I've only read a few W. Somerset Maugham titles so far, but the quality is pretty high thus far. I recently read The Painted Veil and enjoyed it. ThatI've only read a few W. Somerset Maugham titles so far, but the quality is pretty high thus far. I recently read The Painted Veil and enjoyed it. That being said, I enjoyed the short story collection, The Casuarina Tree, even more. It is a collection of stories set in a barely fictional southeast Asian country that is a colony of England (read Malaysia). It has been said that one of these stories is referenced in Tan Twan Eng's The House of Doors, which I plan to read eventually. It seems the fact that he added a note about it being fiction and not based on reality shows that he must have struck a chord with the expat community there somehow with his depictions of expat life in Malaya. Perhaps it is a testament of how much of the spirit of the place that Maugham was able to capture in his stories. They ring true to life about the experience one would imagine of a British expat in the 1920s. There are plenty of tales of mischief and bad behavior. It's a really strong collection without a weak link really. I really enjoyed how Maugham was able to characterize people so succinctly in these short stories. I look forward to reading more Maugham in the future. Also, it makes me want to find a Gin Pahit (Gin with angostura bitters), apparently all the rage in 20s Maylasia....more
I have been meaning to read a book by Nobel Prize winning author Alice Munro for some time and since she recently died (May 13, 2024), I decided it waI have been meaning to read a book by Nobel Prize winning author Alice Munro for some time and since she recently died (May 13, 2024), I decided it was high time. A few years back I came across The Best American Short Stories 1993 and Munro had an interesting story "A Real Life" about Albanian Virgins in the early 20th century who were treated like males as long as they didn't have sex. So I somewhat randomly chose Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage: Stories from 2001, it seemed to be one of her more popular collections. My favorites in this collection were the title story, "Queenie," and "The Bear Came Over the Mountain." These are largely stories about Canadian men and women and their lives lived in a variety of situations, time periods, yet all ring true to life. Even before I chose this book I figured I would read multiple volumes of her stories after reading an article in the NY Times that highlighted her writing,however, this solidifies the notion that Munro is an artist worthy of attention. Incidentally, Sarah Polley made an adaptation of "The Bear Came Over the Mountain" with the 2006 film Away from Her and "Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage" was adapted as Hateship, Loveship by Liza Johnson in 2014....more
A friend gave me a copy of The Best Asian Short Stories 2022 edited by Darryl Whetter. I found it to be something of a hit and miss collection for me.A friend gave me a copy of The Best Asian Short Stories 2022 edited by Darryl Whetter. I found it to be something of a hit and miss collection for me. Some stories came across as amateurish and juvenile. However, some of the other stories came across as professionally polished and illuminating about the lives of the characters. for the most part, it was the Singapore-based writers that impressed me the most in this collection:"Kochi" by Sahib Nazari, "Pineapple Fengshui" by Sarah Soh, "The Shadow" by Prachi Topiwala-Agarwal, "Mei-Mei" by Joanne Tan, "Transplanted Love" by Vicky Chong, "We Morners" by Nash Coblundalur, and "First Draft: David in Singapore, Maureen in Wales" by Peter Morgan....more
I have read several versions of the Akashic Books Noir series and I think that Manila Noir, edited by Jessica Hagedorn, is one of the better collectioI have read several versions of the Akashic Books Noir series and I think that Manila Noir, edited by Jessica Hagedorn, is one of the better collections that I have read to date (and ten years old and it still feels current). I think all of the stories did an excellent job of portraying places in Manila, as well as giving insight and character about the Filipino culture and the particular culture of the capital, Manila. I don't think there was a single story that I felt didn't hit the mark. However, there were a few standouts. For example, "A Human Right" by Rosario Cruz-Lucero (Intramuros), introduces the strong female avenger Isabel-apparently it was the author's only second published short story. Another standout for me was "The Professor's Wife" by Jose Dalisay (Diliman), which retells the story of a professor with a young wife recounted by his young assistant. "The Unintended" by Gina Apostol (Ali Mall, Cubao) is the story of a young filmmaker, who is a daughter of another filmmaker, during the 70's. Her father and mother got separated after the "Thrilla in Manila," the boxing match that made Muhammad Ali a superstar. Ali Mall, the setting of the story was named after him. There are some clever references to film and other cultural touchstones. Then there's the editor's contribution, "Old Money" by Jessica Hagedorn (Forbes Park), about a Filipino returnee who is greedy and entitled. But, as I said I enjoyed the atmosphere and characterizations found in all the stories-excellent background reading for a visit to Manila....more
Another impressive collection of short stories from Spokane's Jess Walter. My favorite stories were the two long ones, "Angel of Rome" and "The Way thAnother impressive collection of short stories from Spokane's Jess Walter. My favorite stories were the two long ones, "Angel of Rome" and "The Way the World Ends."(That being said there wasn't a dud in the bunch) The former is a story of a college student studying Latin in Rome stumbles on a movie set and becomes the go-between between a washed up American TV star and an equally washed-up Italian screen idol. The later is, inexplicably, a "climate-change" story (makes me wonder if he has any climate-denying fans-which seems unlikely as those types probably don't read much literary fiction) about the self-discovery of a group of people who meet in Mississippi for a job interview session for a science position at the university that changes all of the participant's lives there after. Walters tries on a variety of personas in the other stories: ranging from a prepubescent girl's first (negative) sexual experience to a middle aged gay man coming to terms with his father's decline. As per usual several stories are set in our shared hometown of Spokane, Washington which is appealing in a shared recognition of a certain place and time in the stories. ...more
Issac Babel is Russian Jew who was a Soviet writer, journalist, playwright, and literary translator. He is best known as the author of "Red Calvary." Issac Babel is Russian Jew who was a Soviet writer, journalist, playwright, and literary translator. He is best known as the author of "Red Calvary." That story was notable for honest descriptions of the brutal realities of war that was the opposite of revolutionary propaganda. Two notable stories were "Crossing the River Zbrucz" and "My First Goose," both which reveal horrific violence of war and seemed to harshly contrast the personality of Babel himself. Babel was arrested by the the Soviet Secret Police on May 15, 1939 on false charges of terrorism and espionage, and then was subsequently executed on January 27, 1940. ...more
Jay McInerney is an author that I discovered through the film adaptation of his debut novel Bright Lights, Big City (1984). I was less impressed with Jay McInerney is an author that I discovered through the film adaptation of his debut novel Bright Lights, Big City (1984). I was less impressed with with Ransom (1985), but it might be a fun re-read since the character goes to Japan if I remember correctly. Not long ago I can across a used copy of The Last of the Savages and thought it was OK. That being said I enjoyed this collection of 26 stories of which only 7 had been published before. There are some old stories that seem to have come from the writing of his early novels Bright Lights, Big City, Brightness Falls, and Model Behavior. He also revisits the characters Corrine and Russell from The Good Life. There is also a story about Alison Poole the main character from The Story of My Life. There are certainly patterns, themes, and character types in these stories that reflect McInery's personal life as well as his predilections. But I enjoyed revisiting New York in the 80s and several of the other stories as well....more
Richard Yates first came on my radar with Revolutionary Road being discussed as inspiration for TV's Mad Men. This collection of 11 stories that mostlRichard Yates first came on my radar with Revolutionary Road being discussed as inspiration for TV's Mad Men. This collection of 11 stories that mostly take place in the boroughs of New York and reflect the impressive early writing seen in Revolutionary Road, his first novel-this collection followed the year after that novel....more
Bright is a series of vignettes about urban life in Thailand by Duanwad Rimwana translated by Mui Poopokusakul. Most of the stories revolve around theBright is a series of vignettes about urban life in Thailand by Duanwad Rimwana translated by Mui Poopokusakul. Most of the stories revolve around the five-year old boy, Kampol, and the residents of his neighborhood. He is abandoned by his parents to fend for himself in his tenement neighborhood. He moves from house to house and experiences true hunger for the first time. But he comes face to face with this new life with a hopefulness that belies the desperate situation he is in. The narrative’s somewhat lighthearted voice insulates the reader from the true precariousness of the boy's situation....more
I best know Prabda Yoon author of Moving Parts (2002) as the screenplay author of indie Thai films. This is the second collection of short stories putI best know Prabda Yoon author of Moving Parts (2002) as the screenplay author of indie Thai films. This is the second collection of short stories put out by Tilted Axis Press. The overall theme of the collection is body parts and it has some fantastical elements in several of the stories on par with "magic realism." It is somewhat uneven, but inventive and engaging in most stories. One of my favorite stories was "A Hairy Situation" which finds a young and appealing music teacher with long hair giving the student class beauty with long flowing locks a ride home. It seems innocent enough but there are hints of mischievousness between the two. This story like most ends with a subtle twist-some of the twists are less subtle, but that seems to be the format. Some other standout stories for me were: "Destiny's a Dick," "A New Hand," "Long Heart," and "Butt Plug."...more
I have been a fan of Daniel Alarcon for some time and have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed his latest collection of short stories, The King Is AlwaysI have been a fan of Daniel Alarcon for some time and have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed his latest collection of short stories, The King Is Always Above The People (2017). In 2010, he was recognized by the New Yorker as one of 20 promising writers under 40. I think this shows his promise-all of the shot stories had their merits, but I think my favorite was "The Provincials," which also happened to be the longest. A father and his son return to the provincial town they escaped. He is now working at a job that seems useless to eh townspeople—Head Librarian of the Rare and Antiquarian Manuscripts division of the National Library—and has one son in America. The son traveling with him is an actor and is mistaken for the other son, so he assumes his identity and learns to value what the town has to offer. There were several poignant observations about life throughout the story for examples:
I was too young to recognize what would later seem more than obvious: that I was the greatest source of my old man's concern. That, if he was old old too soon, I was at least partly to blame.
His politics affirmed that all work held an inherent dignity. This was what he always reported, but of course no ideology can protect a son from the unwanted inheritance of his father's ambitions.
Grown men with hurt feelings are awkward creatures; grown men who feel dimly they done something wrong are particularly opaque.
As I mentioned earlier that I enjoyed all of the stories, but the other standouts for me included: "Abraham Lincoln has Been Shot," "Republica and Grau," and "The Bridge."...more
I recently came across Granta 28 from 1989 and decided to read it, because it has pieces from several writers I admired (Salman Rusdie, Nadine GordimeI recently came across Granta 28 from 1989 and decided to read it, because it has pieces from several writers I admired (Salman Rusdie, Nadine Gordimer, Leonard Michaels, Jay McInerney, John Updike, and Mario Vargas Llosa) as well as pieces from writers I have been aware of but haven't read (such as Guy Davenport, William Boyd, Jeanette Winterson, Joy Williams, and Colin Thurbron). There were also a couple of photography collections: Marketa Luskacova's "Pilgrims in Ireland" and Eugene Richards' "Americans." Most pieces were of interest to me and some of the standouts included: John Simpson's tense non fiction piece ""Tiananmen Square, "Gordiner's "The Ultimate Safari," Boyd's "Transfigured Night," Russel Hoban's inventive meta-fiction "The Man with the Daggar," and "Jimmy" by McInerney. It is a good collection of interesting short pieces....more
I was excited to see English translations of works by Prabda Yoon, because I knew him as the scriptwriter of a couple great films directed by Pen-Ek RI was excited to see English translations of works by Prabda Yoon, because I knew him as the scriptwriter of a couple great films directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, Last Life in the Universe and Invisible Waves. The first one I read was the short story collection, The Sad Part Was (2000) translated by Mui Poopksaku. I suppose much of the humor and world play hasn't been conveyed due to cultural differences between English and Thai, but many of the stories are clever are entertaining-others not so much. Two of my favorites were "Marut by the Sea" which takes postmodern meta-narrative digs at he author himself and "The Crying Party", which is inexplicable but oddly moving....more
Bangkok Noir (2011) was the first of this series of hard-boiled stories set in a particular location. But for some reason I had started withe the secoBangkok Noir (2011) was the first of this series of hard-boiled stories set in a particular location. But for some reason I had started withe the second volume set in Phnom Penh, which includes many of the same author from this initial volume. It was uneven, but generally speaking I enjoyed most of them. Some of the standouts for me were: "Gone East"-Johne Burdett, "Inspector Zang and the Dead"-Stephen Leather, "The MIstress Wants Her Freedom"-Tew Bunnag, "Hansum Man"-Timothy Hallman, "Death of a Legend"-Dean Barett, "The Lunch That Got Away"-Eric Stone, and "Hot Enough to Kill"-Collin Diprell. Oneo fthe more bizarre stories, ""Dolphins Inc." by Christopher G. Moore (also the editor of this volume as well as the Phnom Penh one), features the Dolphins of Taiji, Wakayama as main characters. II read this after a trip to Bangkok, and it does provide lots of local color and background information about Bangkok, in particular, and Thailand, in general. So I recommend it as background reading for a trip there.
I'm a fan of Deborah Esienberg's short stories,but I have to admit I wasn't as impressed with her last collection of short stories Twilight of the SupI'm a fan of Deborah Esienberg's short stories,but I have to admit I wasn't as impressed with her last collection of short stories Twilight of the Superheroes as most of her earlier work. I was happy to find that Your Duck Is My Duck (2018) is more to my liking. The characters in this collection are exotic creatures, who are difficult to relate to-trust fund kids, famous directors and their cronies, a famous scholar, etc. Thus, it is like being in a zoo or observing from afar. "Your Duck Is My Duck" is about an artist who stays at a wealthy patron's vacation house in another country-hardly ordinary in my circles. "Taj Mahal" is about a fictionalized aging stars and the deceased director whose child has written a tell all book about. "Cast Off and Move On" is the typical "monster" Jewish mother story. "Merge" is about a rich kid who tries to survive without his father's money and connections which put him in contact with a young middle class woman and her elderly neighbor. "The Third Tower" is concerned with a doctor and his patient's recovery. And "Recalculating" is a story about a young man's whose uncle, who was a famous, dies. Certainly there is some fine writing and I suspect Eisenberg is something of a writer's writer, and I was able to get as much pleasure out of that as the stories themselves. ...more
I picked up Singapore Noir (2014) edited by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan as background reading for a recent trip to Singapore. I feel that it did provide atmospI picked up Singapore Noir (2014) edited by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan as background reading for a recent trip to Singapore. I feel that it did provide atmosphere and context of the place in that each story was subtitled with the location within the island country where the story took place. Most of the authors, save for Lawrence Osborne, were new to me. That being said, I enjoyed most of the stories. The stories are arranged into four sections: "Part I: SIRENS", "Part II: Love (or Something Like It)", "Part III: Gods & Demons", "Part IV: The Haves & the Have Nots." It seemed as if the stories at the beginning and end of the collection stayed with me the most. But I can't really remember any of the stories being completely disappointing nor standing out too much from the others. As someone who has live din Japan for a long time I found the fact that Osborne names the son in the story-Tomiko jarring since I have never met a male Tomiko. Otherwise the story is fine, and I enjoyed his memoir Bangkok Days. Anyway, I was unaware that there were so many different volumes in this series, so I expect to be reading more of them as background for future excursions...more
I recently came upon a copy of The Best American Short Stories 1993 edited by Louise Erdrich. One interesting aspect of the collection is that Erdich I recently came upon a copy of The Best American Short Stories 1993 edited by Louise Erdrich. One interesting aspect of the collection is that Erdich didn't arrange the stories by alphabetical order like usual. She starts the collection off with John Updike's "Playing With Dynamite"-noting that he usually comes last in these collections. I am a fan of Updike but haven't read anything by him in years and this story made little impression on me. Unlike the second story, Mary Gaitskill's "The Girl on the Plane," which feels more relevant today than in 1993. It is the story of a man who while talking with a woman who is a stranger admits to having raped a woman he loved as a young man-it is evocative of the messy sexuality of people while young and under the influence of alcohol in the age of the "Me, too!" movement. The author notes in the back gives the authors opportunities to comment on the stories (another feature I don't remember seeing in this collection before). There was something of negative reaction in which readers thought she was endorsing gang rape, to which she states: "Why would an adult look to me or any writer to tell him or her what to feel?" It was interesting to see that Alice Munro found inspiration from her lengthy short story "A Real Life" from her reading about Albanian Virgins in the early 20th century who were treated like males as long as they didn't have sex. I was intrigued by Harlan Ellison's short story, "The Man Who Rowed Christopher Columbus Ashore," because some of my college friends were fans of Ellison, whose writing is usually characterized as Science Fiction a genre I haven't been fond of since adolescence. And it it felt very post modern in the narrative style that was playful and telling of Eilison's attitudes against things such as racism or fascism. I was also impressed with Thom Jones' story, "I Want To Live!", about a older woman dying of cancer that was based on Jones' experience with his mother-in-law. He even manages to bring Schopenhauer into the story-well-done. I also quite enjoyed Tony Earley's "Charlotte" a story about love, pro wrestling, and the Charlotte Hornets-very postmodern. Kim Edwards's story "Gold" was set in Malaysia, where she had lived briefly. And Diane Johnson's story "Great Barrier Reef" was based on an actual trip she took and gets at how traveling can be transformative: "Of course it wasn't the prize--only a little key chain, after all--that had cured me, but the process of the voyage, and the mysterious power of distant places to dissolve the problems the traveler has brought along." I was pleasantly surprised how funny and poignant Lorrie Moore's "Terrific Mother" was-one of my favorites in the collection. The fictional narrative of the author's father, Mary Gordon, was the subject of another standout, "The Important Houses." All in all this collection was somewhat uneven despite having a number of excellent stories-I did skip more than a few....more
Jim Shepard is one of my favorite contemporary writers so I was really looking forward to reading The World To Come (2017) and it did not disappoint. Jim Shepard is one of my favorite contemporary writers so I was really looking forward to reading The World To Come (2017) and it did not disappoint. I think Shepard is especially good at writing historically based short stories in which he does extensive research to give correct period details and there are a number of those types of stories in this collection. The first story, "Safety Tips for Living Alone" is a fictional account of the Texas Tower 4 disaster where all 28 civilians contractors died in the accident. There was also the Arctic exploration story of the lost Franklin expedition, "HMS Terror." Then there's the WWII submarine story "Telemachus" and an imagined viewing of the largest volcano eruption on Santorini in "Cretan Love Song." Air ballooning at the turn of the century in "The Ocean of Air" and life in Queens land, Australia in the late 19th century in "Intimacy." "Forcing Joy on Young People" was also an engaging portrait of man struggling to find his place and meaning in life. The title story "The World to Come" was a powerful portrait of a woman in a loveless marriage surviving as best as she can isolated in the late 19th century and finds solace in the love of another farmer's wife. However, my favorite was "Wall-to-Wall Counseling," a portrayal of a woman facing family and work crises. It is another diverse and intriguing collection of short stories....more
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