Books by Carol Bly: My Lord Bag of Rice: New and Selected Stories

My Lord Bag of Rice: New and Selected Stories

This book collects Carol Bly's best and most recent work, eleven exquisitely observed stories about sharp-eyed characters who stand a little apart from their peers, nurturing a hardy sense of self-worth in a mostly mediocre world. Her stories are both serious and full of humor. The author expects her characters--and people in general--to cultivate a sense of greatness in their lives.

CarolBly.com Online Features:

Jacket Comments

"All of Bly's stories are vital and beautifully crafted, and her new stories, especially the sinewy 'Chuck's Money,' reveal more about human nature than most novels."

--Donna Seaman, in Booklist

"Carol Bly has built a strong following among readers and writers alike with her skill in creating real people who face real situations. Very few writers can go to the essence of characters with such style, ease, and speed."

--Robert Fleming, in Book Page

"Somewhere in this book, the author remarks, casually, that thinking about history makes people happy. This kind of observation, coming as it does out of the writer's self regardless of the 'plot,' yet somehow magically contributing to it, can only be written by someone who has looked at human feeling and behavior with an attention that is love."

--Louis Simpson

"Carol Bly nudges each of her stories toward the moments of courage of illumination in the lives of the average small-town invisibles….For the reader who is up to the challenge, Bly offers a truth that may be a real newsbreak to some: humanity is not nearly as hopeless as we've been taught to believe."

--Cynthia Shearer, Ruminator Review

"Every speech, every action, every turn of circumstance in Bly's fiction feels just like life itself. And one of the features I find most notable is that Bly respects every character she introduces."

--Ted Kooser, Lincoln (Nebraska) Journal Star

"Carol Bly is a master storyteller and fiction writer. Her brilliance, ethical sense, and artistry reach a pinnacle of polish in the two new stories in her marvelous collection My Lord dBag of Rice, which could have been subtitled 'The Best of Bly.'"

--Abigail Davis, Bloomsbury Reader