#37 Finished this short story collection last week. Ernest J. Gaines is one of my favorite authors of all time (A Lesson Before Dying and A Gathering of Old Men are on my top 15 fav books list). At five short stories in all, this collection as a whole did not move me like his novels have, but the last two stories in the collection, “Bloodline” and “Just Like A Tree” were really, really good.

He has this way of injecting humor that doesn’t distract from the heavy and serious themes that are at the center of his stories. That’s why I admire him.