Category Archives: Short Stories/Essays

Don’t Look Now

Posted on May 13, 2019 by

The nine short stories in this collection by Daphne du Maurier are wonderfully dark, some of them downright terrifying. Two of them — “Don’t Look Now” and “The Birds”— have been made into classic horror films, and the stories are … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics, Short Stories/Essays | 16 Comments

The Puttermesser Papers

Posted on September 28, 2018 by

Ruth Puttermesser is a single, Jewish New Yorker in her 30s who, despite being a well-read intellectual, is stuck in a dull civil service job. In fact, her intellect got in her way, causing her to be demoted from a … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Short Stories/Essays | 4 Comments

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

Posted on August 26, 2018 by

I became interested Sherlock Holmes mostly through Laurie King’s Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series. Prior to reading those books, I’d read maybe a handful of Conan Doyles’s short stories and The Hound of the Baskervilles. But I’m enjoying slowly working through the originals. … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics, Fiction, Mysteries/Crime, Short Stories/Essays | 4 Comments

We Others

Posted on August 2, 2018 by

Steven Millhauser has been working for a long time in the strange, the disturbing, and the fantastic. I’ve read several books of his short stories and novellas, my favorite of which is The King in the Tree, with its wonderful … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Short Stories/Essays, Speculative Fiction | Leave a comment

Nothing That Meets the Eye

Posted on July 31, 2018 by

I read Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley novels (there are five of them, starting with The Talented Mr. Ripley, and they go by the collective name of the Ripliad) years and years ago, before I started this blog. Ever since, I’ve wanted … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Mysteries/Crime, Short Stories/Essays | 10 Comments

Pastoralia

Posted on July 30, 2018 by

This is the third book of George Saunders’s short stories I’ve read, and the fourth of his books I’ve read overall, and to be honest I think he might be one of my top five favorite authors. I don’t tend … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Short Stories/Essays, Speculative Fiction | 8 Comments

Strange Weather

Posted on June 6, 2018 by

Joe Hill prefaces this collection of four novellas by saying that the novella is a wonderful form. It’s long enough to be really meaty and provide for depth of characterization, but short enough to be lean, and to demand that … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Short Stories/Essays, Speculative Fiction | 3 Comments

The Street of Crocodiles

Posted on June 4, 2018 by

I’ve had Bruno Schulz on the periphery of my reading for a long time. Lots of readers I like have mentioned him: John Crowley, Cynthia Ozick, China Miéville, and many more. He was a Polish writer from the provincial town … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Short Stories/Essays, Speculative Fiction | 1 Comment

Blue Horses Rush In

Posted on June 2, 2018 by

This is a short book of poems and stories by Navajo author Luci Tapahonso. I found it completely enjoyable to read in a quiet, personal way: it feels as if Tapahonso is talking to me, telling me about her experiences, … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Short Stories/Essays | Leave a comment

Fidelity

Posted on April 24, 2018 by

This actually appears to be the first book by Wendell Berry I’ve ever read, despite his being apparently completely up my alley. Berry is so much part of my mental furniture as an essayist, as a Christian farmer-ecologist, and as … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Short Stories/Essays | 8 Comments