I absolutely loved this anthology of Mormon literature in 2009, and since if you look hard and are patient, you can find a reasonably priced copy. There is one for $9.07 on Amazon but ignore the ridiculously priced offerings there and on other sales sites. Originally published at defunct StandardBlogs, I saved it from Wayback. Darin Cozzens, James Goldberg, and Lisa Torcasso Downing were among authors whose work I admired.
It’s not difficult to find good Mormon literature, but to find the best Mormon literature is more difficult. As my friend Cal Grondahl might put it, there’s fuzzy bear stories and grizzly bear stories. Fuzzy bear stories, that make us feel cuddly, sometimes with a “Charly”-inspired tear, are easy to find. Grizzly bear stories, which explore themes that aren’t wrapped with a nice bow tie in the final paragraphs — which feature survivors rather than conquerors — well, that kind of LDS literature is harder to find.
You have to search for pricy publications, with names such as Irreantum, or Sunstone, or The New Play Project, Segullah, BYU Studies, Iowa Review, etc. It’s a tiny audience, but the search is rewarding. Fortunately, Curelom Books, Salt Lake City, has published “The Best of Mormonism 2009,” which offers a diverse selection of quality Mormon-themed efforts.
It’s a too-thin volume at 163 pages. I read it all on a Sunday afternoon. My favorite selection was the short story, “Reap in Mercy,” by Darin Cozzens, first published in Irreantum. It’s a tale of a retired LDS farmer, alone with his wife, bitter that he didn’t prosper in life while a neighbor he once had to constantly help later prospered. It’s a reminder to believers that God does not promise material wealth as a reward for obedience. It also reminds us that true redemption can take place in the least likely times.
I also enjoyed the one-act play, “Prodigal Son,” by James Goldberg (The New Play Project), an interesting tale where a young man breaks his father’s heart … by becoming a Mormon and going on a mission. That’s probably more common that most of the readers might think.
In Sunstone’s “Clothing Esther,” Lisa Torcasso Downing brings us into a mortuary where a middle-aged mom and wife puts the LDS garments on her mother-in-law. It’s an emotionally powerful recounting of something that is certainly not uncommon practice among Latter-day Saints, but rarely spoken of.
A couple more kudos go to “Who do you think you are?” a selection from Angela Hallstrom’s “Bound on Earth.” In it, a young teen admirer learns that the subject of admiration, and crush, a young teacher, is not always the same person he is in the classroom. And in “He Who Owe Everything to a name,” Lynda Mackey Wilson, writing in BYU Studies, pays tribute to the man who loved her more than her own mother.
I hope people will buy this anthology. It will more than pay for itself in enjoyment. And then buy the journals listed by the stories.
-- Doug Gibson
