I was on a short fiction streak in Oct/Nov and this was a truly stellar collection. All the stories were fantastic, but the ones I loved best tied into the novels I've read.
#12Booksof2025 November
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I was on a short fiction streak in Oct/Nov and this was a truly stellar collection. All the stories were fantastic, but the ones I loved best tied into the novels I've read.
#12Booksof2025 November
A few excellently spooky stories for October. It's Edith Wharton, so even the boring stories were well-crafted.
#12booksof2025
My 13 Favorite Books of 2025:
1. Henry V - Dan Jones
2. . For Whom The Belle Tolls - Jaysea Lynn
3. Once In A Blue Moon - Simon R. Green
4. Odyssey - Stephen Fry
5. Why We Love Football - Joe Pasnanski
6. Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny
7. The Angel of The Crows - Katherine Addison
8. The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde
9. The Shattering Peace - John Scalzi
10. The Summer War - Naomi Novik
11. Lake of Souls - Ann Leckle
pickThere are over 50 "stories" in this 174-page book, so no surprise that they are very short, some being only one line. Naturally, then, most of the ideas are conceptual: you get the gist and fill in the blanks yourself. Matsuda gets this to work more often than not, and her surreal feminist commentaries on Japanese (and global) culture mostly hit home, but I think I'd have preferred some editing to either remove or expand the ones that don't. 3.5⭐
pickWhat an amazing collection of weird fairy tales! Dinesen sets stories in the Danish past to explore themes of power, love, wealth, sacrifice, and dignity. Only one includes a supernatural element but they all feel somewhat uncanny and idealized. Some of them left me bemused.
The fact they were written while Copenhagen was occupied by the Nazis adds a layer of fascination.
Off to a great start 2026!
pick#26Shorts2026 #3BookChallenge2026 #2026Reads #VirginiaBloomsberries #192030
This is such a beautiful read, and paints a vivid scene of a garden with people passing through it and feel I am there with how the scenes come alive.
After reading this I discovered the first edition included illustrations by Virginia Woolf's sister, the artist Vanessa Bell. I would have loved to have seen this book.
pickunsettling bummer. Unlike it‘s a wonderful life, which I just rewatched, here alienation and bitterness drive us to violent insanity and make other peoples‘ lives WORSE. Made me want to throw my phone in the lake and barricade myself against all forms of loneliness
beautifully written though.
#Celebrate #SetInLrgCity Raymond Chandler was born in Chicago but Los Angeles and the Southern California area amongst the rich , famous, and amoral was where his books were set .
