Stories | Raging Biblio-holism

Pricksongs and Descants

August 29, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: A series of strange and wild tales, with elements of fairy tales, mythology, horror, and more – but all wrapped up in a puzzle-box of metafictional style, creating one of the most distinct reading experiences readers have ever had. The Review: It’s a little strange to think about metafiction as a “new” concept, as for a reader today it seems to’ve always been around. Just off the top of my head, Mark Z. Danielewski, Alexandra Kleeman, César Aira, […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature, Short Stories • Tags: Book, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Fantasy, Fiction, Fictions, Literature, Metafiction, Pricksongs and Descants, review, Reviews, Robert Coover, Short Stories, Stories

Fortune Smiles

January 1, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: Six National Book Award-winning short stories, including a return to the Korean Peninsula in the title tale and a story that veers into an alt-universe version of Johnson’s own life. The Review: I was lucky enough to attend the National Book Awards afterparty this year and the confusion that was rippling through the space in the wake of this book’s unexpected win was palpable. It’s not to say that anybody doesn’t think Johnson deserves the National Book Award… […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature, Short Stories • Tags: Adam Johnson, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Fiction, Literature, National Book Award, North Korea, Reviews, Short Stories, Stories

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

November 20, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: Oliver Sacks digs into some of his most interesting cases – those that show minds operating outside the normal spectrum, interpreting the world in ways the rest of us could only imagine. The Review: I came to Oliver Sacks only after his passing. I’d read a few excerpts here and there, mostly pieces that popped up in The New Yorker, but I’d never made the concerted effort to read his work. The closest I ever came was probably seeing […]

Categories: Non-Fiction • Tags: Book Review, Book Reviews, BookClub, Books, Brain Science, Brains, Doctors, Essays, Health, Medicine, Neurology, Non-Fiction, Oliver Sacks, Reviews, Stories, Tales, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

Get in Trouble

October 30, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: Pocket universes, ghosts, fairy folk, superheroes, an Egypt revival, boyfriends and Boyfriends – you’re entering the oddball world of Kelly Link, where the people have the same ordinary problems and concerns as we do… it’s just that their universe is far stranger than ours. The Review: I loved Kelly Link’s Magic for Beginners. It stands as arguably the best short story collection I’ve ever read and I still think about a handful of those stories (esp. the title story) on […]

Categories: Fantasy, Fiction, Literature, Short Stories • Tags: A Visit to October Country, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Fantastical Realism, Fantasy, Fiction, Get in Trouble, Kelly Link, Literature, Reviews, Short Stories, Stories

New York 1, Tel Aviv 0

May 1, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: Stories about relationships, mostly romantic ones and many with an eye towards what it is to be displaced – from your home, your life, your lover’s bed, or something else entirely. The Review: It has taken me a while to write this review. It’s not because I didn’t like the book – I didn’t dislike it, at least – but rather because it felt so ephemeral. Few of the stories really hit home, many more didn’t hit at […]

Categories: Fiction, Short Stories • Tags: Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Fiction, FSG Originals, Literature, New York, New York 1, New York 1 Tel Aviv 0, Reviews, Romance, Shelly Oria, Short Stories, Stories, Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv 0

The Brink

April 27, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: Ten stories about the end. The end of the world, or of a world. The edge of the world. The moment where everything changes, where the world perhaps starts anew but leaves the old one behind. The Review: First of all, let’s talk about the spine of this book. Holy stroking, Batman: the covers are your typical slightly-matte but the spine… the spine is smooth and glossy and you just want to touch it. My love affair with Harper […]

Categories: Fiction, Short Stories • Tags: Advance Review, Apocalypse, Austin Brinn, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Fantasy, Fiction, Harper Perennial, Kill Your Darlings, Literature, Reviews, Sci-Fi, Short Stories, Stories, The Brink

Dear Life

December 11, 2013 by Drew

The Short Version: The now-Nobel lauded author’s final collection of short stories, full of life in all its majesty and quiet import. The split second decision to jump off a train and walk back instead of going forward sends reverberations down a man’s life. A chance encounter with a saleswoman reconnects two old flames. And a suite of Munro’s first-ever autobiographical stories reveals some of her dear life to close out the collection. The Review: It’s a simple enough statement […]

Categories: Fiction, Short Stories • Tags: Alice Munro, Autobiography, BookClub, Dear Life, Fiction, Nobel Prize, Short Stories, Stories, The Tournament of Books 2013

Raging Biblio-holism

The overwhelming urge to collect, consume, and consider books

Tag: Stories