21) This Is Pleasure by Mary Gaitskill This is a short novel, indeed it's barely a novella - but it is beautifully written, and has weight beyond the number of its pages. At heart, it is the story of a friendship between two people: Quin, an eccentric Englishman working in publishing, and Margot, an editor. They… Continue reading Year 5 / Book 21: This Is Pleasure
Category: short stories
Year 5 / Book 5: I Am, I Am, I Am
5) I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O'Farrell Maggie O'Farrell is best known as a writer of fiction, and I confess to having read none of it, though I know quite a few people who speak highly of her work. I'm not sure why this non-fiction book, about her 'seventeen brushes with death',… Continue reading Year 5 / Book 5: I Am, I Am, I Am
Year 4 / Book 46: The Cracked Looking-Glass
46) The Cracked Looking-Glass by Katharine Anne Porter First of all, I'd like to be very clear that in no way did I choose this book because it was barely a novella and therefore enabled me to play catch up when behind on reading books. Absolutely not. That sort of behaviour doesn't wash on this blog.… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 46: The Cracked Looking-Glass
Year 4 / Book 29: Terrific Mother
29) Terrific Mother by Lorrie Moore So, disclaimer - this is a *short* book: it's been a busy week. It's part of a set of Faber short stories published recently (called, appropriately, Faber Stories), which includes stories from a wide range of authors. Other disclaimer: I love Lorrie Moore, and she can basically write no… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 29: Terrific Mother
Year 4 / Book 24: The Things I Would Tell You
24) The Things I Would Tell You ed. Sabrina Mahfouz The subtitle to this collection is 'British Muslim Women Write', and it's a varied collection of short stories, poetry, essays and play scripts all written by Muslim women in Britain. And an extremely interesting and powerful collection it is too - with a wide range… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 24: The Things I Would Tell You
Year 4 / Book 19: You Think It, I’ll Say It
19) You Think It, I'll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld You Think It, I'll Say It is a book of short stories that are witty, sharp and at times extremely moving. I've never read anything by Sittenfeld before (though seen reviews of her novels that have praised her highly), and I'd heartily recommend this as… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 19: You Think It, I’ll Say It
Year 3 / Book 40: You Were Never Really Here
40) You Were Never Really Here by Jonathan Ames Sometimes life seems to set you up to read a particular book, regardless of whether it had been on your mind to or not. Such is the case with this short hard-boiled crime novel from Jonathan Ames - I'd picked it up from the bookshare outside… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 40: You Were Never Really Here
Year 3 / Book 31: The Girls’ Guide to Hunting & Fishing
31) The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank I will be honest with you reader, normally I wouldn't go near a book with this title, particularly when it is coupled with a chick-lit-ish cover: in short, it looks from the outside like it is specifically designed to not make me read it.… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 31: The Girls’ Guide to Hunting & Fishing
Year 3 / Book 20: Civilwarland Is In Bad Decline
20) Civilwarland Is In Bad Decline by George Saunders I'm a big fan of George Saunders and, as I think I said in my review of Lincoln In The Bardo (his Booker-winning novel of 2017), I'm a particular fan of his short stories: Tenth of December and A Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil are… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 20: Civilwarland Is In Bad Decline
Year 3 / Book 1: What the World Will Look Like When the Water Leaves Us
1) What the World Will Look Like When the Water Leaves Us by Laura van den Berg First book of 2018 and it's an excellent book of short stories from this American writer. My wife Katie bought me her more recent book of short stories about a year ago (Isle of Youth) which was fabulous,… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 1: What the World Will Look Like When the Water Leaves Us
Dog-eared Man: a book a week 