Short stories Recent Picks

January 2010

The underlined titles will take you directly to our catalogue.
Some featured items are linked via a book cover to enable you to read more reviews.

Love in infant monkeys : stories, by Lydia Millet. (2009)
"Lions, Komodo dragons, dogs, monkeys, and pheasants, have all shared spotlights and tabloid headlines with celebrities such as Sharon Stone, Thomas Edison, and David Hasselhoff. Millet hilariously tweaks these unholy communions to run a stake through the heart of our fascination with famous people and pop culture. Her stories evoke the spectrum of human feeling and also its limits." (Amazon)

Ford County : stories, by John Grisham. (2009)
"A collection of stories connected by the life and crimes of Ford County: a place of harsh beauty where broken dreams and final wishes converge. The sum total of human life is brilliantly captured in Grisham's unique evocation of lives lived and lost in Mississippi. These seven stories are frequently moving, often hilarious, always entertaining, and have an irresistible narrative." (Amazon)

Too much happiness, by Alice Munro. (2009)
"Alice Munro takes on complex, even harrowing emotions and events, and renders them into stories that surprise, amaze and shed light on the unpredictable ways we accommodate to what happens in our lives. Munro's unsettling stories turn lives into art; expand our world and our understanding of the strange workings of the human heart." (Amazon)

The suicide run : five tales of the Marine Corps, William Styron ; [edited by James L.W. West III]. (c2009)
"The stories of "The Suicide Run" are set in the gruelling camps and sweltering training fields that marked the limbo point between civilian life and the horrors of war. Fictional yet autobiographical, the narratives of this collection focus on young men who, broiling in the claustrophobia of military life, always conscious of the imminence of action, try to maintain their sanity in the wake of their abrupt removal from normal life." (Book Jacket)

Friendly fire, by Alaa Al Aswany ; translated by Humphrey Davies.(2009, c2004)
"Friendly Fire is a novella and collection of short stories from Alaa Al Aswany, author of the bestselling The Yacoubian Building. As in that novel, he dissects modern Egyptian society and reveals with skill and detachment the hypocrisy, violence and abuse of power characteristic of a world in moral crisis. Here, though, the focus has shifted from the broad historical canvas to the minute stitches of pain that hold together an individual, a family, a school classroom, or the relationship between a man and a woman." (Amazon)

Dancing with Mr. Darcy : stories inspired by Jane Austen and Chawton House Library, selected and introduced by Sarah Waters. (c2009)
"An anthology of the winning entries in the Jane Austen Short Story Award 2009, which celebrates the bicentenary of Jane Austen's arrival in Chawton House, where she spent the most productive years of her literary life. The intention of the prize is to publish the very best short fiction inspired by Jane Austen or Chawton House." (Amazon)

Loves me, loves me not, edited by Katie Fforde and Sue Moorcroft ; [afterword by Jill Mansell]. (2009)
"This collection of over 40 original stories, celebrate women's fiction in all its guises The authors include Joanna Trollope; Katie Flynn; Rosie Harris; Anna Jacobs Maureen Lee; Carole Matthews; Nicola Cornick, and many more." (Book Jacket)

The price of love, by Peter Robinson. (2009)
"In addition to the brand-new novella that fills in the gaps in DCI Bank's life before Yorkshire, Peter Robinson gives us ten more brilliant and eclectic stories that have never before been published." (Amazon)

Reheated cabbage : tales of chemical degeneration , by Irvine Welsh. (2009)
"Most of the stories in "Reheated Cabbage" originally appeared in fugitive form in magazines and long-out-of-print anthologies in the 1990s. Finally collected together, they show all Irvine Welsh's trademark skills, vaulting imagination, a brilliant vernacular ear, dark, scabrous humour and the ability to create some of the most memorable characters in contemporary fiction." (Amazon)

The best New Zealand fiction. 6, edited by Owen Marshall (2009)
"A surprisingly uplifting collection, where love reigns supreme and characters do live happily ever after, selected by Owen Marshall. These twenty stories introduce exciting new names as well as exhibit the recent work of some of our top writers: Norman Bilbrough, Aaron Blaker, Jennifer Compton, Marie Duncan, Laurence Fearnley, Sue Francis, Charlotte Grimshaw, Gay Johnson, Mike Johnson, Graeme Lay, Frankie McMillan, Kate Mahony, Andre Ngapo, Carl Nixon, Tina Shaw, Elizabeth Smither, Rebecca Styles, Vincent O'Sullivan, Campbell Taylor and Judith White." (Book cover)

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