Munjeli Cookbook
short stories
Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell
Here is a book that knows what the modern novel is about: a postmodernist classic. David Mitchell makes skillful use of his writer’s bag of tricks. The storyline is chronologically creative; a series of short stories link through coincidence and theme. The characters are unique, while the theme develops historically and ideologically. By the end [...]
Untouched by Human Hands, by Robert Sheckley
Outrageously original, wickedly funny sci-fi. I was lamenting the quality of recent sci-fi reads to a librarian (Jim, from the Fiction Department of LAPL Central) and he handed me this book. The copy I read was lushly vintage, with spotted pages and an anonymous rebound cover. The real wow is the fact that this collection [...]
The Word Desire, by Rikki Ducornet
It isn’t erotica, quite; few of the stories were explicit. Yet, all of them dealt with sexual expression, repression or suppression. The exotic locales and historical details of some stories refer to the genre, as well. Descriptive and elegant prose made it a compelling read. Longing is a theme, and several of the tales will [...]
The Ends of Our Tethers, by Alasdair Gray
This was the first book I’ve read by Gray. I can’t remember where I stumbled on it, but someone mentioned he was a force in typography. I love it when authors use the medium and play with fonts or layout. The Ends of Our Tethers was mild in graphics, yet tastefully laid out. The stories [...]
Istanbul Noir, by Mustafa Ziyalan and Amy Spangler
The Noir series is a collection of anthologies each set in a different city. The series aims to explore the geographic thread as an influence in style and ambiance. I enjoyed this volume for its distinctive flavor; the stories are a showcase of contemporary Turkish authors working in the mystery/detective/horror genre. Whether it was an [...]
Between the Assassinations, by Aravind Adiga
Each of the stories opens with a light passage, as if from a tourist guidebook, introducing a different neighborhood in the city of Kittur, India. The story that follows is a portrait of one of the residents of the neighborhood, the locals a tourist passes but doesn’t meet. Poverty, its gradations a permutations, causes, and [...]
Unaccustomed Earth, by Jhumpa Lahiri
In a modern mode, this collection of short stories reads like a novel. The stories, of immigrants and the travails of the unfamiliar (and familiar), twine to demonstrate the challenges of the current age. There is a taoist idea of convention versus tradition: tradition is the embodiment of a culture’s greatness, and convention merely empty [...]
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