Grace died. As Zoë replaces the lid of the electric kettle - having steamed the envelope open - her eye is caught by that stark statement. Unintentionally, the two stories I chose to read from Cheating at Canasta for Cathy & Kim's A Year With William Trevor, were both about adultery. The Room featured a 47 year … Continue reading Old Flame | William Trevor #IRLshortstory
With a drop of ink for a mirror, the Egyptian sorcerer undertakes to reveal to any chance comer far-reaching visions of the past. This is what I undertake to do for you, reader. Adam Bede was my lucky choice for the last Classics Club Spin. I was thrilled to then discover that Nick @One Catholic … Continue reading Adam Bede | George Eliot #EliotReadalong
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash Last year for the first time, I kept a tabulated list of all the books and short stories that I read during 2022. It was a BIG list. This was a direct result of abandoning Goodreads part way through the year; I had to find another way of tracking … Continue reading January 2023 | The Books
Cover Design: Gingko leaves by Dana Li Five years ago I read Banana Yoshimoto's (1988) debut story Kitchen (which also contained the short story Moonlight Shadow). I enjoyed the two stories with some reservation about how deceptively simple they appeared. I think what I was trying to articulate back then is how it is possible for a … Continue reading Dead-end Memories | Banana Yoshimoto #JPNshortstories
'Do you know why you are doing this?' he asked, and Katherine hesitated, then shook her head, although she did know. As much as I would like to participate 100% in Cathy & Kim's #WilliamTrevor2023 reading event, I knew that it would be an impossible ask. As much as I adore William Trevor, to read … Continue reading The Room | William Trevor #IRLshortstory
There’s a person living not too far from me known as the Woman in the Purple Skirt. She only ever wears a purple-colored skirt – which is why she has this name. I had no idea what to expect from The Woman in the Purple Skirt - perhaps another Japanese story about a slightly odd … Continue reading The Woman in the Purple Skirt | Natsuko Imamura #JPNfiction
What's On My Mind: So, 2023. How's it treating you so far? My first week of January involved catching up with the extended family, plus some time in our house in the mountains attempting to complete DIY projects inbetween bad weather. A few visits from friends provided lovely diversions. Then it was back to work. … Continue reading Stories & Shout Outs #56
One grey morning the first snow began to fall in Moomin Valley. It fell softly and quietly, and in a few hours everything was white. It took me a ridiculous amount of time to read this pocket-sized, yet delightful children's book. Finn Family Moomintroll is the first Moomin book translated into English, and at only … Continue reading Finn Family Moomintroll | Tove Jansson #NordicFINDS23
That day was no different than any other. High school was as cruel as ever. Many teenage stories are ultimately about belonging. It's something we all want, of course - to belong to someone or something, to feel connected to a group, a family, a tribe who makes us feel like we're not alone, like … Continue reading The Color of the Sky is the Shape of the Heart | Chesil #JPNfiction
We drove home along the forest road, the trees like exposed bones in the headlights, trunks bending in over the gravel track. From the first story in the collection, 'River' Everything Feels Like the End of the World is a speculative fiction short story collection 'exploring possible futures in an Australia not so different from … Continue reading Everything Feels Like the End of the World | Else Fitzgerald #AWWshortstories
Tokyo Express | Translated by Jesse Kirkwood On the evening of the thirteenth of January, Tatsuo Yasuda invited one of his clients to join him at the Koyuki restaurant in Akasaka. His guest was a senior official at one of the government ministries. I acquired a reading copy of Tokyo Express back in November. At … Continue reading Tokyo Express | Seichō Matsumoto #JPNcrimefiction
Before he left the family, my father worked as a sales representative for a pharmaceutical company. He travelled from chemist to chemist with samples of pills and lotions and pastes in the back of his Valiant station wagon. The best sales representatives visited modern chemists in the city and suburbs. My father had to drive … Continue reading Before He Left the Family | Carrie Tiffany #AUSshortstory
My name is Alison Porter and I began my life, in 1958, in Bridport, Dorset. My parents had grown up in Dorset, and their parents before them. My dad worked in the local bank and my mum did repairs and alterations for a nearby dressmaker. My brother, Michael, was four years older than me. We … Continue reading Alison | Lizzy Stewart #GraphicNovel
2022 ended up being a curious reading and blogging year. I lost my mojo a couple of times, but never both at once - there were some weeks I was lucky to publish one post, then other times I posted every second day. I read a similar number of books to last year - 100 … Continue reading 2022 in Review
The arrivals hall at Vienna airport was so quiet that Lorna had no difficulty picking her out, even though they had never met before. It's a bit of a pity when the first book reviewed for a brand new year turns out to be one of those just okay books. I thoroughly enjoyed Middle England … Continue reading Bournville | Jonathan Coe #UKfiction
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