Southern author Ellen Gilchrist is known for her unique variety of stories filled with profoundly human characters, so I picked up her newest book, Collected Stories, with great anticipation. After all the praise I'd read for Gilchrist, though, initially I was disappointed—the characters seemed a bit chestnut and the stories flat.

The first story, "The Famous Poll at Jody's Bar," interweaves the romance of the independent and passionate 19-year-old Nora Jane Whittington and former Texas reform school student, self-proclaimed poet, and thief, Sandy, with a poll taken outside the bar asking men and boys, "Should a man get married?" An interesting device, but on first read I felt it could have been developed further. However, I'm not a regular reader of short stories; I prefer the length and complexity of novels. The ending of "The Famous Poll at Jody's Bar" frustrated me because I didn't get enough story and I wanted closure. I wanted to know what was going to happen to Nora Jane.

However, as I encountered more stories of Nora Jane, met others from Gilchrist's large collection of characters in a wide range of settings, and familiarized myself with her poetic style of writing as well as the shape of short stories in general, I began to enjoy and appreciate her work. Several stories in, during "Victory Over Japan," a tale centered around feisty Rhoda Manning (who appears in a previous story, "Revenge") it clicked. I fell into the rhythm of Gilchrist's writing and the nature of short stories. Suddenly it was like reading poetry; though I still wasn't getting a full-blown book, I was getting a good story, and most important, the stories affected me emotionally.

The variety and depth of plots and characters in Collected Stories makes for simultaneously entertaining and enlightening reading. In "You Must Change Your Life," a story with Nora Jane but featuring another character, Nieman Gluuk, as its lead, Nieman walks away from his 20-year career as a revered movie critic and enrolls at Berkeley to study biochemistry. It's an excellent story about taking control of your life and smelling it, tasting it, living it with your senses open and forever seeking knowledge.

Two of my favorite characters, Miss Crystal and Traceleen, are introduced in "Miss Crystal's Maid Name Traceleen, She's Talking, She's Telling Everything She Knows." (What a fabulous title!) The story is told from Traceleen's point of view; she was instructed by Miss Crystal to write down everything about their lives. I was skeptical of their relationship at first; rich lady boss and "just happy to be serving you"-type minority maid. But, they are much more than that. Each character is full of human foibles and nobility and they're best friends who truly care about one another. Traceleen is there for Miss Crystal when she decides to stop drinking in "Traceleen at Dawn" and they both decide to take yoga together to keep Miss Crystal fit and to lower Traceleen's blood pressure in "Traceleen Turns East."

I won't give away any of the adventures of these two characters, or any others, but I encourage everyone to read about them. Readers will experience much more of Rhoda Manning throughout her life as well as Nora Jane and there are other splendid people to meet as well. Collected Stories exposed me to the beauty of the short story—the tales touched my heart and made me laugh; two of the finest things stories can do.