Regular readers (hello Mum!) will know how much I love short stories. So imagine my dancing feet when I heard that Penguin were publishing two volumes of collections of short stories this month.
Continue reading The Penguin Book of the British Short Story
The Letters of Note family has expanded again!
I feel like an excitable gazelle clutching my copy of ‘More Letters of Note’: a beautiful book bursting with letters from favourite writers like Katherine Mansfield, Henry James and Sylvia Plath; a message from actor Richard Burton to Elizabeth Taylor; a curious note from Mozart to his wife Marianne… and that’s just for starters!
Pietro is our protagonist who has recently taken a job as the concierge in a condominium in Milan, late in life. Although defining his character as merely a ‘concierge’ perhaps simplifies his role. He eagerly integrates into the occupants’ colourful lives in the flat: Poppi, (an aptly plosive) teasing and rambunctious lawyer; Paola and her autistic 20-something year old son Fernando. And, of particular interest, the Martini family: Luca, a doctor, his wife Viola and their small child Sara. In his capacity as concierge he has free reign to roam the corridors… and cross thresholds.
It had to be a Fitzgerald for August’s Book of the Month.
Need something enthralling to read on the beach / plane / park / stay-cation? Here are my favourite books for the Summer: gripping storylines filled with balmy sunshine that are suitably lightweight for July and August.
This is amusing.
Continue reading The Most Popular Word for School Children in Surrey
A Fin de Siècle novella. By Henry James. One of my favourite authors. And favoured book length (viva la novella!) The story starts round the fire with people exchanging various ghost stories.
Continue reading The Turn of the Screw
Treat your mum this Mother’s Day with a thoughtful gift. What would she like?
Continue reading Mother’s Day Gift Guide
Etta has never seen the sea. So early one morning the 82 year old leaves her husband, Otto, and their farm in Canada with a note explaining that she is walking 2000 miles to the water and that she will try to remember to come back.
I love short stories unutterably, but they often prove the most complex to review.