The Winter Bees

by Jill Kalz
New Prague Community Read, paperback, 181 pages
short stories, realistic

I got this book so I could participate in the New Prague community read, but I may now be out of town on Sunday so may miss the gathering with the author. This collection of ten short stories would be great to discuss with other readers and the author. Here's my quick reaction to each story:

Last Call

• German phrases - frustrating to not understand them and me too lazy to look them up
• Lloyd no-show . . . what's his story?
• Ana! killing the squirrel / brother Johnny / lonely

The Humming Bee

• Loved this! bookstore . . .
• so sad - for Shirley and health and loneliness . . . 
• for Joe - the jar of honey - poignant!
• beautiful use of language

A Yin-Yang Year

•  Oh! Beautiful and sad.
• Science. Luther, forlorn.
• Minnie 1969
• Frozen pond.

The Flight of Herman Engelmann

• WingDings! Drone flying club
• bachelor farmer
• Doc - cheap, bad hips, 
• Lila (his wife) - cleaning

Blue Bird of Happiness

• weird / short / bus driver / garter

The Siebenbrunner Nose

•  Greta's funeral
• so sad! 
• her sister Eleanor . . . not really knowing how to deal with her sister's unusualness . . . 
• Adeline singing at funerals, whether anyone appreciates her or not.

Schultz

• Don't understand
• is HE the arsonist?
• loneliness again . . . such a recurrent theme

 Blue Snow

• Molly, eating too much
• trying to weight herself down so her heart doesn't fly
• sad again . . . more ethereal

Beneath My Skin Like Honey

• sad, loss
• mom's death (dad's suicide in 1961)
• lover's ability to hear sights
• is she planning to leave him? or is it just that he is older and will die first?

 Ana's End

• So sad!
• Ana dies alone . . . 
• story of Johnny's life and death intertwined

Here is the flyer that came with the book: