Reading
and Writing Review 2014 (includes fiction standouts: novels, novellas and collections/anthologies)
Books
and Novellas (left the cutoff at 50 pages) Read in 2014 Vampires in the Lemon Grove Karen Russell (collection)
The Best Australian Stories 2014 ed Amanda Lohrey (anthology)
The Art of Fiction John Gardner (expository)
Arthur and George Julian Barnes
The New Veterans Karen Russell (novella from Vampires in the
Lemon Grove originally in Granta (Winter 2013)
Kafka on the Shore Haruki Murakami
Stoner John Williams
Halfhead Bay Nam Le (novella from The Boat)
The Neanderthals Rediscovered Dimitra Papagianni & Michael Moore (expository text)
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Diaz
Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell by Brian Sanderson (novella from Dangerous Women ed. George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois)
Dangerous Women ed. George R.R. Martin & Gardner
Dozois (anthology)
The Elephant Vanishes Haruki Murakami (collection)
The Boat Nam Le (collection)
Dinosaurs, a Very Short Introduction David Norman (expository text)
Tehran Calling Nam Le (novella from The Boat)
The Windup Girl Paolo Bacigalupi
The Children Act Ian McEwan
Lies My Mother Told Me Caroline Spector (novella from Dangerous Women ed. George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois)
Kisses by Clockwork ed Liz Grzyb (anthology)
Jasper Jones Craig Silvey
Eclipse Four Ed. Jonathan Strahan (anthology)
Falconer John Cheever
Virgins Diana Gabaldon (novella from Dangerous Women ed. George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois)
Bombshells Jim Butcher (novella from Dangerous Women ed. George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois)
Flesh and Blood Michael Cunningham
The Book Thief Markus Zusak
The Princess and the Queen, or, the Blacks and the
Greens George R.R
Martin (novella from Dangerous Women ed.
George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois)
The Pure Gold Baby Margaret Drabble
Fiction Standouts
Keeping
standouts to a maximum of four and they are in order of preference.
Absolute Standout:
Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell. I can’t praise this collection highly enough - I loved all but two stories. Russell is
ostentatious but also fresh and witty and these stories and novelettes are of
the best that I’ve read. At a micro-level, Russell’s syntactical work is also
remarkable. Do yourself a favour and have a read. Russell blends stories of the urban fantasy genre with structural elements more common
in ‘literary’ works. I think she is a writer to be celebrated. If you don’t have
time then at least read the story ‘Reeling for the Empire’
Novels
The following
novels are all highly recommended reads.
Arthur and George Julian Barnes
Historical literary
fiction at its best. This is near a masterpiece, only marred, I thought, by an
incredulous bit of light philosophy late in the novel by George (you’ll see it
when you read it). Won’t give too much away but it’s marvelous.
Kafka on the Shore Haruki Murakami
Original, full
of semi-Socratic dialogue and surreal scenes, all pulled together in a
well-crafted novel. It was my first read of a Murakami novel and I’ll
certainly return. Kafka on the Shore won a number of prizes including The World Fantasy
Award. The philosophical elements work well with an intriguing, inventive
plot.
Stoner John Williams
I can’t quite
put my finger on it, both uplifting and depressing, but a work that I simply
enjoyed. Williams has a rare talent of not reverting to melodrama in order to create
tension. Stoner felt pure in terms of
prose, with a nice blend of ‘telling’ and ‘showing’, which many writers these days
forget (some are caught up in lengthy ’showing’ that might be a product of creative writing
texts and courses). I can see why Julian Barnes so highly recommends it (the
prose in both Arthur and George and Stoner share similarities).
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Diaz
This has its
problems – you'll want a Spanish lexicon at times if you're not Latin American (or to a lesser degree, from the US) and I don’t think that the various
threads all work successfully. But every novel has its flaws – and it’s a brilliant
work: intelligent, gutsy, exuberant, fun and tragic.
Standout Collections and Anthologies
I won’t
include the two I had stories in: The Best
Australian Stories 2014 and Kisses by
Clockwork, as it just seems in poor taste - needless to say, I loved them both.
Vampires in the Lemon Grove Karen Russell (collection)
Think I’ve
raved on about Russell enough. Superb
Dangerous Women (anthology) ed. George R.R. Martin & Gardner
Dozois
Megan Abbott,
Megan Lindholm, Nancy Kress, Joe Abercrombie, Brian Sanderson and John R
Landsdale’s stories alone are enough to make this a must-read anthology.
The Elephant Vanishes Haruki Murakami (collection)
Refreshing collection in a conversational narrative voice. Enjoyed my dose of Murakami. Hope you do
too.
The Boat Nam Le (collection)
Some truly
remarkable prose and stories within. Felt let down by the title story but on the
whole Nam’s debut collection is a work to admire. A remarkable talent.
Novella Highlights
The New Veterans Karen Russell (novella from Vampires in the Lemon Grove originally in Granta,Winter 2013)
Halfhead Bay Nam Le (novella from The Boat)
Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell by Brian Sanderson (novella from Dangerous Women ed. George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois)
Tehran Calling Nam Le (novella from The Boat)
Short Stories
'29 superb stories' in a previous post.
Stories Published in 2014
Publications
in the journal Overland Literary Journal
214 (my second story there) and the anthologies Kisses by Clockwork ed. Liz Grzyb and The Best Australian Stories 2014
ed. Amanda Lohrey.
Very
satisfying year. Every story that finds a good home is a celebration but being
in The Best Australian Stories 2014
was both exciting and humbling.
Publication News
A long short story of mine, written
within a framework (of sorts) of the Sphinx’ riddle to Oedipus, will be
published in 2015 in an anthology I'm excited about (contents not released yet and I'll update this later). It’s a dark fantasy/horror story with
a reflective narrative voice, which includes a bit on nature, philandering, life’s
stages, reading and myth.
Festive Season
Enjoy the festive season. Once again, hope you all read a few books, watch a few films (and other shows) and spend time with loved ones.
