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#30: American Dreams by Peter Carey
First, I got the recommendation: Ryan told me I should readThe Fat Man in History, and he should know: he's slowly working his way through the back catalogue of Australian short fiction...
#29: Grandpa Does the Melbourne Shuffle by Dan Ducrou
Dan Ducrou is in my writing group, but I have never met him...
#28 Pharmacy by Elizabeth Strout
Things have a strange way of coming together.
Short story superstar Paul Mitchell recommended Olive Kitteridge a month ago and I was sceptical. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it was the incredibly naff cover, as featured above...
#27: Stars at Elbow and Foot by Amy Bloom
Amy Bloom is fucking excellent.
She's excellent because at no point does she let the voice of hesitancy enter her writing, or if she does, it has left long before the final draft of the story. She writes frank, perfectly paced stories about emotions. Some of these emotions are ugly as hell but she'll be damned if that will stop their surfacing within the narrative...
#26: If I loved you by Robin Black
I may have to revisit my take on negativity in short stories, or at the very least allow a post's break while I examine If I loved you from Robin Black's debut collection of short fiction...
#25: You're Ugly Too by Lorrie Moore
Some days I do not feel like reading longer short fiction.
This was another story I listened to first as opposed to reading; it benefitted massively from being read by Moore herself. In case you’re wondering, her voice is monotone at times, but her deliciously dry wit was made for Moore’s change in tone. She is one of the few writers who, when reading her own work, is able to suitably capture the spirit of the writing...
#24: The Second Tree From the Corner by E.B. White
"Ever have any bizarre thoughts?" asked the doctor. So begins one of the most beautifully written stories I have ever read. I came back to this story after a strange week. I had seen the documentary Man on Wire on Thursday night and had been thinking about the nature of beauty ever since. I thought about timeless stories, those which defied easy classification and instead seemed greater meditations on the almost indescribable; aspiration, ambition, and the search for an elusive something that often occupies our time...
#23: A Perfect Day For Bananafish by J.D. Salinger
What makes a twist ending different from one which simply continues on from themes already developed? To my mind, A Perfect Day for Bananafish falls clearly in the latter category but there are many who’d argue its surprise ending is unwarranted given what has come before. Like much of Salinger’s work, it divides people, if only because of the ambiguity in which Salinger presents seemingly black and white events...
The Gum Wall Hall of Fame: Franz Kafka - Guest Post by LiteraryMinded
After visiting the Kafka museum in Prague (detailed in this blog post), I decided I must and would read everything Kafka had ever written...
#22: Where I'm Calling From by Raymond Carver
Damn, Carver gives me the blues.
Some of his stories are really sad. Some are hopeful, but the hope usually comes after a lot of sadness. Some are urban, some are rural, and some of his stories feature characters so remarkably unpleasant that I've decided never to reread them. Yes, Jerry and Bill from Tell the Women We're Going, I am talking about you...
#20: The Third and Final Continent By Jhumpa Lahiri
Always trust your instinct.
In this case, our instincts guided us to St. Kilda. On an autumn evening we had gorged on curries, pastas, salads and lassi at Soul Mama. Myself and Zia then had an overwhelming urge to gorge on something even more delicious; some perfectly formed, low-calorie short story collections...
#19: Those Cousins from Sapucaia! by Machado De Assis
Machado De Assis is long dead, but thanks to Bloomsbury, his writing still lives on. Born in 1839, De Assis lived his life in Rio De Janeiro, the son of poor parents. He made his way up to becoming a civil cervant and writer and was revered in his lifetime, although some argue his work was not fully understood until much later. Since his death, he has been touted as the greatest Brazillian writer in history...