四级阅读选文（九）：寒假应该读的书

　This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Michele Norris.
　　MELISSA BLOCK， host：
　　And I’m Melissa Block.
　　Every week， it seems we hear at least one story about how book publishing and bookstores are in bad shape. Well， that may be， but our reviewer， Alan Cheuse， has put together a list of books he recommends for summer reading and he says， as far as fiction is concerned， this summer couldn't be better.
　　ALAN CHEUSE： In fact， I began stockpiling hot books this winter while the cold and snow was coming down around my ears. And one of the first I tagged is a first-rate collection of short stories by Robert Stone. It’s called “Fun with Problems.” Yes， you can hear it， a completely ironic title. Fun？ The major characters meet most uncheerful ends.
　　Lawyers， drug smugglers， software magnates， honeymooners - they drown in Caribbean waters or in swimming pools or in enough booze to fill a swimming pool itself， if not an ocean bed. Down， down， down， down they go. I know this doesn't sound at all summery， but you can follow Stone’s characters all the way to the bottom instructed by his dramatic insights into their painful interior states and carried along on the stark and marvelous intelligence of his sentences.
　　Mr. ROBERT STONE （Author， “Fun with Problems”）： （Reading） Hampton County locked them down in a 19th century brick fortress of a jail， a penitential fantasy of red brick keeps and crenellations. The sight of it had twisted many a cocky smile. Citizens waiting at its marble stoop could contemplate the solipsisms of razor wire and the verse of all-weather civic poetry on the rosy keystone learn to labor and to wedge.
　　CHEUSE： Another book I've been hugging close to my chest all through the winter， Jim Harrison’s new novella collection， three of them， under the title “The Farmer's Daughter.”
　　Mr. JIM HARRISON （Author， “The Farmer’s Daughter”）： （Reading） She was born peculiar or so she thought. Her parents had put some ice in her soul， not a rare thing. Among things went well， the ice seem to melt a bit. And when things went poorly， the ice enlarged.
　　CHEUSE： Imagine， hugging that voice close to your chest. I enjoyed this book so much I wanted to write to the president and nominate Harrison for a new Cabinet post， secretary of quality of life.
　　He writes about a Montana ranch girl with a hunger for knowledge and a thirst for revenge against a man who's violated her; about Brown Dog， a rowdy Michigan Indian with a raw lust for food and life that everyone should have to set as a new standard for pleasure and replenishment; and about an educated young man from the Midwest who tells the story how after a bite on his cheek from a carnivorous Mexican humming bird， he turns into a werewolf. That’s Jim Harrison for you - flying like a humming bird， biting like a werewolf.
　　Hey， so these are some of the best books I've saved up this winter for summer reading. And now here are a few more recommendations from the latest postal delivery.
　　Ms. ANN BEATTIE （Author， “Walks With Men”）： （Reading） In 1980， in New York， I met a man who promised me he’d change my life if only I'd let him. The deal was this： He’d tell me anything， anything， as long as the information went unattributed， as long as no one knew he and I had any real relationship.
　　CHEUSE： That's Ann Beattie reading from her BBC audiobook version of her volume “Walks with Men.” The book is only about a hundred pages long and focuses on a young woman and her life on the loose in New York City and Vermont. As you can hear， Beattie tells it in a cool style， tamping down the fires of heartbreak that are always flaring up around the edges of life.
　　Now， I want to suggest that you pick up a collection of unclassifiable short fiction edited by Neil Gaiman and fellow writer Al Sarrantonio. The collection is simply called “Stories，” and it’s got nearly 30 new tales from a varied group of contemporaries like Joyce Carol Oates， Jodi Picoult， Gene Wolfe and Roddy Doyle and Gaiman himself - some out-and-out fantasy， some science fiction， some about reality just tilted ever so slightly.
　　The work in these pages， these stories， really shows you， especially shows a genre curmudgeon like me， how constricting the genre label can be.