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#Shortstores
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Teresereading
Barn Burning | Haruki Murakami
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My great grandfather and his younger brother and a barn
#barn
#falling
#familyhistory
@eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Love this 💙 6h
15 likes1 comment
review
Bookwomble
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Pickpick

The three short stories in this collection are sad and strange, the protagonists living liminal existences which alienate them from the rest of humanity. There's a feel of Kafka's "Metamorphosis" in the changes that the characters undergo: surreal and tragic.
The longest (but still fairly short) story, "Nami, Who Wanted to Get Hit (and Eventually Succeeded)" is the saddest, dealing with bullying, child sexual exploitation and abuse, ⬇️

Bookwomble ... self-harming, homelessness and loneliness, but I wouldn't read any of them for laughs, darkly absurd as they may be.
Despite which (or because of? 🤔) 4/5 🥢
12h
23 likes1 comment
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Bookwomble
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"Asa lived with her mother in a small rented apartment."

#FirstLineFridays @Shybookowl

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Bookwomble
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And now, for something completely different!

Three short stories, large font to make it look more substantial than it is 🧐, but it looks pretty, so, like Dr. Frank N. Furter, we'll forgive it.
I bought this RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institute) bookmark today. It doesn't fit the criteria for #BookmarkMatching , but there it is, anyway 🔖

Bookwomble Also, it's both for a good cause, and a reminder that the far-right leader of the Reform UK private-business-pretending-to-be-a-political-party, Nigel Farage, believes that RNLI volunteers who rescue drowning migrants should be arrested and charged with people smuggling. 2d
LeahBergen That bookmark! I love it. 😍 2d
sarahbarnes This is on my TBR. 1d
See All 6 Comments
Bookwomble @sarahbarnes It's a quick read, which I'd have finished in one sitting had I not nodded off! It's good, and strange, and rather sad so far. 1d
sarahbarnes Glad you like it so far! 20h
38 likes6 comments
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bekakins

#doublespin for this month was 5 more short stories in this anthology… I‘m up to more modern stories now and finding them more enjoyable than some of the older stuff!

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 2w
6 likes1 comment
review
Anna40
Highway Thirteen: Stories | Fiona McFarlane
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Pickpick

Paul Biga,an Australian taxi driver who picks up young women and men,then kills them is at the center of each story without ever being the main character.Yet the characters in each story are somehow affected by the murders.There‘s Eva,principal of the school Biga attended&his former neighbor,Simon whose sister is one of his victims or Grace who fought back&got away.

Anna40 I loved the first stories,the last,except Chaperone,didn‘t draw me in as much. I hated the podcast story, this seems to be a trend, writing a story in form of podcast / radio episode transcript. I don‘t like it and don‘t think it works. The writing is outstanding. 2mo
squirrelbrain Great review! I have this on my TBR shelf. 2mo
Anna40 @squirrelbrain thanks!!! I really liked the first 3 or 4 stories and Chaperone. The writing as I said is great in all of them. Enjoy!! I placed a hold for her debut novel at the library and it‘s ready for me to pick up. Looking forward to that 2mo
25 likes2 stack adds3 comments
review
Jeg
Australia Day | Melanie Cheng
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Mehso-so

An ex library book I got it not knowing it was short stories. I‘m not a fan of short stories. I was in my younger days. Anyway I gave this a go. The best story was the last one which was titled Australia Day. So that made me glad I had persevered and made it to the end. A story I feel is probably close to the authors heart.

Jeg Just realised 🤷🏻‍♂️she is the author of The Burrow which I loved. 2mo
14 likes1 comment
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Bookwomble
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"It seems that somehow the hearts of human beings and trees are connected."

- The Princess and the Nutmeg Tree ??❤️?

AnnCrystal 💝🌳💝. 2mo
bibliothecarivs Indeed! ❤️🌳 2mo
32 likes2 comments
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Bookwomble
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#FirstLineFridays @shybookowl

"The ghost stories and strange tales that make up this book are set in the ancient Japanese province of Shinshu, or Shinano (now Nagano Prefecture), located in the center [sic] of Japan's main island of Honshu, a region intersected by three mountain ranges, mist-covered streams and a number of large and fast-flowing rivers."

At about ½ way through, the blurb descriptors of spine-chilling, spooky & terrifying ??

Bookwomble ... don't pertain, at least not for me. There has been one story, to be fair, "The Demons Who Were Stuck in the Eye by Irises," that did have a somewhat shuddersome monster in it, but otherwise this is fairly standard folkloric fare, by which I mean I'm enjoying the stories for what they are, rather than for how advertised!
So far, I like the tengu, kappa and tanuki stories most, and I'm looking forward to reading the rest ?
2mo
34 likes1 comment
review
Hooked_on_books
Exit Zero: Stories | Marie-Helene Bertino
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Pickpick

Bertino‘s follow up to Beautyland is this very interesting collection of stories, ranging from realistic to heavy on the magical realism. I think it‘s a really good collection and can‘t point to a single story I didn‘t like.

AmyG I absolutely loved Beautyland. I will have to read this one. 2mo
48 likes2 stack adds1 comment