Forgetting English
Subtitle: stories
By: Midge Raymond.
Publisher: Eastern Washington University Press; Ewu Press
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Spokane
Language: eng
Number of pages: 118
ISBN-13: 9781597660464
First sentence: "He lives in his mother's house, with no electricity or hot water, yet he always has a ready supply of condoms."
Description: In this collection of stories, Midge Raymond stretches the boundaries of place as she explores the indelible imprint of home upon the self and the ways in which new frontiers both defy and conﬁrm who we are. 

From a biologist navigating the stark, icy moonscape of Antarctica to a businesswoman seeking refuge in the lonely islands of the South Paciﬁc, the characters in these stories abandon their native landscapes only to ﬁnd that, once separated from the ordinary, they must confront new interpretations of who they are, and who they’re meant to be.

Visit http://www.midgeraymond.com/excerpt.html to read an excerpt.
Notes: Forgetting English is a selection of Andrew's Book Club, ForeWord Magazine's Book Club, and Author Exposure Book Club.

“Raymond's prose often lights up the poetry-circuits of the brain, less because of lyrical language and more due to things that work as both literal and symbolic nouns: stolen rings, voice-mail messages gone astray; heavy-footed humans in the middle of fragile habitats." -- The Seattle Times

“All of her stories are heartbreakingly honest ... I wouldn't be surprised if she started getting compared to Alice Munro or Jhumpa Lahiri." -- Seattle Books Examiner

“Midge Raymond’s stories are a revelation and a delight, a journey from the frozen desert at the bottom of the world to the lush rainforest of Hawai’i. Prepare yourself to think in Chinese, to start over, to reveal your worst crime and discover you are a stranger to yourself, born again into a world where all things become wondrous and new, terrifying and possible.”  — Melanie Rae Thon, author of First, Body and Sweet Hearts

“Raymond’s eye for telling detail is very fine, as one expects of an accomplished writer, but to this she adds the informing eye of a natural historian of place.”  — John Keeble, author of Nocturnal America

“Raymond will be noticed; she's written at a height of elegance and authenticity that no teacher can quite bestow, but that any reader will feel. Forgetting English reminds us why we read new writers.” — Mark Kramer, Writer-in-Residence, Harvard University
Table of contents: title: First Sunday; title: Translation memory; title: The ecstatic cry; title: The road to Hana; title: Forgetting English; title: Rest of world; title: Beyond the kopjes; title: Never turn your back on the ocean.