Reader recommendation: The Little Town Where Time Stood Still

Monitor readers share their favorite book picks.

I have recently read half of The Little Town Where Time Stood Still, a book of two short stories by Bohumil Hrabal. The book's title is also the name of the second short story. The first story, "Cutting it Short," focuses on a brewery owner's wife, Maryska, who is a vivacious, engaging character who will delight the reader. The townspeople and the brewery life in rural Czechoslavokia were made real by this gifted writer. Hrabel's novel "Closely Watched Trains" was made into a film which won an Academy Award in 1967.