2018 Short Story Advent Calendar Unveiling: December 17

The swelling is slowly abating in my mouth, plus, I enjoyed today’s story. Things are looking up for me!


If the title of this book is confusing, the subtitle will make everything clear: A Collection of Soho Crime Christmas Capers. As you can see by the cover of the book, it’s all about ‘Christmasy’ stories of crime, and who doesn’t love to read a holiday-themed book at this time of year? There are 18…

I’m squeaking this video in at the last minute here, which is probably a sign of things to come as Christmas draws nearer. But doesn’t the tree look so nice, all lit up as it gets darker outside? One of the few benefits of not recording this video earlier in the day I suppose. Anyway,…

Sometimes I don’t like a short story. Sometimes, it launches me into a rant about why I don’t like particular styles of writing. Today, is one of those days. On a happier note, at the end of this post is a video (hopefully it works!) of my first television book segment. Feel free to skip…

A few weeks ago, our kitty Makita (pictured above) gave us a little scare. She stopped eating and drinking for almost 6 straight days, and was in and out of the animal hospital. It was finally determined she was suffering from a bad sinus infection, so luckily a week of antibiotics has returned her to…

This video will say it all, but I was disappointed in today’s story. High hopes were dashed as I made my way into these 11 pages. It was 10 pages too long, in my opinion. Sigh…

After a short hiatus from my booktube reviews, I’m back with a new one: The Italian Teacher by Tom Rachman. As I mention in the recording, this is the July pick for my book club (register for the discussion here if you’re interested and live in Calgary!), and I really enjoyed it. Didn’t think I…
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I remember a friend loving Rufus W. around 2000, so you’re likely not far off!
phew!
Agree to disagree about this story. This one wasn’t for me. I’m not really sure what the point of it was, but at least the female protagonist seemed to be in charge this time. There were some clever turns of phrases throughout, but I liked the writing at the beginning of the story better than the end. I loved his description of nature, and it was hard to tell from the way the first encounter was portrayed whether he was writing about an actual deer, e.g., page 5, “He got down on his haunches, laid a hand to his long, skinny knee…”. But no magic realism here…nothing magical at all, really.
I agree; it does leave the reader more in and of the moment when you don’t place the story in a specific time.
I wouldn’t say I LOVED this story, but I did like it more than others. The calendar seems to be quite polarizing this year, which is half the fun :)
Kevin Barry was recommended to me by another reviewer years ago as a newcomer to watch – needless to say, I never got around to reading any of his stuff! Apart from the swearing, this sounds good. I may even add one of his short story collections to my wishlist…