TLC Book Tour Stop and Giveaway: People Tell Me Things by David Finkle

Title: People Tell Me Things
Author: David Finkle
Publisher: Nthposition Press
Publish Date: October 4, 2011
Source: TLC Book Tours

Why You're Reading This Book:

• You like short stories.
• You like reading "slices of life."
• You want to read about characters that will jump right off of the page at you.

What's the Story?:

Synopsis:  "Authors, publishers, reporters, musicians, actors, and artists make up the fabric of the “scene” that is New York City.  David Finkle has been a part of this world for years as a critic and writer for newspapers and magazines—a line of work that requires active listening and a keenly, observant eye.   In his literary debut PEOPLE TELL ME THINGS —a collection of first-person narratives—Finkle draws on his own experiences to impart his characters’ mundane to outrageous escapades with a knowing wink, and a sharp comedic wit.

In PEOPLE TELL ME THINGS all of the stories feature the narrator who is the friend, lover, confidante, good listener, etc.  In his position he is often asked to lunch where he learns about the exploits of friends like Peter in the title story PEOPLE TELL ME THINGS.  Peter has been cheating on his wife and has been caught because a woman (he was not sleeping with) lost her earring in his pants.  And Bonnie, Peter’s wife, who discovered the earring, knew the real story of how it happened, but took the opportunity to leave him anyway.

When people aren’t availing themselves of their confidante’s empathy and discretion, he talks about some of his desires.  He wants to be represented as a character in a novel in HEY, THAT’S ME UP THERE ON THE PRINTED PAGE!.  An affair with a married man ironically is the action that gets him there.  In MEMORIAL he reads about Noah Goodman’s death in the obituaries.  He and Goodman were lovers for a considerable period of time.  The nature of their relationship, how they parted, and the memorial service at his passing is a bitter-sweet ending to the collection.

Finkle’s characters and their relationships are at once messy and glorious.  And the magic of Manhattan shines through–where everyday people mix with the famous and the infamous, sometimes for just a moment, with an impact that lasts a lifetime."

My Two Cents:

David Finkle knows how to make a character come alive. In each of the stories within this book, Finkle writes of people that you could have known or would want to know. It's so realistic and while in some cases realism can be sort of overrated but Finkle turns it into something fantastic.

Although all of the stories are good, there were definitely two that stood out to me. One is about a man who believes that he meets Rembrandt (yes, the painter). It sort of had a magical realism feel to it, which I was absolutely enamored with.

The other story that I just loved was about the man who sees his picture at a Diane Arbus exhibit and is afraid that people are going to recognize him. I had to look up some of Diane Arbus' work as I wasn't familiar with her at all. See this link for some of her photos. As you can see, Arbus' pictures are not always the most flattering (no touch ups here!) so you can see why you wouldn't want Arbus to take a picture of you if you weren't looking your best.

I'm usually not a big fan of short stories but I thoroughly enjoyed this collection!

Follow the Rest of the Tour:



Monday, November 7th:  Books Distilled
Wednesday, November 9th:  The Broke and the Bookish
Monday, November 14th:  Sara’s Organized Chaos
Tuesday, November 15th:  Life in Review
Friday, November 18th:  A Bookish Affair
Monday, November 21st:  Dolce Bellezza
Wednesday, November 23rd:  Take Me Away
Monday, November 28th:  Literature and a Lens
Wednesday, November 30th:  Unabridged Chick
Thursday, Dec. 1st:  Sarah Reads Too Much 

Giveaway:

Thanks to the TLC tours, the author and the publisher, I have a copy of People Tell Me Things to give away!

Rules:

- You must be 13 and over
-  Open to US/CA residents only
- You must be a follower of A Bookish Affair

- Giveaway ends November 27! 

Just fill out the form below: