Book Review - The Man Upstairs and Other Stories by P. G. Wodehouse

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Let me just say one thing, there is no way you could go wrong when reading a man that Douglas Adams calls the greatest comic writer ever.
Now on with my review:
The Man Upstairs & Other Stories is a collection of short stories centered on love in all it's Wodehouse glory. Full of the trademark wit that can only be found in a Wodehouse story. I didn't have any of the laugh out loud moments I did when reading the Jeeves books though that fact didn't detract from each story's lighthearted look at life's most serious love issues.
I enjoyed diving deeper into the Wodehouse repertoire through this collection of short stories.

Book Review - Difficult People by Jim Stallings

Thursday, June 17, 2010

I received Difficult People: Flash Fictions by Jim Stallings (admittedly a while ago) for review.
This book has been in my bathroom for a few months now. Some people would think that is a bad thing but in fact it is not. Difficult People is a book of Flash Fictions or super short stories that really jump into each character with abandon. Each flash fiction is engrossing and at times very intense, making them a bit hard to read back to back to back in this book of 231 pages.
The fact that they are short but intense makes them a perfect bathroom read. I am not sure they could be truly appreciated if read straight through. Reading a few then taking a bit of time off gives you the opportunity to really consider each story then go back in for more.
Even if this book doesn't land a spot in your bathroom, I highly recommend taking your time to read Difficult People, don't push through it, read a bit then put it down and savor it.

Book Review - Touch of Magic

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

I picked up Selected Shorts: A Touch of Magic (Selected Shorts: A Celebration of the Short Story) from the library too looking to fulfill a requirement for the Short Story Reading Challenge. I am a fan of science fiction and fantasy so I thought this would be right up my alley. I was mostly right this was an interesting read but with the same problem that most all short stories have that is they are too short.
If the story is good I want more and if it is bad then I don't want to be reading it in the first place. Nearly every single one of these stories left me wanting more. Come to think of it maybe that is the mark of a bad short story if you don't feel complete at the end then maybe it is lacking and so isn't that great after all.
Either way most of these stories left me wanting to delve further into their worlds, take that as you will.

Like I say this knocked off one of my requirements for The Short Story Reading Challenge.

Book Review - Interfictions 2

Friday, February 12, 2010

I was sent Interfictions 2: An Anthology of Interstitial Writing by a friend of mine who also happens to be a contributing author to this collection of stories. I have to be honest, I didn't know what Interfictions were or what Interstitial Arts were when I first received the book to review. I felt a little stupid for that but as I don't enjoy much being stupid I set about figuring it all out. My first stop was the Interstitial Arts Foundation and between their website and the book itself I found that I greatly enjoy Interfictions and other Interstitial arts and have for some time. Actually all the time I can remember enjoying art, I have always liked the stuff that crosses boundaries. Art within rigid boundaries is enjoyable too but who's to say it has to be that way?

Interfictions 2 is a great example of how many different forms Interfictions can take. For myself I thought for some reason Interfictions had to be science fiction in some way but that is so so so wrong. It's simply skirting genres and bending traditional literary "rules" there are many stories in this anthology with no science fiction or "fantasy" at all. My absolute favorites are hard to pick but I have two. Valentines by Shira Lipkin and Afterbirth by Stephanie Shaw.
First off let me be honest, Shira is the friend who sent me the book but here is what surprised me, her story really is one of my favorites. I have tons of faith in her and her writing but other than her livejournal I had never read any of it. I am a brutally honest person and I was so hoping I would just love her story. As soon as the book arrived I skipped right to it and read it immediately, then I read it again and then again when I actually got to her story again chronologically. I loved it, I got it, my husband suffers from occasional unexplained epilepsy, the traveling between worlds as described in Shira's Valentines seems to happen to him as well, I have never experienced it myself but I see it happening to him and so when I read this story each piece fell into place in my mind without a moments hesitation, there was no translation needed I just accepted it and understood.
I have a three year old little boy and although I do not go around all day thinking about his birth I can say it is there as a solid life experience and can be easily reclaimed and relived. Afterbirth is a great story about the just before and the actual birth of her children. There's only one little hitch, dragons. They are just there, in the bedroom, in the delivery room and in the OR. If you have ever given birth you will know that despite how incredibly bizarre the dragons in this story may be it is spot on. How do you put into words the crazy, chaos that is happening all around you in the weeks leading up to the birth of your kids and then the actual delivery? Well, if you are Stephanie Shaw you don't put it in words so much as give the feelings characters all their own.

Short Story Reading Challenge

Monday, January 11, 2010

Another Challenge? Yeah, I know I am wondering if I am biting off more than I can chew too but here we go. I just ran into the Short Story Reading Challenge hosted by Kate over at a blog set up just for this challenge.

Here are the details (in short):
Options 1 & 2: If you're short on time, you can simply commit to reading ten short stories by ten different authors over the course of 2010. If you're relatively new to reading short stories, any ten will do. If you’ve already got a lot of short stories under your belt, make it ten short stories by ten writers whose work you have not yet read. How about that—a year long challenge that you could conceivably complete in the course of a day!
Options 3 & 4: If you've got a bit more time to devote to this endeavor, you can commit to reading between five and ten short story collections over the course of 2010. Again, if you're a short story novice, the world is your oyster as far as selection is concerned. But if you're a seasoned short story reader, you'll want to choose collections by writers whose short stories you have not yet encountered.
Option 5: This is the custom option under the rubric of which you can tailor your reading list to best meet your personal reading aspirations. You might wish to craft a list that focuses on a particular place, or era, or genre. Or you might wish to include reading about short stories as well as of short stories, for example, such works as Frank O'Connor's The Lonely Voice: A Study of the Short Story. It's entirely up to you.

I am signing on for option 3, I challenge myself to read 5 short story collections by the end of the year. Shouldn't be too hard, I already have 2 short story collections in my library and will hit the library up for the other 3. I really enjoy reading short stories but for some reason I almost never end up coming home with one after a trip to the library or bookstore. That will change this year with this challenge.