This was such a sweet little book. I received it as part of the Goodreads First Reads program. Forty very short stories all exploring the many ways that people communicate with each other. Some showed that no matter our proximity to others, we can create vast distances between ourselves and the people around us by simply remaining silent. Other stories exhibited how simple it can be to create connections with people. We live in a time where information can travel across the world in a matter of seconds. Like the title alludes to, great distances aren't the impediments to communication they once were. The ability to draw closer to someone, or to merely reinforce the distances that lie between two people, may ultimately depend on the way we choose to interact with others and how we express ourselves.

The stories had an easy flow and covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time. Death, growing up, displacement, fear, love, and the myriad of connections that people make in their daily lives. I enjoyed seeing some of the characters pop up again in later stories. Out of the forty stories, "Mailbox" and "Freshen Up" were the two that stuck out the most and became my favorites of the bunch. ( )

I sometimes wonder if we're forgetting the art of the short story. While I love a good short story collection, I certainly don't read enough of them. But I'm beyond glad that I picked up the latest collection from Naomi Shihab Nye, whose lyric prose and sharp wit highlight every very short story in this collection.

THERE IS NO LONG DISTANCE NOW is a collection of 40 pieces of flash fiction -- each story is under or around 1,000 words. Each one captures a moment in time -- a sliver of a life that tells a whole story. The collection is brilliant, and Nye's background as a poet is apparent in the way she uses brevity to evoke the spirit of all of these characters -- some of which overlap throughout the book. This is a must-have for anyone who enjoys reading or writing flash, and is sure to be a staple in many creative writing classrooms. ( )