Although the number of books I finished this month looks pretty standard for me, most of them were pretty short and I read the bulk of Crime and Punishment in February and March, so actually it’s been a bit of a slow one. However, I did listen to a lot of short stories. I’m really enjoying this rediscovery of short stories…
It occurred to me that with my rediscovery of short stories I have been doing quite a lot of reading this month that I’m not mentioning here or on Goodreads. And seeing as one of the reasons for having this blog is to keep a record of my reading, I thought I would make me a list! I do love a list…
I know, I know, it’s been months since I posted in the Sunday Salon. How are you all? What have you been up to? Me? I’ve been busy, but not with as much reading as I’d like. This week I have been thinking about short stories…
Back in November 2011 I posted something a bit unusual on this blog: a short story called “The price of art”. It formed part of a project whereby author Emma Newman releases a story online every week set in a fantasy universe called Split Worlds. Very excitingly she was snapped up by Angry Robot Books to write three novels set in the same universe and the first of those is about to be released…
Black Vodka: Ten Stories
by Deborah Levy
I loved Levy’s novel Swimming Home, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize last year and Levy was the National Book Awards Author of the Year 2012, so I was pretty excited when I found out this would be the first book in my subscription to And Other Stories…
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage
by Alice Munro
This collection of short stories was picked by my book group. The title gives a clue to its overarching themes and I had an inkling that Munro was well known for her short stories, but otherwise I didn’t know what to expect. I have an idea that she is a bit of a national treasure in Canada so apologies for my cluelessness…
The Bicentennial Man and other stories
by Isaac Asimov
Just over a month ago watching a certain Hollywood film starring Will Smith led to a conversation about Asimov, which led to my being told I really should read some of the SF great man’s work. It took me a while (I am a little slow on the reading front right now) but I have now read a book by Asimov. And it was good…
Mr Fox
by Helen Oyeyemi
This is a strange and beautiful book. It has disjuncts that cannot be explained but somehow the whole works anyway…
No one belongs here more than you
by Miranda July
This collection of short stories is probably best described as…odd. July is a filmmaker, writer and performance artist and I remember liking her film Me and You and Everyone We Know. The stories in this book have a similar sense of humour, offbeat and candid, but they also put me on edge…
Future Bristol
edited by Colin Harvey
This collection of short stories was compiled by a local writer (who sadly died earlier this year) to showcase science-fiction writing from in or around Bristol, so all the authors either live here or nearby or have done at some point. Though the depictions of the future are very varied, there are some common themes that say something about both Bristol and the preoccupations of the present…