Category Archives: Short Stories/Essays

All That Man Is

Posted on September 2, 2016 by

The stories in this collection by David Szalay trace the life history of man by looking at nine men at different stages of life. There’s a university student named Simon, traveling through Europe with a friend. There’s Bérnard, who has … Continue reading →

Posted in Contemporary, Fiction, Short Stories/Essays | 5 Comments

The Givenness of Things

Posted on July 17, 2016 by

If you’re a regular or long-time reader of this blog, you’re probably aware that I’m a tremendous fan of the work of Marilynne Robinson. I’ve read and loved all her novels, and I marveled at her 2012 essay collection, When I Was … Continue reading →

Posted in Nonfiction, Religion, Short Stories/Essays | 3 Comments

What Makes This Book So Great

Posted on July 8, 2016 by

So, what makes What Makes This Book So Great so great? (Ask me if I’ve been waiting to write that line.) Well, first, let’s get clear exactly what it is: it’s a collection of blog posts that Jo Walton wrote … Continue reading →

Posted in Nonfiction, Short Stories/Essays | 18 Comments

A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again

Posted on June 22, 2016 by

Last year at about this time, I read Consider the Lobster. It was my first encounter with David Foster Wallace’s writing, and I discovered with surprise and pleasure that he writes absolutely incredible, delightful, kick-ass essays. Why surprise? Well, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Nonfiction, Short Stories/Essays | 7 Comments

Interior Darkness

Posted on May 10, 2016 by

I haven’t read any Peter Straub for a long time. His Magic Terror left me cold, and when I followed that too closely by Houses Without Doors, I gave up on him altogether (but not without a loud complaint.) Still, … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Short Stories/Essays, Speculative Fiction | 4 Comments

What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours

Posted on April 15, 2016 by

I’m on record as liking my short stories weird. Authors can get away with things in short stories that would be unbearable if they tried to sustain it for hundreds of pages. So I was excited that Helen Oyeyemi’s new … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Short Stories/Essays, Speculative Fiction | 6 Comments

Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

Posted on February 25, 2016 by

Have you ever picked up a book and known from the first paragraph that you were in good hands? That’s how I felt from the very first lines of “Brownies,” the opening story in this short story collection by ZZ … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Short Stories/Essays | 17 Comments

Carmen and Other Stories

Posted on February 3, 2016 by

I’ve been waffling for a couple of days about what I want to say about this collection of short stories by 19th-century author Prosper Mérimée (and translated from the French by Nicholas Jotcham). When I think back on the stories, … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics, Fiction, Short Stories/Essays | 2 Comments

The Force of Spirit

Posted on February 2, 2016 by

A few years ago, I read Staying Put, a collection of personal essays by Scott Russell Sanders. That collection had a sense of coherence around the same theme: what does it mean, to a geological place, and also to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Memoir, Nonfiction, Short Stories/Essays | 4 Comments

Elementals: Stories of Ice and Fire

Posted on January 17, 2016 by

This book of short stories by A.S. Byatt has been on my TBR list for almost six years. Byatt is a favorite author of mine, and I’ve read most of her novels and short stories now. But each time I … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Short Stories/Essays | 3 Comments