This week is Daphne Du Maurier Reading Week hosted by HeavenAli with Liz @Adventures in Reading assisting in the collation of links. In recent years I have worked my way through DDM's short story collections, often only 2-3 stories at a time. For the 2023 DDM Reading Week I have started on the stories in … Continue reading Don’t Look Now | Daphne Du Maurier #UKshortstories
"I'm going to marry Damian." Joanna said. Claire wasn't paying attention. She smiled and nodded, intent on unravelling a ball of garden twine that had become tangled. I said: "Well, that's nice, or course. But Damian's married already." It didn't matter, Joanna said, and repeated her resolve. Joanne was five at the time. It is … Continue reading Marrying Damian | William Trevor #Begorrathon23
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
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
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
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
You always looked back, she thought. You looked back at other years, other Christmas cards arriving, the children younger. I'm sneaking my first William Trevor story in a few days early to coincide with my one and only A Literary Christmas entry for 2022. Those who have followed my previous A Literary Christmas stories, will … Continue reading Another Christmas | William Trevor #ALiteraryChristmas
Me, Antman and our mongrel, Fleabag, like partyin outside. We both come from the bush. Me, I'm a NSW desert girl and Antman's mob are river people. Cos we aint got no river or desert here in the city, we like sittin in the park yarnin, having a charge, playin country music. We don't cause … Continue reading Me, Antman & Fleabag | Gayle Kennedy #AWWfiction
I confess I had not heard of the Olga Masters Short Story Award until yesterday, when I discovered that my friend Ruth Armstrong had won the 2022 prize! Her story, Sandcastles, will be published in Island Magazine in November and will appear on the Olga Masters website early next year. Miriam Webster was the runner-up … Continue reading Olga Masters Short Story Award 2022
One of the online sites that came up when I duck, duck, go'd this title, suggested She and Her Cat was one of the five translated books this season that could soothe a battered soul. My soul was not feeling particularly battered (except for this seemingly endless La Niña rain!) but I definitely felt soothed … Continue reading She and Her Cat | Makoto Shinkai & Naruki Nagakawa #JPNshortstories
Alejandro Ferri is my name. I truly am being stalked by Jorge Luis Borges. Everywhere I turn, there he is! Again! The latest incident occured on the 1st August when I opened my copy of Cold Light by Frank Moorhouse to complete my Edith Trilogy Readalong. Frank ambitiously included six, yes SIX, epigraphs. The first … Continue reading The Congress | Jorge Luis Borges #ARGshortstory
I had planned on writing extended reviews for some of these books, but Covid. Assembly especially, which packed a punch much weightier than its mere 100 pages would suggest, deserves to be more widely considered and discussed. But for now, all I will say is READ IT. You have to stop this, she said. This … Continue reading June Mini Reviews [2]
Mary Gaunt's first short story collection The Moving Finger (1895) contains seven stories. I read the two Christmas themed ones back in December last year. These were read with a seasonal lens in mind. The following five stories have been read using my 'female experience' lens as they will be part of a post that will end up … Continue reading The Moving Finger | Mary Gaunt #AWWshortstories
Last year, for DDM reading week with Heavenali, I only had time for one short story. I chose The Birds, the first story in one of my beautiful Virago Designer Classic editions. This year I was more organised and finally finished the rest of the collection. The other stories include: Monte Verità (pp. 44-113) "They … Continue reading The Birds and Short Stories | Daphne Du Maurier #DDMreadingweek
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