James Salter never disappoints. I read "Burning the Days" when it was published in 1998 and was captivated by the beauty of Salter's writing about his personal experiences. When I searched for more, I found his brilliant novels: "A Sport and a Pastime", "Light Years", "The Hunters", and the beautiful "Dusk and Other Stories." Salter's recent "There and Then", contains unforgettable reflections on travel written in his unforgettable style, and "Life is Meals: A Food Lovers Book of Days", a collaboration with his wife, is a delicious book about cooking and eating and drinking and life that can be opened to any page and savored. "Last Night", a little book with a charming cover, is a special treasure filled with exquisite short stories. Not to be missed! Salter is superb. Read more

These stories - mostly of infidelity with unusual twists - have wide-ranging, semi-glamorous settings: the military, LA TV people, Wall Street dealers, literary types, New York high-lifers... People in this comfortable world say, 'He was a poet, of course', and go off 'with a man named Rodriguez who owned some beauty parlours'; in particular, middle-aged men are liable to risk it all for sights like 'the faint trace of bones like pearls that ran down her smooth back'. Smooth female beauty ('Ardis possessed extraordinary skin, luminous and smooth, a skin so pure that to touch it would make one tremble') is everywhere, alongside mild irony ('it had been a while since Adele had married'), judicious similes ('She was a kind of cheap goddess') and poised, weighted and classy paragraphs and dialogue (too long to quote, but just open the book anywhere)... If a good short-story, for me, is easy to get into, makes you inhabit the characters' worlds quickly, surprises you, and ends just at the right time and in the right way, then these fit the template beautifully. Something really subtle and hard-worked is going on, making them so fine that I'll even forgive them their patrician tastefulness. I'd definitely read more by this writer. Any recommendations? Read more

A collection of short stories that are very well written. Almost blunt it provides insight into the thoughts and choices made by the characters. I am usually a fast reader but I found I was only able to take in one story at a time...but thats not a bad thing Read more

Good ! Read more

l'ai acheté en double. le mien en anglais selon mes attentes, le deuxième (un cadeau à destination d'un anglophone confirmé) par erreur en français J'en demanderais même le remboursement!. Il s'agit de Last Night de JamesSalter Read more