I first read Donald Barthelme--Sixty Stories, it was--on the suggestion of Sheila Heti, in the middle of a summer mentorship. I was supposed to be reading every day, writing every moment, and yet I felt disconnected from the whole experience. It should be noted that this was the summer of 2009; my summer of garbage strikes, wet skies, low 20s, and 5am barista shifts. It was not the best summer of my life. I read the books and I wrote the stories, but in the end his short story collection was the only thing that stuck. Barthelme writes short and sweet and weird; some of his stories just breeze past and others punch you in the gut. "I Bought A Little City" is a gut puncher, and a good one. Listen to a reading below.
If I could buy a little city it would probably be Truro, Nova Scotia. Just because.
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