GREAT SHORT BOOKS (2022) - Review

Great Short Books: A Year of Reading—Briefly by Kenneth C. Davis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
On sale: November 22, 2022

Great Short Stories" is an incredibly valuable tool for book clubs and readers everywhere! Some authors/titles are well-known and others will be new discoveries. Author Kenneth C. Davis made sure to include "a broad diversity of writers and voices" as well as a variety of genres. The guideline for length is roughly 100 - 200 pages with exceptions.

I am a member of two book groups as well as reviewing for NetGalley so I was delighted to see "Great Short Stories", a guidebook for "A Year of Reading - Briefly". In his introduction the author discusses the issue of time for readers in our society and how the idea to curate short stories came to him. There actually are fifty-eight entries in alphabetical order listing the title, the author, and year of publication with basic information including the opening paragraph, overview, author's bio, why you should read the book, and what else to read from that author. There are lists of entries by the author's last name, dates of publication, additional lists of short stories, and more.

A random sample of titles includes: Charlotte's Web (E.B. White); Evil Under the Sun (Agatha Christie); The Hour of the Star (Clarice Lispector); The Lathe of Heaven (Ursula K. LeGuin; Mrs. Dalloway (Virginia Woolf); Tokyo Ueno Station (Yu Miri); etc.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for any book group looking to find new titles or any reader who wants to know what to read next.

Thank you to the author, publisher Simon & Schuster, and NetGalley for an early copy for an honest review.


View all my reviews

 

BUZZ BOOKS 2019 FALL/WINTER

A seductive preview of the best of the new books for the season and it's FREE!

First introduced for the 2012 Book Expo America, the FREE digital Publishers Lunch Buzz Books has become the place for both industry professionals and book lovers in general to discover and read about the books expected to spark high demand BEFORE they are published!

There are 45 fall and winter books for adults in this edition of Buzz Books. A second volume handling the burgeoning young adult titles is available.

"Publishers usually release their most prominent literary titles in the fall.The Introduction gives an overview of the upcoming publishing season broken down by literary fiction, debut fiction, commercial fiction, and followed by non-fiction conversation starters, memoir, and biography".

What's really great is that after many selections in Buzz Books, you have the option to follow a link and request the complete galley copy from Net Galley if you qualify as a 'professional' reader.

The fiction titles that caught my eye included Elizabeth Berg's The Confession Club (Random House, November), a sequel to The Handmaid's Tale from Margaret Atwood titled The Testaments (Nan A. Talese, September), another sequel from Elizabeth Strout called Olive Again (Random House, October), and I have already received copies of T.M. Logan's 29 Seconds (St. Martin's, September) and Lisa Lutz's The Swallows (Ballantine, August).

Personal favorites Louise Penny and Linwood Barclay both have books coming out this fall: Penny's A Better Man (Minotaur, August) and Barclay's Elevator Pitch (William Morrow, September).

In non-fiction, I was interested in Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don't Know (Little, Brown, September), the latest offering from Malcolm Gladwell. Elton John's The Autobiography (Holt, October) and Patti Smith's Year of the Monkey (Knopf, September) both caught my eye too.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR AVID BOOK READERS EVERYWHERE!

My Favorite Reads of 2015

In no particular order, these are the books I enjoyed the most during the year:

NON-FICTION
My Life on the Road (Gloria Steinem) 2015
Being Mortal - Medicine and What Matters in the End (Atul Gawande) 2014
How to Succeed in Hollywood Without Really Acting (Peter Skagen) 2015

MYSTERIES, THRILLERS, SUSPENSE
Dark Corners (Ruth Rendell) 2015
Descent (Tim Johnson) 2015
Fear the Darkness (Becky Masterman) 2015
The Girl on the Train (Paula Hawkins) 2015

WOMEN'S FICTION
The Color of Water in July (Nora Carroll) 2011
The Sound of Glass (Karen White) 2015
The Truth According to Us (Annie Barrows) 2015

LITERARY FICTION
All the Light We Cannot See (Anthony Doerr) 2014

MAGICAL REALISM
The Alexandrite (Rick Lenz) 2015

Scholastic Parents Summer Reading List

Use this list or create your own to find new and exciting worlds to explore.

Best Closing/Opening Lines of Novels

Now this is fun for a rainy day. Check out the best closing lines chosen by STYLIST.co.uk. The article also has a link to the best opening lines of books and you are invited to suggest additions or make your own list.

BUZZ BOOKS 2014 FALL/WINTER

Buzz Books 2014: Fall/Winter by Publishers Lunch
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

First introduced for the 2012 Book Expo America, the FREE digital Publishers Lunch Buzz Books has become the place for both industry professionals and book lovers in general to discover and read about the books expected to spark high demand BEFORE they are published!

There are 32 fall and winter books for adults in the fifth edition of Buzz Books. A second volume handling the burgeoning young adult titles is available with 20 excerpts.

The Introduction gives a nice overview of the upcoming publishing season broken down by literary fiction, debut fiction, commercial fiction, and followed by non-fiction conversation starters, memoir & biography.

What's really great is that after many selections, you have the option to follow a link and request the complete galley copy from Net Galley if you qualify as a 'professional' reader.

The fiction titles that caught my eye included Stewart O'Nan's West of Sunset (Viking, January), Louise Penny's The Long Way Home (Minotaur, August), Tana French's The Secret Place, and Becky Masterman's Fear of Darkness (Minotaur, February). These are all authors I have read and loved in the past.

In non-fiction, I'll be adding Marilyn Johnson's Lives in Ruins (Harper, November) to my list and I'm curious about Letty Cottin Pogrebin's How to Be a Friend to a Friend Who's Sick (Public Affairs, September). For memoirs, the following sound like they could be great fun: John Cleese's So Anyway (Crown, November); Neil Patrick Harris's (is there anything he can't do?) Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography (Crown Archetype, October);  and Anjelica Huston's A Story Lately Told: Coming of Age in London, Ireland and New York (Scribner, October).

Only two of these books were included in the selections: Tara French's  latest mystery and the Neil Patrick Harris autobiography.

Check out Buzz Books on Amazon. Did I mention it's FREE!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR AVID BOOK READERS EVERYWHERE!

My Top 15 Reads for 2013

My original post has disappeared. I was inspired to create this list after seeing all the ones that asked how many of these books have you read. Since I didn't fare as well as I would like, I decided to create my own.

So here is how I remember my list in no particular order. I should mention again that Kate Atkinson's book was the highlight of 2013. I actually read it twice. And of course, the whole point of this list was to say that I had read 100% of them.

1. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
2. How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny
3. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
4. Annie's Ghosts by Steve Luxenberg
5. After Visiting Friends by Michael Hainey
6. Someday, Someday Maybe by Lauren Graham
7. The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Stout
8. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
9. Night Film by Marisha Pessl
10. My Antonia by Willa Cather
11. Replay by Ken Grimwood
12. Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala
13. The Dinner by Herman Koch
14. The Black House by Peter May
15. Rage Against the Dying by Becky Masterman

More Help to Achieve Your 2013 Reading Goals

A couple of posts back, I linked to a site suggesting short books to help everyone catch up on attempts to achieve reading goals for the year. Now Huffington Post has weighed in with even more classic titles (not much overlap) giving all of us no excuse for failure.

Check out These Amazing Classic Books Are So Short You Have No Excuse Not To Read Them.

Publisher's Weekly Lists Top 2013 Titles

Everyone loves lists.

Check out this one from Publisher's Weekly listing their choices for the best Fiction, Mystery/Thriller, Romance, Non-Fiction, etc.

I was pleased to see Louise Penny, Kate Atkinson, and Denise Mina on the Best Books of 2013. I've read several titles and have a few more on my 'to read' list but was surprised to discover Fear in the Sunlight by Nicola Upson, a mystery that includes author  Josephine Tey as a character.

How to Achieve Your Reading Goal for the Year

So I was definitely concerned about how far behind I am in my reading goal for 2013, currently six books, when I discovered this helpful list. Quick Reads (Dive into 55 Books Under 200 pages!) What a lifesaver! Check it out!

Bibliotherapy or Can Books Really Change Your Life?

1/32 Books That Can Change Your Life

I have never placed any faith in bibliotherapy, "the use of books as therapy in the treatment of mental or psychological disorders". 

On the other hand, I do think books can change or shift your view of the world. Buzz Feed has just posted 32 Books That Will Actually Change Your World.

I've read 10 and totally agree that they had an immense impact. How many have you read? Do you agree with the choices? Are there other titles you would add? What about To Kill a Mockingbird?

The Pittsburgh Novel Blog Site

Do you love having your stories anchored to a special place where you have lived, wished you lived, or would just like to visit?

Today I learned about The Pittsburgh Novel, A Reader's Guide to Western Pennsylvania Fiction, 1792-2013.

I've linked to a review of Dennis Palumbo's most recent mystery Night Terrors, which I have also reviewed on Book Keeping.

If you are fascinated or curious about Pittsburgh, you'll want to check out this blog.

50 Great Books That Will Change Your Life

Real Simple, the magazine, has put together a list of 50 books that can have a real impact on your life. Click HERE to visit the site.

Wondering What Your Kids Should Be Reading?

Beth Carswell has blogged about The 25 Books Every Kid Should Have on Their Bookshelf for AbeBooks Reading Copy (AbeBooks blog).

This month is the 70th anniversary of masterpiece The Little Prince, written by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. which merits number one on the list created by Flavorwire.

What titles did they miss? Comment below and we could create our own list! 

The Top Ten - Writers Pick Their Favorite Books

Author Elizabeth Flock posted about this wonderful site that asked her to list her top ten books. Here's what she wrote on Facebook:

"I am often asked about my favorite books, a frustrating question I LOVE because it challenges me and, depending on where my thoughts have been wandering, my answer always changes a little bit. But there are a few "absolutes" and J. Peder Zane has provided a safe place for them to reside. When you check out this fabulous site, you'll know why I was thrilled to be included."

What caught my attention was her reference to the few "absolutes".

So check out The Top Ten website, which is actually an expansion on the book of the same name, and then share your thoughts. You'll find lists by author names, lists submitted by readers, and a tally of repeated titles. What are your absolutes?

This is So Cool!

USA Today has a calendar of new books that are coming out between January and April. Run your cursor over a highlighted day and a list of the titles being released pops up. You can chose the title and see the cover art and author. You can also search a drop down list of authors and another of titles. How much fun to be in the know about new titles!

Check this new resource out HERE! 

For example I discovered that Jodi Picoult has her 18th book out on March 1st called Sing Them Home, where 'she takes on the issue of same sex parenting'. There are books by Alexander McCall Smith, Andre Dubus III, Judi Dench and Martha Grimes. On February 3rd (Thanks, Peevish!), Ms. Grimes new novel Fadeaway Girl, about 12 year old sleuth Emma Graham hits the shelves. This is the fourth in a series begun with Hotel Paradise.

 

Banned Book Week 9/26 - 10/3 2009

Even though Banned Book Week is officially over for this year, the map showing locations of challenges to a variety of titles from 2007 - 2009 is worth a look. I was surprised to find Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper under Clawson, Michigan. Click here to see if your favorite book is on the list!

100 Great Books - What Have You Read?

BBC believes the majority of people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. Copy this list and put an X next to the ones you have read, or you can be like some other people and make up elaborately complicated instructions of your own. (I X'd 36, which isn't all that great either. I can't explain why I have never read Jane Austen.)

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte X
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling X
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee X
6 The Bible X
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte X
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell X
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott X
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare X
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier X
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien X
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger X
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell X
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald X
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams X
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck X
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll X
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne X
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell X
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown X
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins X
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood X
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding X
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan X
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens X
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley X
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon X
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov X
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt X
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding X
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett X
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath X
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens X
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker X
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery X
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams X
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo