Benefits of Breathing by Christopher Meeks

This is my first time reading a book written by Christopher Meeks and I am glad that my first book was the 233-page The Benefits of Breathing. This is the 3^rd collection of short stories that he has written. This book of short stories was published by White Whisker Books on May 23, 2020. The genre of this book is under Literary Short Stories and Single Authors Short Stories.

Christopher Meeks is working on his newest novel which is based on the Iraq War. He was born in Minnesota but has lived in Los Angeles California since 1977. During this time, he has received a degree at the University of Denver and at USC. He has taught English at Santa Monica College and has also taught creative writing at CalArts. He has also won several awards for his books.

OTHER BOOKS WRITTEN BY CHRISTOPHER MEEKS

Short Stories:

1. The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea

2. Months and Seasons

Comic Novels:

1. 1. The Brightest Moon of the Century

   2. Love at Absolute Zero

Crime Novels:

1. 1. Blood Drama

   2. A Death in Vegas

In this book, there are 11 short stories. Somehow, this author is able to relay what he wants to say in for the most part 20 pages or less. I have read some short stories that took longer to write what could have been said in fewer pages. I enjoyed reading this book. The way the author writes is great because one minute you are at the beginning and engrossed with the story then the next minute the story is done. It is fast-paced but it does have a storyline.

In this collection of 11 short stories, Christopher Meeks writes about relationships between men and women from lost love to love found. In “Joni Paredes”, Joni meets a man at her daughter's wedding. “Jerry with a Twist”, is about Jerry who is auditioning for a part while his pregnant girlfriend tries to help him through some issues. “Nestor by Number”, is about the funny attempts of dating of Nestor after he accepts that his wife isn't coming back. “The Benefits of Breathing” is about the death of a relationship. There are more insightful stories in this collection. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves to read.