjoyed the journey to the end. Not enjoyed exactly; this is more dramatic than hopeful although the author finds a way to include hope in the story of a girl named Lydia. It's about families and parents' dreams for their children and the ways that children are pleasers. 

The Early Stories of Truman Capote - Truman Capote wrote these short stories as a young man and it's like a box of candy. Each story is a lovely small treat to read; some take place in the south, others in the city. Some are about adults, others about young people. They are complete little stories and very different, and a young man's passion for writing comes out in each one. I like to think of Capote as this writer rather than the man who exhaustively researched and wrote In Cold Blood which was serious and most unpleasant to read. I actually found In Cold Blood to be rather tortured, and it's a statement on the 1960s that it was such a popular book. Put that one aside and go for the short stories!