Wednesday 4 February 2015

Reading matter for cold weather.

Do you like the short story genre?   I love it - the fact that a writer can  take just one simple happening and turn it into a short story.   If it works it is often brilliant.

So here's a book of Short Stories to curl up with by the fire in the cold weather, if you can lay your hands on it.   It is by Salley Vickers (the best selling author of Miss Garnet's Angel) and is called 'Aphrodite's Hat'.  I am off to curl up with it by the woodburner right now.   I have already got more than half way through and I am enjoying every word - and envious of anyone who can write so well.   Incidentally 'Miss Garnet's Angel is also a jolly good read.

19 comments:

Gwil W said...

Hi Pat, thanks for leaving a comment on the Whitman post. Much appreciated. Good to know I'm not alone. My current cold weather book is Jean-Paul Sartre's The Age of Reason. It's not a book of short stories but it's a novel and each chapter is of short story length and a solid beginning and ending. You're not left hanging. There are 17 chapters and I'm now on chapter 10.

Gwil W said...

A book to be read slowly, thoughtfully and then savoured I should add.

Rachel Phillips said...

I am currently reading Jude the Obscure. It is a phenomenal book and Thomas Hardy is so clever, I cannot recommend it highly enough. This is the fourth or fifth time I have read it but I never cease to appreciate and be amazed at Hardy's skill as a writer. I am not a fan of short stories.

Frances said...

It has been so interesting to read your three recent posts. I am always learning something new when I visit here.

I will remember the Medieval field markings because of your post. Our weather also generally arrives from the west, but often gets a little push from the north or south. And of course, we usually pass along our weather patterns to the other side of the Atlantic.

Salley Vickers is an author new to me, and so I am delighted to discover that my library has quite a few of her books. I will check the stacks for them on my next visit.

Coincidentally, I just returned from that library with a new book, Glow, by Ned Beauman, and a 1946 book, There Were No Windows, by Norah Hoult.

My knitting projects compete with reading for the prime use of my eyesight...along with attending to blogging, of course.

Best wishes.

jinxxxygirl said...

I love short stories. And agree there is nothing quite like it or quite as satisfying when you find a good one. My short story book right now is a collection of Edgar Allen Poe's work... interesting...Hugs! deb

Philip said...

There are some writers of short stories I do like and since I read a lot of Russian classics I have to laud Checkov. However, I also frequently re-read Somerset Maugham who is out of fashion these days. If you want to read a first rate short story by the latter then I recommend Rain (which has also been made into a film a few times over the years).

Hildred said...

Love anthologies - great for bedtime. I am reading 'If I had my life to live over I would pick more daisies' a series of short stories and poems - curled up on the couch nursing a wretched cold.

Linda said...

Thank you, Pat! I'm off to look it up!

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com

Cro Magnon said...

Flaubert's 'Three Tales' is good. Like Rachel, I read 'Jude' on a regular basis.

Heather said...

I always enjoy a good read but don't like short stories as they finish too soon! However, I must admit to having read a few really good ones in my time. I prefer a more lengthy good book which leaves one feeling bereft at the end of it. Enjoy your book and keep warm.

Gwil W said...

Jude the Obscure is available to read free online at Project Gutenburg.

Gwil W said...

I was browsing through a box of 1€ books outside a secondhand shop a couple of hours ago and lo and behold I found Nadezhda Mandelstam's 'Hope Abandoned'. This is a memoir written by the wife of the great Russian poet Osip Mandelstam. What a find!
Some days you just get lucky.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Yes, Philip, I like Somerset Maugham too but agree that he seems to have gone out of fashion these days. As to Gwil's comment on his lucky find - it makes all that trawling through books in bookshops worthwhile, doesn't it?
As to Thomas Hardy - nothing beats Tess for me.

Frugal in Derbyshire said...

I have just finished "She Wolves" and I'm currently working my way through Anthony Trollop. Not a great fan of short stories as I like to get my teeth into something.
Does the farmer think there will be any more snow?

Pondside said...

I like Salley Vickers very much. Did you read Mr Golightly's Holiday?
I'm sure you must know Alice Munro - a particular favourite of mine.

Midlife Roadtripper said...

Sounds like a perfect choice for the day. I just finished an anthology of the Best Short Stories of 2013. Edited by Elizabeth Strout. Very satisfied with the stories she chose.

Enjoy and stay warm.

Elizabeth said...

Sometimes love short stories.
Sherlock Holmes ones are splendid.
Also, of course, Katherine Mansfield.
Still working on Middlemarch......

The Weaver of Grass said...

To answer your question Frugal - the farmer keeps looking at the field opposite, which has a band of snow all along the shady side of the wall and saying that it is waiting for more to come. However, the forecast for the weekend is quite good, so let's keep our fingers crossed.

Mac n' Janet said...

I've never been a big short story fan, but I joined the Deal Me In Challenge this year and I have to read a short story each week, so far I'm enjoying it very much.
I think my main problem with them has been trying to read them as a book and I just get tired of them.