--- description: Find out why "A Swim in a Pond in the Rain" by George Saunders is on TIME's list of the must-read books from this year. title: 'A Swim in a Pond in the Rain' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2021 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf80a50f1a988cbe7/6998cd3be1ba008edc98e4bd/time-hi-res.webp?branch=production&width=640&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Nov 29, 2021 # A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  For more than 20 years, Booker Prize-winning writer George Saunders has taught in Syracuse University’s creative writing MFA program. In _A_ _Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life_, with a tone that’s collegial, bordering on playful, he’s opened one of his favorite classes, on 19th century Russian short stories, to the masses. The anthology comprises seven short stories from Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy and Gogol, with Saunders’ questions and analyses interspersed. It’s the next best thing to sitting in the room with him. Academic but accessible, these stories and related essays will especially be of interest to fiction die-hards, but also to anyone interested in new ways of seeing and understanding the world. **Buy Now:** _A Swim in a Pond in the Rain_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9781984856029 "undefined") | [Amazon](https://amzn.to/3HqvARr "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-must-read-books-2021/6120652/a-swim-in-a-pond-in-the-rain/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-must-read-books-2021/6120652/a-swim-in-a-pond-in-the-rain/"},"headline":"A Swim in a Pond in the Rain","datePublished":"2021-11-29T13:15:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:58:37.647Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-must-read-books-2021/6120652/a-swim-in-a-pond-in-the-rain/","keywords":["Books","list","best books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf80a50f1a988cbe7/6998cd3be1ba008edc98e4bd/time-hi-res.webp?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf80a50f1a988cbe7/6998cd3be1ba008edc98e4bd/time-hi-res.webp?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-must-read-books-2021/6120652/a-swim-in-a-pond-in-the-rain/","name":"A Swim in a Pond in the Rain"}}]}] ```