Dubliners by James Joyce

Dubliners was my first James Joyce book and part of the challenge from my work colleague AR, to read at least one of 3 titles chosen for me, by the end of the year.
Joyce wrote this book, his first, in 1914. It is a collection of short stories about various characters in Dublin around the turn of the century. Some of the characters stories overlap but each piece is a stand alone story. Most of the stories are quite short, 10 to 20 pages on average, covering small instances within the lives of a mixed set of people, young, old, men, women, groups or alone, all of them working class in Dublin.
In viewing these snapshots of their lives we are able to glimpse the wider community and interactions. From a young boys reaction to the family priests death in The Sisters, to an alcoholic about to lose his job and spending his last pennies on ale, to go home and take it all out on his children in Counterparts. There is also a group of men talking before a commitee meeting in Ivy Day in the Commitee Room, to a mother standing up for her musician daughter at a local concert in A Mother. None of the characters are well off, and some have varying fortune in their lives, but interaction, of friends and family, good and bad, features prominently in each chapter. The last story, The Dead, is much longer and feels like a short novella. It covers an entire evenings gathering and the subsequent hours afterward, and mentions a few of the characters from previous stories, bringing it all together. I have only picked out some of the tales, there are 15 in all.
The writing is beautiful throughout and each story has the feeling of joining an everyday incident half way through and leaves before it is ended. You sense that a lot has happened before and after the point where you come in, so each one is like a living thing. Some of the stories recount something that happens, others detail the ordinariness of life.
The cover picture of this edition is very evocative of the age in which these stories are set and was something that I found easy to connect with coming from, and growing up in Toxteth in Liverpool. Even during the 1970's there were parts of my childhood neighbourhood that enabled me to understand the setting and people that Joyce depicts here, as well as the history of my city and its own Irish connections and working class streets. The simple but skillful language used makes this book a joy to read. I loved the economy of the events pitched alongside the richness of the words. The subjects that pass through this book are very real and admirable for being written down.
This set of stories are a real treat for literature fans and those who like classic writing of the early 20th century with the late 1800's as an influential backdrop. Poverty and struggle play side by side with humanity and community. Highly recommended, and I know that I will pick this book up in the future and revisit the stories in it, for pure pleasure.
For a Penguin Reading Guide to Dubliners use the link.
For more information about classic Irish writer James Joyce use the link.

Caught by the river: A Collection of Words on Water by various authors

This lovely book was bought for me as a Christmas present from a friend in 2009 and was a perfect bedside table book to dip in and out of.

Evolving from the website about angling, music and culture, caughtbytheriver.net, this is a collection of stories, essays and musings about the varied rivers of Britain. Covering many of the usual suspects, The Severn, The Ouse, The Irvine and The Thames, and quite a few lesser known treasures, this book allows us to while away the hours in the countryside with the authors. Sharing a passion for rivers the authors too are an interesting array of journalists, known writers and musicians. Frank Cottrell Boyce and Irvine Welsh sit alongside Jarvis Cocker and Edwyn Collins, Roger Deakin alongside Lord Peregrine St Germans, at home describing currents, Kingfishers and shopping trolleys.

The subjects are as varied as the writers. There are a fair amount of remembered fishing tales, but also canoeing adventures, childhood wanderings of legendary proportions, as well as rivers as personalities that we live with and provide a sense of place and stability, or a little known peaceful retreat. Among my favourites were The River Cary with author and journalist Gavin Pretor-Pinney, Tickling Fish by Lord Peregrine St Germans, or Way Across the River by punk historian Jon savage. To be truthful though there was not a single chapter I did not find enjoyable.

As I said, this was perfect to read before sleep because it was so relaxing and each chapter was reasonably short. The words are peppered with illustrations by Robert Gibbings and John Richardson making this book very special. You can buy some of the maps as prints from the caughtbytheriver website.

The blurb on the back describes the book as 'a uniquely modern take on an age old writing tradition -a rock 'n' roll nature book even'. Highly recommended for not just anglers, but lovers of the British countryside, and for those who appreciate the quiet moments we enjoy by our waterways.

Ox-Tales: Water by various authors

I bought this one at the bookshop in St Pancras Station, London, last year, just because I liked the look of it. One of four titles, Oxfam compiled these books based around the elements to raise money and also awareness - WATER for water projects, FIRE for conflict areas, EARTH for agricultural development and AIR for climate change. The writers donated their stories for free and for some reason I was drawn to the Water volume (number IV) although all of them looked interesting, and together they looked good on the shelf.

It didn't take long to read and as with all short story collections, some of the tales registered more than others. There are some highly acclaimed writers in each book.

The stories that stood out in this volume were...

Crossing the River by David Park - a different take on ferrying the dead across the river to the afterlife.

What she did on her Summer Vacation by Zoe Heller, an interesting tale of a young girls encounter with another couple on a beach.

The Piano Man by Joanna Trollope, how a family deals with the sudden death of their husband and father.

Look at Me, I Need a Smile by Michael Morpurgo, about an elephant ride on a beach to heal the past.

This was a stronger collection of short stories than the last few I have read. The Joanna Trollope I really enjoyed, but generally they were all pretty good, and most have some link to water, in one way or another. Not a bad read.

To find out about this title and the others in the Ox-Tales collection use the link.

I read this to complete #5 of my personal challenges, to read a short story collection.

Anthropology by Dan Rhodes

I was given this book for free with the Waterstones magazine. I liked the cover which reminded me of something by Tim Burton. It is only a small book and easy to dip in and out of.

It contains 101 short stories, all told in the first person, about the various girlfriends he has had relationships with. Each story is only a small paragraph in length betraying a skillful hand in writing. They are all complete and cover every topic from extreme happiness, love, jealousy, obsession, boredom, death, all with the authors unique view of the world. Amusing, entertaining, sometimes sad, always weird and unusual, each tale reads as strangely as his girlfriends names. Azure, Tallulah, Sapphire, Mariedel, January and Tortoiseshell. The names are as colourful as the stories.

This book was really easy to read and a delight on each page. Some of the stories made me laugh out loud, all of them made me smile. Anyone with a good sense of humour and a love of anything unusual, dark and off-kilter will like this book. I found myself re-reading some of them. The endings were clever and suitably glib.

This book would make a good present, or as something light and quick to read. The Guardian has called it ' A gleaming box of jazzy miniatures', and I'd agree with that. The author has written some novels that sound equally dark and intriguing. You can check out Dan Rhodes' website by using the link.

Inventing the Abbots and other stories by Sue Miller

This was a book of short stories that my mum brought back from Canada for me last year. I was unfamiliar with the author and it was only a short book.

All of the stories are set in modern America, and each one is like a microcosm of domestic drama. Some span a long time in retrospect, but each story felt like a peep through a keyhole at the characters and their lives.

There are 11 stories in all, many of which are astutely observed relationship accounts, including the psychology of sexual encounters, but not all of them. We have the brothers, one of which ends up having a relationship with each of the 3 sisters from the richest and most eligible family in town. We have a gentle matriarch whose personality is altered by a stroke. There are 2 young girls on the brink of discovering their own sexuality, who encounter a pervert in a secluded spot near their town. A mother who is watching her sons marriage disintigrate, and a father who takes his children for Christmas to spend with his new wife and her children. All of the stories are recognisable and relevant to the present day.

There are no massive plot twists, cliff hangers, mysteries, or surprises and those readers who like their short stories to be more wildly inventive or unpredictable may find this collection a little dull. If, like me, you enjoy subtle observations of people in recognisable situations, you will like this collection. None of the stories go on for too long either. There is nothing excessively exciting here, but the writing is still good and each one captured my interest.

If I had to make a criticism it would be that some of the stories kind of tail off, rather than conclude or even finish in a definitive way. Some endings left me a little bit adrift, but others worked more successfully.

What I did like immensely was the feel of the book in my hands. The paper almost felt handmade, and the type was a little larger than most mass produced paperbacks, which gave the book a touch of luxury.

Recommended for readers who like gentle, but thorough observations of people who may live on their street.

You can read about Sue Miller here.

Jigs and Reels by Joanne Harris

I bought this book a few years ago because the book group that I was in did 2 of the stories for one of the meetings. I enjoyed them so got the whole collection. I like short stories generally, and especially for book group discussions. I had also heard a lot about Joanne Harris but had not read any of her work.

This collection is an imaginative mix of subjects, all very easy to read, and most are between 10-20 pages long.

It starts with one of the stories I'd already read...Faith and Hope go Shopping, about 2 old ladies breaking free from their rest home to go for a day out in London in pursuit of some red stillettoes from a magazine. I remembered it made me quite misty eyed the first time and did so again. Powerful stuff from a short story.

Not all of them elicited such a strong reaction, and one or two I skim read because they did not grab me so much. There is, however something for everyone here, funny, heartbreaking and shocking. Some of the narrative can take on some imaginative twists too.

Others I particularly liked were :-

Al and Christine's World of Leather, about a sewing circle that branches out into business,

A Place in the Sun about a near future world where you have to apply to sunbathe on a particular beach where only the beautiful can go,

Tea with the Birds about neighbourliness and loneliness,

Come in, Mr Lowry, your number is up about a fastidious man who wins the lottery,

Waiting for Gandalf about role playing games that take a sinister twist,

The Little Mermaid a love story at the local swimming baths,

Eau de Toilette the realities of being a society woman a few centuries ago.

This book would be excellent as a first time short story book, for someone looking for something that is easy to relate to, and not too taxing. Or even as a light holiday read.

Other short story books I would recommend are:-

Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer

Moments of Reprieve by Primo Levi

The History of the World in 10 1/2 chapters by Julian Barnes.

There is a website that posts a new short story a week called Fifty Two Stories for the whole of 2009 which is definately worth a look too. Thanks to RobAroundBooks for that recommendation!

This book counts for #1 of the 2009 mini challenges to read a collection of short stories.