Helen Ivory’s fifth collection from Bloodaxe, ‘The Anatomical Venus’ is a stark and possessing exhibition of female abuse throughout history. In these poems we witness women as ‘other’, she or her who is alienated for her body’s ability to birth and bleed, and objectified for her gender aesthetics. We find here the Venus, the doll,
I’ve been going on a journey recently with regards to Kealan Patrick Burke’s books, and boy what a journey it is turning out to be. Steve Stred who had read and advanced copy of my novella Juniper and kindly offered me a quote to use in the publicity of it mentioned that my writing reminded
The second time Gina Oleson falls for the fiancé scam, Jenny isn’t as understanding. A fiancé in Greece who needs help financing a business purchase? A texted image of a check from the Bank of England for three million Euros? Poor Gina lives in a crap Westfield, New Hampshire apartment with her elderly cousin, doesn’t
Always North by Vicki Jarrett is a strange little beast, on the one hand I thought that the location and isolation that she brought to the book were astonishingly well written – you could feel the bleakness of it, the coldness of the arctic and at times when I was reading in bed, I’m sure
Wow. Folio Society have done it yet again – True Grit is another fabulous book which I feel has the whole package, beautifully put together, slipcase, illustrations (by Juan Estaban Rodriguez), a brilliant introduction by Donna Tartt – all these elements lend themselves seamlessly in bringing this classic to life – in gorgeous technicolor. .
‘Consider This: Moments In My Writing Life After Which Everything Was Different‘ (which from this moment on will be referred to as Consider This) is not just a book it is an investment. Chuck Palahniuk has produced a fabulous book about writing craft, which as a fan of Palahniuk I’m thrilled with, but as a
I picked up Grand Union in the hope that I would be blown away by the powerhouse that is Zadie Smith, and so I was very excited to learn that this was her first and much awaited short story collection. Zadie Smith is an astonishingly great writer, there is no shadow of doubt in that
It’s been a busy year again here at STORGY and I’ve been reading everything and everything yet again – from the big hitting publishers to the brave publishing of Independent Presses (which are putting out some astonishing works of late) to some self published works. Not to mention the hundreds of short stories I’ve read
Flare and Falter is a humorous and light-hearted short story collection, occasionally bordering on the absurd. Conley gives us a delightful glimpse into the inner workings of his creative talents, creating bizarre worlds, plot lines that move in every which way, and relatable characters, in these short pieces that leave us questioning our own society.
It’s a neat little ritual, thinking about the best books I’ve read over the last year. It’s also hard to whittle it down to a manageable list. It’s also hard to remember what I’ve read half the time. With that in mind, perhaps the list then writes itself – if I can remember it, then
