Short Stories | Raging Biblio-holism

Dark Lies the Island

April 5, 2013 by Drew

The Short Version: A collection of cloudy, slightly dark Irish tales – stories of drinkers, lovers, losers, and a few who might be something else entirely… The Review: Kevin Barry’s first novel, City of Bohane, has been on my radar for a little while, although I’ve consciously passed it over a few times. But I was lucky enough to (long after the time had passed) come upon a copy of Powell’s Indiespensable #37 (a novel called Familiar) – which included a well-in-advance-of-pub-date copy […]

Categories: Fiction, Short Stories • Tags: Advance Review, Dark Lies the Island, Fiction, Graywolf Press, Ireland, Kevin Barry, Powell's, Short Stories

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Worlds’ End (The Sandman, Vol. 8)

January 5, 2013 by Drew

The Short Version: As a massive reality storm crashes across the multiverse, lost travelers find their way to Worlds’ End – an inn at the end of all worlds. There, they pass the time waiting for the storm to pass in the oldest of literary traditions: swapping stories. The Review: I KNEW IT. I FREAKING KNEW SOMETHING BIG WAS COMING. I’m pretty sure I’m aware, now, of what’s going on – because I missed a particular figure in the […]

Categories: Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Literature, Short Stories • Tags: Adventure, Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic Novel, Horror, Literature, Neil Gaiman, Short Stories, The Sandman, The Sandman Vol. 8, Worlds' End

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The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Vol. 2

November 28, 2012 by Drew

The Short Version: The universe isn’t made of atoms, it’s made of [tiny] stories. The second (and expanded) volume of hitRECord Tiny Stories, curated by wirrow and RegularJOE. The Review: It’s interesting to look at the development of the Tiny Books over the first three incarnations. Where the 2010 book was very much a trial run and Vol. 1 was a more substantial but still test-esque collection, this book right off the bat feels like something far more established. For one […]

Categories: Fiction, Short Stories • Tags: Fiction, hitRECord, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, RegularJOE, Short Stories, The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Volume 2, wirrow

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This Is How You Lose Her

September 3, 2012 by Drew

The Short Version: A series of stories about failed relationships, all somehow involving the irrepressible Yunior. The Review: The summary – any summary – makes this book feel like far less than it actually is. It’s a slim collection and one with the weight of the world riding on it: Diaz, after all, won the Pulitzer Prize with his last work (a novel of some repute…) and his first short story collection was pretty well received too. And while we know […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature, Short Stories • Tags: Fiction, Junot Diaz, Literature, Love, Short Stories, This Is How You Lose Her

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Store of the Worlds: The Stories of Robert Sheckley

April 28, 2012 by Drew

The Short Version: Twenty-six short stories by “the creator of dystopian worlds and alternative universes”, blending sci-fi, morality, and humor is a way that would later inspire writers like Douglas Adams and Jonathan Lethem. The Review: I vaguely remember reading a handful of these stories as a very young man, in the second floor office at my grandmother’s house – the room where all of the books were, the books my two uncles hadn’t taken with them into their lives. And […]

Categories: Fiction, Sci-Fi, Short Stories • Tags: Alex Abramovich, Dystopian, Fiction, Humor, Jonathan Lethem, New York Review Books, Robert Sheckley, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Store of the Worlds, The Stories of Robert Sheckley

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The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Vol. 1

December 26, 2011 by Drew

The Short Version: The universe is not made of atoms, it’s made of tiny stories. This is the first major collection of those stories, as curated by hitRECord. The Review: I’ve been a fan of Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s hitRECord since it started a few years ago. I was concerned at first and didn’t get on-board with any of my own material because I was a) too busy at the time and b) a little leery of it actually working. Despite my raised eyebrow, […]

Categories: Fiction, Short Stories • Tags: Fiction, hitRECord, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, RegularJOE, Short Stories, The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Vol. 1

The October Country

October 26, 2011 by Drew

The Short Version: Bradbury’s classic short story collection, comprised of stories that visit that strange place on the edge of midnight, where the leaves are always orange and the air always crisp… and the weird is the ordinary. The Review: Ray Bradbury may be the quintessential October author. Apologies to great writers like Neil Gaiman, but Bradbury knew how to capture the quintessential autumn spirit – perhaps it’s because he is a writer of a simpler time, when technology was not at […]

Categories: Fiction, Horror, Literature, Short Stories • Tags: A Visit to October Country, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Literature, Ray Bradbury, Short Stories, The October Country

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The Imperfectionists

September 12, 2011 by Drew

The Short Version: The life and times of the writers, editors, readers, and other associates of a quirky international newspaper based in Rome. The paper struggles to stay afloat in the early days of the 21st Century and the people who have made it their lives struggle to do the same. The Review: I’m realizing that there’s one downside to the wonders of A Visit From The Goon Squad – I can’t look at ‘short story novels’ the same way […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature, Short Stories • Tags: BookClub, Fiction, Literature, Short Stories, The Imperfectionists, Tom Rachman

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How It Ended

September 8, 2011 by Drew

The Short Version: Twenty-six short stories, new and old, spanning the length of McInerney’s illustrious career so far. The Review: This book – this collection – succeeds on a number of levels. First of all, it’s fascinating to see McInerney’s writing process laid bare. The first story in this collection, “It’s Six A.M. Do You Know Where You Are?”, was the story that would later become Bright Lights, Big City - but it isn’t quite the same. There are whole sections of it […]

Categories: Fiction, Short Stories • Tags: Fiction, How It Ended, Jay McInerney, Literature, Short Stories

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A Visit From The Goon Squad

March 12, 2011 by Drew

The Short Version: “Time’s a goon, right?” – Bennie Salazar. Music, love, death, life, money, New York City, time. A collection of interconnected short stories about people involved, even peripherally, in the music business. But really? A collection of stories about us. The Review: I’m not even sure that I can approach this book in any rational way at the moment. I just finished it and felt the need to get some of my thoughts out but I’m having trouble […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature, Short Stories • Tags: 6, A Visit From The Goon Squad, Fiction, Goodreads Book Club, Jennifer Egan, Literature, Music, Philosophy, Short Stories, The Rooster, The Tournament of Books 2011

Raging Biblio-holism

The overwhelming urge to collect, consume, and consider books

Category Archives: Short Stories

Dark Lies the Island

Worlds’ End (The Sandman, Vol. 8)

The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Vol. 2

This Is How You Lose Her

Store of the Worlds: The Stories of Robert Sheckley

The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Vol. 1

The October Country

The Imperfectionists

How It Ended

A Visit From The Goon Squad

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