Name: The Bread We Eat in Dreams
ISBN: 9781596065826

Catherynne M. Valente

Collects twenty-six works, exploring a variety of styles and genres, including "White Lines on a Green Field," in which an old story plays out against a high school backdrop as Coyote is quarterback and king for a season.

The Bread We Eat in Dreams

Caroline Mao

haven't read a short story collection since elementary school, and I hardly ever read short stories in general. Too much is left untold. Everyone has their preference, and it's not mine. I find it maddening. 

However, this was written by Valente, and even though I never finished Deathless, I find her style irresistible. I saw this, was drawn in by the title, downloaded it, and boom. Suddenly, I was here in a wonderful world of words and magic and love, and I'm endlessly happy to have discovered it. Despite all that was left untold - and the terrible completeness every poem and short story seemed to end with, with the knowledge I would never read a continuation - I don't regret reading it at all.

Valente is amazing with language. Seriously, #goals. Time to go read every book of hers that I can get my hands on. (Radiance is not on eBook Bike, a fact that makes me want to curl up in a hole on Mars and water its soil with my tears because it is a decopunk space opera with space whales and Valente and probably LGBT representation. I need that book.)

Every short story and poem was so good. Valente's worldbuilding was unusual, imaginative, and all-around spectacular. She paid such loving attention to every detail and crafted her images with elegance and finesse. Her characterizations didn't receive nearly as much focus - they were more symbol than person, or rather, more symbol than person, animal, or machine - but I still loved them. She pulled off poetic first person so well without her narrators sounding pretentious. Their voices seemed appropriate to the circumstances, even.

Would recommend to: pretty much anyone (excluding extremely young children, because there's some sexual content), as long as they don't mind somewhat unconventional storytelling. Bonus if you like fantasy/science fiction, double bonus for poetry lovers. It's interesting, and it might change your mind about a few things.

I want to be Catherynne M. Valente when I grow up.

(Which I can't do because she graduated high school at the age I'm at now, and I won't be graduating anytime before my next birthday. I'll keep dreaming.)