Well I am a huge fan of Max Porter, his writing to me is always a joy to read as he has such a hold over the written word with his prose being quite poetic, with each word fighting for its right to be included in the storytelling, and the deftly constructed prose he offers
Akhil Sharma’s ‘Cosmopolitan’ is a story of overlaps, or perhaps, multitudes. Part of the Faber Stories series – celebrating 90 years of their publishing – ‘Cosmopolitan’ is a piece that speaks to numerous intertwined narratives. As the synopsis will tell us, ‘Gopal Maurya’s wife has left him, preferring to seek enlightenment in an ashram in
Quite often there are times when I feel lucky that I got to read a certain story. Maybe once or twice a month, I read something that makes pause, perhaps not in awe, but in true appreciation of another’s work. ‘An Elegy for Easterly’ by Petina Gappah is that story. I confess I’ve yet to
Though I do love crime and have read a fair bit of it, I had to confess that I had never read P. D. James until I was sent the exquisitely tight and suspenseful “The Victim”. Some can pack quite a bit in, in just a few pages it would seem. What great talent P.D.
The theme of sexual awakening and desire has been explored since the dawn of literature; through the works of Nabokov, Flaubert, Shakespeare, Laclos, Sade, Sagan or Colette to name but a few (90% French, I notice, as I type. Maybe we are a sex-obsessed nation after all). When I found out that Djuna Barnes was
What can be decided in a few moments that will not be questioned for a lifetime? Mrs. Fox by Sarah Hall is one of the many short stories that has been given the Faber makeover this year in a collection that is first celebrating the 90th anniversary of Faber & Faber – but most importantly
Acclaim follows David Means. Nominated for a Man Booker [for his novel ‘Hystopia’] and with four short story collections already under his belt, Means has been compared to Alice Munro and Raymond Carver. Illustrious company indeed. His fifth short story collection is Instructions for a Funeral. To draw comparison to Carver for a moment, what
I’ve been a fan of Robert Aickman for a number of years now after I was introduced to his work at university. And I’ve often returned to his stories at random moments, my subconscious usually looking for something a little bit off kilter. To read something weird. That is Aickman’s forte. ‘The Inner Room’ is
There is a consistence sense of rootlessness and exploration in Edna O’Brien’s short story ‘Paradise’. Though I confess I have not read any of her other work before [this will soon change], in researching the piece, and from my own thoughts, ‘Paradise’ is a moment of transition for the writer – she takes herself from
An accomplished writer, of that there is no doubt, Kazuo Ishiguro’s short story ‘Come Rain or Come Shine’ is a piece that speaks differently than his other work. It’s not the dystopian fiction of ‘Never Let Me Go’ nor is it quite like his 1989 novel ‘The Remains of the Day’. Here he branches into
