short stories

No 374 Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower: Book 1 of #20booksofsummer22

Wells Tower’s Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned is one of the best collections of short stories that I have read in a long time. His unsentimental, often brutal yet always brilliant stories lay bare the lives of ordinary people, all trying to do the right thing is a world of alienation and hopelessness. Written with a…

Short Story Collections from Irish writers to look out for in 2021! #readingirelandmonth21

No 425 The China Factory by Mary Costello #readingirelandmonth21

I have all Mary Costello’s books but up until now I hadn’t read any of her work. If the quality of the writing in The China Factory is anything to go by, I am in for a treat with her novels. This is a stunning and affecting collection of twelve perfectly crafted stories, all exploring…

No 426 Dark Lies the Island by Kevin Barry #readingirelandmonth21

Kevin Barry’s Dark Lies the Island is a sharp collection of thirteen tales about the unheroic, the little people for whom success is a far away dream. The best of these stories turn dramatically with a well-placed phrase, causing the reader to stumble and re-evaluate what has gone before. All are written with a vividness,…

No 445 You Are Not A Stranger Here by Adam Haslett

You Are Not A Stranger Here was Adam Haslett’s debut, written in his early twenties while he was studying law at Yale. For a debut, the maturity and complexity on display here is impressive, coupled with a sensitive and intelligent handling of difficult subjects. Haslett doesn’t put a foot wrong across these nine stories, which…

No 463 The October Country by Ray Bradbury #ripxv

Ray Bradbury defies categorisation. Best known for his science fiction and fantasy works like Farenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles, my first encounter with his writing was Dandelion Wine, a beautiful and evocative novel of childhood and memory. Yet again he has confounded my expectations with The October Country, his 1955 collection of nineteen macarbe…

No 472 In Persuasion Nation by George Saunders Book 18 of #20booksofsummer20

I am a big fan of George Saunders’ short stories, having really enjoyed Tenth of December and Civilwarland in Bad Decline. In Persuasion Nation is another thematically linked collection which explores a world, somewhat like our own, where consumerism and advertising have taken over and individuality is being crushed in favour of conformity. Split into…