These are words of wisdom from octogenarian Maeve as she helps Amanda navigate the rough waters of her grief. So many beautiful truths like this to touch a reader's heart. Maybe not all the stories in this collection are as brilliant as "The Caretaker" and "Mkondo" (a perfect ending to the book), or maybe it only seems that way because these two set the bar so high. In any case, all of them are beautifully crafted and lovely to read, some taking you to remote worlds you most likely will never go to yourself. Fortunately, the penultimate entry "The Caretaker" pulls up the standard once again. Full of power and poignancy, it recounts the grueling ordeal of Joseph Saleeby, a Liberian civil war survivor trying to make a life for himself as a refugee in Oregon. Her life becomes intertwined with young Mom, Amanda Whittier mom of two who lost her military husband on his last mission. I recommend this novel for readers looking for an easy, breezy summer read, with a lot of heart behind it.

I seem to be on an (unintentional) short story binge. Doerr’s collection of stories is about characters who try new things and go to new places with mostly unexpected results. The characters are so connected with the natural world whether on the shores of Kenya or the wilderness of Montana or Oregon. He takes us to Tanzania, and Liberia and Ohio, and Maine, all with such a sense of the geographical and geological world. When he lightens up, ("July Fourth"--oily feel to it, and "For a Long Time This Was Griselda's Story") he can sound a bit like a more self-conscious Lewis Nordan, which is weird but good. Doerr has potential; but he needs to branch out and stop projecting his fantasies on real things. His fingers dug the shell up, he felt the sleek egg of its body, the toothy gap of its aperture. It was the most elegant thing he'd ever held. "That's a mouse cowry," the doctor said. "A lovely find. It has brown spots, and darker stripes at its base, like tiger stripes. You can't see it, can you?" But he could. He'd never seen anything so clearly in his life.' Anthony Doerr is a gifted and fearless new writer. He is absolutely unafraid to take on the biggest themes of the human condition, always writing about heroes and their various epic journeys. ‘ The Shell Collector’ is unforgettable—not so much a book of short stories as a book of short myths.”Maybe living was no more than getting swept over a riverbed and eventually out to sea, no choices to make, only the vast, formless ocean ahead, the frothing waves, the lightless tomb of its depths.

stars. These stories all share a common thread, which is that they reveal the power and beauty of nature and the relative frailty of human beings. Every time one seemed to fall into a pattern or became a bit predictable, the author turned it on its head and pulled the rug out from under me. I really enjoyed that. Maya Walsh, an avid shell collector herself as well as a contributor for the Times, is determined to bring to light these wrongdoings—and not just the blood on Wilde’s hands of endangered seashells and marine life. She has the rare opportunity to interview this infamous man, and she dives in. Scuba suit and all. Many museums worldwide contain very large and scientifically important shell collections. However, in most cases these are research collections not as readily accessible to the general public as exhibits. A young mother trying to keep life a bit normal for her two young children after the loss of her husband, and we are here to walk in her shoes. Amanda lost her husband to the armed services two years ago. She moves with her children to a cottage on the beach and to start a new business. They spend the summer on the beach and getting to know their new small town.Maeve and Amanda are kindred spirits and help each other out without even realizing they are doing so. Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum in Sanibel Island, Florida: the only museum in the world dedicated entirely to shells. Of the eight stories, I most enjoyed For a Time This Was Griselda’s Story. The relationship between the two sisters, though strange, was something I could relate to and also the question that rose to my mind of whether it is best to be the one who goes or the one who is left behind. What, if anything, did Griselda owe to her mother and her sister? Isn’t the making of happiness within and not outside us? I really liked how the author wrote the process of mourning and healing and the way fate gave Paul and Amanda a second chance at love. This was a selection of my short story book club, which was an article in The Chicago Review , 12/21/2001.

In each of these 8 gratifyingly longish stories we have time to bond with the mostly floundering oddball characters that populate them. AD has a talent for pulling a reader in from the first sentence, and he lays things out without fuss, yet it would be a mistake to take things for granted and prepare for a twist on the anticipated twist, and maybe a few deep laughs. Winters in their isolated cabin drive them to the brink of starvation, if not madness. Dumas' hold over his vulnerable young wife begins to seem like nothing more than an act of pure male selfishness. Mary sleeps 20 hours a day, but during this near-hibernation begins to develop strange powers: With her stomach empty and her body quieted, without the daily demands of living, she felt she was making important discoveries .... More clearly than ever she could see that there was a fine line between dreams and wakefulness, between living and dying, a line so tenuous it sometimes didn't exist. From USA Todaybestselling author Nancy Naigle, The Shell Collectoris atouching novel of a friendship that crosses generations, and learning how even the smallest gifts can change a life for good. An interview with the elusive Wilde just falling into her lap isn't enough for Maya. Extra convincing comes in the form of FBI Special Agent Cooper, who I assume enjoys a slice of cherry pie and a damn fine cup of coffee every now and then (thankfully, there were no dancing dwarves in the book). Cooper shows Maya three perfect lace murex shells, which would apparently be worth millions on the open shell market. They both immediately conclude that Ness boy must be up to no good! What motive an oil billionaire who owns most of the beachfront property and possesses a museum-worthy collection of shells would have for counterfeiting and selling new shells is never really touched on. The terms shell collector and conchologist can be regarded as two distinct categories. Not all shell collectors are conchologists; some are primarily concerned with the aesthetic value of shells instead of their scientific study. It is also true that not all conchologists are shell collectors; this type of research only requires access to private or institutional shell collections. There is some debate in the conchological community, with some people regarding all shell collectors (regardless of motivation) as conchologists.a b Sierwald, P.; Bieler, R.; Shea, E.K.; Rosenberg, G. (1 December 2018). "Mobilizing Mollusks: Status Update on Mollusk Collections in the U.S.A. and Canada". American Malacological Bulletin. 36 (2): 177. doi: 10.4003/006.036.0202.

To prove Maya is utter rubbish at her job, as soon as Ness is about to tell her His Big Secret about the shells, she decides to instead jump him, out of blue, while they are far below surface in a deep sea submersible. But no sex. Oh no. This book is as coy about sex as Ness is about his activities. This leads us to eye-rolling narration such as: His near-telepathic relationship with the deaf daughter, Belle, whom he rescues from suicide, is Doerr at his most sensitive and effective. She NEVER comes clean to Ness about wearing a wire and/or ratting him out to the Feds. THIS IS A HUGE PROBLEM WITH THE STORY, PEOPLE. HUGE. The Shell Collectoris abeautiful story full of love, loss, and second chances.”—#1 New York Timesbestselling author Debbie Macomber As of 2020 [update] the world's largest assemblage of mollusc shells was held by the Smithsonian Institution, which has c. 1 million lots [6] representing perhaps 50,000 species. [7] The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture also has a large collection which was donated by Dr. Phil Nudelman in 2013. It includes about 100,000 specimens and 24,000 species, mostly from the Indo-Pacific region, the Caribbean, and the Mediterranean.Okay—so in none of Howey’s worlds would anyone want to live. But once you start reading, you never want to leave. The Shell Collector is set more than a quarter century away on the coast of Maine and in a submerged New York City. It brings the usually speculative and remote welfare-of-your-great-grandkids argument on climate change, to the table. But unlike, say, the hard-hitting image of water that’s “a hand sweeping everything from the table” in Jim Shephard’s “The Netherlands Lives with Water,” Howey’s conservationism here is more subtle. This story is more about the characters—Ness Wilde and Maya Walsh, Holly, Special Agent Stanley Cooper, and a generation of what could be our future grandkids coping with disappearing shores. And because these characters are convincing and realistic individuals, like all Howey’s characters, they have to point their fingers somewhere—the past. McGhie, Henry A. (17 December 2008). "Catalogue of type specimens of molluscs in the collection of The Manchester Museum, The University of Manchester, UK". ZooKeys (4): 1–46. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.4.32. Archived from the original on 27 July 2009. Doerr's first collection is made up of a mere eight stories, some of such quality as to inspire amazement, and others seriously off the mark. This makes me wonder if The Shell Collector wasn't rushed into print in the wake of his literary prize. Might he have produced a finer, more consistent collection if he had waited just a few more years? Ness is, in fact, among one of the most beta heroes put on paper. He cries at the drop of a hat and is unfailingly passive. We're told he's a playboy who loves 'em and leave 'em, but we're shown a milquetoast. Maya, on the other hand, is abrasive, rude and aggressive. I'd enjoy the flipping of the cliched gender stereotypes if it felt like an intentional author choice, or if the characters approached three dimensions. But despite being in Maya's head in first person present tense, neither character reads as authentic.