Four novels, two books of short stories, and some online reading...
The stubborn second Joker in my Deal Me In deck didn't appear until the final week of the 2017 challenge. So I have been looking at a bunch of rosters. Lot's of tempting stories, several I'd like to read but can't access. I finally settled on a ghost story from Nick's roster.
Nick lists this as being in Alfred Hitchcock Presents: 12 Stories for Late at Night, but I found that is also available on Gutenberg.
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| Deal Me In |
Classic tale of something that haunts several generations of an English country manor family. Sufficiently creepy for late night reading. I'll be reading more from this collection.
A creepy Joker for a creepy story.
The King of hearts for my weekly story is from Polaris "a celestial-themed deck with modern woodcut-style illustrations." The story is not celestial but this figure with parts missing reminds me of how seriously the battle wounds messed up the veteran in the story.
Weekly Story: Outside Kandahar by Lucas Flatt (on Pithead Chapel an online literary journal)
A tough story in which a veteran of Afghanistan action is caretaker for his brother-in-law, a disabled veteran of the same war.
online....
Ælfgyva: The Mystery Woman of the Bayeux Tapestry – Part I; Ælfgyva: The Mystery Woman of the Bayeux Tapestry – Part II; Ælfgyva: The Mystery Woman of the Bayeux Tapestry – Part III; Alfgyva: The Mystery Woman of the Bayeux Tapestry – Part IV to come. By Paula Lofting
Judith Sollosy: No flotsam and jetsam blowing in the wind
An interview with a translator (Hungarian/English)
[A Conversation with Jung Young Moon] Writing for Skeptics: Navigating Meaninglessness
The Korean author is interviewed by Justine Ludwig.
Gutenberg find....
The Rubáiyát of a Persian Kitten by Oliver Herford
Charming 1904 parody. Here's a sample:
"Sometimes I think perchance that Allah may,
When he created Cats, have thrown away
The Tails He marred in making, and they grew
o Cat-Tails and to Pussy-Willows grey."
from my shelves....
No One Writes Back by Eun-Jin Jang; translated from the Korean by Jung Yewon
This first person tale of a postman who quits his job to travel was really fun to read. He travels for about three years and most nights he lays on the floor of his motel room and writes a letter. Sometimes he writes to family members, other times to people he's met on his journey. As we follow his trip and read some of the letters we learn about his former life.
The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg
A sweet story of three lonely people putting together a shared household. The three --a elderly widower, a retired spinster teacher, and a teenage girl--manage to become an unconventional (at times unconvincing) family. This almost crosses the line from "heart warming" to "sentimental slop" and, appropriately, I read it on Christmas day. 'nuff said.
Advance review copy through Goodreads giveaway.
Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat
Short stories of the Haitian experience (both in Haiti and New York). Some of these (especially Night Women) can almost be read as poems . Excellent.
Contents: Children of the sea; Nineteen thirty-seven; A wall of fire rising; Night women; Between the pool and the gardenias; The missing peace; Seeing things simply; New York day women; Caroline's wedding; Epilogue: Women like us.
Man V. Nature by Diane Cook (Kindle ed)
Excellent debut collection of edgy short stories.
Contents: Moving on; The way the end of days should be; Somebody's baby; Girl on girl; Man v. nature; Marrying up; It's coming; Meteorologist Dave Santana; Flotsam; A wanted man; The mast year; The not-needed forest.
The next are both told from the point of view of a teenage boy. Both are interesting coming of age tales but both are somewhat flawed in getting the authentic voice of a young person. Of the two Mozley was more poetic, but Freud's boy was more convincing. The "Mr Mac" is Charles Rennie Mackintosh and I enjoyed that aspect of Freud's book.
Mr Mac and Me by Esther Freud
Elmet by Fiona Mozley(Kindle ed)
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