No 536 After Rain by William Trevor #readingirelandmonth19
William Trevor has long been acclaimed as one of the finest short story writers in the discipline, and After Rain confirms that reputation. This is a stunning and affecting collection of twelve perfectly crafted stories, all exploring the lives of the lost and the lonely. With an unrivalled skill, he insightfully illuminates these quiet lives…
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Northern Exposure: Catholic Boy by Rosemary Jenkinson
Northern Exposure: Sweet Home by Wendy Erskine
Three more down…one to go! #20booksofsummer
No 566 Bad Behavior by Mary Gaitskill #20booksofsummer
Bad Behavior was published in 1988 and it marked a striking debut from Mary Gaitskill. This collection of nine stories features tales of sexual obsession, drug addiction, and the darkest sides of human relationships. Several of the stories feature young women working as prostitutes, through either choice or necessity, most with a striking naïveté despite…
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No 578 Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Following on from Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson and The Sorrows of An American by Siri Hustvedt, Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout is my first experience with an author who I feel that I really should have read a long time ago, because the strength of her writing is quite astonishing. Olive Kitteridge is a “novel…
Joyride to Jupiter by Nuala O’Connor
No 599 Intepreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
In the title story of this wonderful collection of short stories, Mr Das, a tour guide and taxi driver in India muses on his abandoned career plans. He had dreamed of being an interpreter for diplomats and dignitaries, resolving conflicts between people and nations, settling disputes of which he alone could understand both sides. Ideas…
No 628 The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson
What a fantastic collection of stories to kick off my 20 Books of Summer Challenge! Often considered one of the most terrifying stories of the twentieth century, Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery created a sensation when it was first published in 1948. The New Yorker received a record number of complaints about the story ranging from…
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