Welcome to Litsy!

I‘ve always enjoyed Miéville‘s novels and I was not disappointed in this collection of short stories. Some were much better than others, but as a whole, I really liked the sometimes bizarre imaginings of his many worlds in these stories. I do think I love his novels more, but this collection has just added to my appreciation of China Miéville as an author. 4/5â­�ï¸�
#LMPBC
#GroupC

This is my #LPMBC Group C (short stories) pick this month, so I won‘t say much. I love getting out of my comfort zone, so it was good to read a sci fi/fantasy/horror collection because I usually read literary fiction ones. There were a lot of medical ðŸ‘�ðŸ�» and military themes, which was fun for me. Some stories didn‘t work for me, but there were quite a few good ones.

@Readergrrl I‘ll let you know when I get it in the mail.

I enjoyed the weirdness and unique ideas in this collection, but it lost some steam for me in the second half. A light pick.

I‘m planning on mailing this tomorrow, @Megabooks . I‘ll send you the tracking number when I have it. 😊

#lmpbc #GroupC #catsoflitsy #Ember

Hey, #GroupC! 😊 What do you guys think of these?

(The Diving Pool is apparently novellas rather than short stories, but I decided to include it anyway because if the page count is right, it looks like the novellas must all be on the short side.)

#lmpbc

My #BookSpin from way back in December is now done read. Yay! It took a while but it was worth as all China Mieville's books I've read. I have to be honest, some stories were a bit too complex/strange/abstract for me, but others were simply awesome, his imagination is amazing. A pick!

And since today is the best day of the month when the #BookSpinBingo card is revealed, here is mine, Thank again for all you do @TheAromaOfBooks!

"What radicals have you ever known that didn't have their weekly meetings?"

"But think, and you have to hate, because if you couldn't hate you couldn't love, and you couldn't hope, and you couldn't despair correctly. Not because of some fetish for symmetry, but because what matters above all is the utter.
What's hate but utterness, the unwordable with a bad inflection?"

"For there to be any political point to us tiny splinters, we had to distinguish ourselves."

"I blinked and said something about Hansel and Gretel, that following him talking was like following a breadcrumb trail laid by a lunatic. You said you liked the implication that most breadcrumb trails were laid by sane people."

"Joanna took Mel to Dresden, to the Frauenkirche. They timed their visit to coincide with a monthly English evensong. 'Firebombs not enough?' Mel whispered. 'Now we inflict Anglicanism on them?' Her giggles attracted attention.
'Jesus,' Joanna muttered, shaking her head but laughing too. 'Shut up.'"

I probably wouldn‘t have said pick if I didn‘t love the final story so much, but I‘m still on the inertia of such a nice ending that I‘m probably rating the book higher than I would initially. It‘s by no means bad, but I found the trailer-formatted stories jarring, and struggled to get through a couple of the lingers ones, like ‘the man in the dusty hat‘.

I just finished a China Miéville short story about a secretive group of therapists that also act as assassins, clinically murdering individuals that get in the way of their patients‘ healing process.

It is possibly the closest I‘ve ever seen him get to outright comedy. Just wanted to share.

China wrote a weirdo science fiction story in the format of a college syllabus because he is a mad genius. Enjoy. #Mievillains

This whole short story, “The 9th Technique�, is freaking insane, but I thought this paragraph worked as a mini horror tale all on its own.

Trust China to take caterpillar metamorphosis and turn it into unleaded nightmare fuel.

Every single story in Looking for Jake, Miéville‘s first short story collection, was solid freaking weirdo gold (except, oddly, the title story).

I‘ll be working through his 2nd collection one story at a time between novels. The 1st story featured kids on chrono-Ecstasy exploring a building while it is exploding, & the explosion was a Burger King commercial, & the ghost of the building must be exorcised. It was 2 pages and was also fantastic.

I‘ve been on a short story reading kick lately. Within the past month I‘ve read Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (heralded by the New York Times), Wilderness Tips by Margaret Atwood (one of my favourite short story collections I‘ve read by Atwood to date) and now I‘m on to Three Moments of An Explosion by China Miéville who reminds me of a more political Neil Gaiman.

Here‘s a stack of all the short story books I have sitting on my shelf.
Three Moments I haven‘t read yet.
Daddy Lenin was a great collection.
Norse Mythology was more Gaiman magic. Daydreams I started but didn‘t finish.
Same for Public Library.
I hope to get to Wilderness Tips soon.
The Doll-Master was fittingly spooky.

Which of these collections would you read next?

#riotgrams #shortstories

A brilliant, mind-bending collection that really showcases Miéville's talents for style, voice and narrative. Many of them are definitely Weird but but the startlingly vivid imagery is backed up by Miéville's unrivalled originality, an impressive and some brilliant writing. Be warned though, it's not for the faint of heart or the sensitive of stomach! Favourites were Säcken, New Death, Keep and the trailers.

Story #fourteen in this mad, unsettling, brilliant collection. That last sentence, the one that forces a double take? It's Mr Miéville's forte, it's the Weird getting ready to burst it... #NovemberByTheNumbers

A brilliant (and big) collection of short stories, if you like yours fantastical and a bit surreal. E-book on sale today.

So I got home from a long day at work only to find my wonderful husband had dinner ready and news that an unexpected package arrived for me. @leslieseidel had sent me extra goodies from #secretsantagoespostal. What a fun surprise! I'm glad you forgot them initially, it worked out to be twice the fun! Thank you for sending them along, the bookmarks are great and the family all want to try the chocolate. 🎉ðŸŽ�📚🔖

#secretsantagoespostal woke up with a headache and realized its the 21st. So 2 Tylenol and 2 new books later, I am feeling much better. 😊 can't wait to dive into both of these books... You got some great recommendations @leslieseidel, these both seem like they will be right up my alley. Merry Solstice Leslie and thank you!

I'll read anything by Miéville, but even so this is a wonderfully creepy set of short stories. (Maybe not the best bedtime reading choice...?)

I have made it about half way thru and I am finding that I do not like 75%of the stories. Bummed because I was really looking forward to this book.

Sheba decided to take over my spot when I got up. #dogproblems

#biblioweekend book#2 Foster dog is out already:)

Wondering what my book stack from the store today is saying about my reading mood. 📚📚😱

My mind is roiling, boiling, and toiling to work through the images brought forth by this collection of short stories. Oh the worlds! The horror! The creepy possibilities that lie under the floorboards, behind the picture frame, below the skin are enough to fill my mind for days and days of solitary imagining.

Once again, I have fallen deep under the spell of China Mieville, tumbling into his bizarre imagination, seeing the world through an entirely different prism. His creativity amazes me; in this collection of short stories, it is even more evident just how broad his knowledge is. Each story is completely different, necessitating a reinvention of the laws governing these worlds. It is a masterwork.

For #24in48 attempted to post this morning but loading took forever. Why am I reading it? China Mieville is reason enough.
Giving up for the while. I am sure China knows what he is riffing on. Me? Not where he's at.
Going to join the Dancers at the End of Time for now.

Some stories left me with mental images that I would see only in dreams. The more I thought about them the less afraid I was.

I went into this collection really wanting to love it. Although the majority of the stories weren't really in my wheelhouse, the ones I liked have really stuck with me. I'm definitely eager to find out what Miéville can do with a full novel. Any suggestions on which of his I should try next?

"…and a card I'd never seen before."