Well, today sees the UK cinema launch of Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. For weeks now we’ve been bombarded with hype, and interviews, and shiny pictures and video footage of the film, and unless you’ve been living in a cave then you’ll know that the world has gone a little bit Gatsby crazy. But of course many bookish types have been Gatsby crazy for years now. We know the power of that which lies in the novel’s slender packaging, and we have long revelled in the deliciousness of Fitzgerald’s prose.

To date I’ve read The Great Gatsby three or four times, and every time I read it I get something new from it. It’s one of these ‘Tardis’ books, like Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, that gives so much more than its size would suggest, especially given the small amount of time investment needed to read it.

The little novel that keeps on giving
The last time I read The Great Gatsby was about a month ago, and I did so purposely before the Hollywood juggernaut came along to spoil it for everyone. I read it on the back of reading a number of biographies and memoirs relating to Fitzgerald, and as such I saw Fitzgerald’s finest novel (and Fitzgerald himself) in a very different light to that which I’ve seen it in before. What’s more, I saw once again that The Great Gatsby still has so much more to give me.

I revere F. Scott Fitzgerald as much as I revere John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, Anton Chekhov and the New Yorker journalist, Joseph Mitchell. You may remember that I love Joseph Mitchell so much that I started a project to get to know his writing more intimately, by retyping his New Yorker essays on a typewriter. This project is still running, but ever since I first launched it it’s been constantly on my mind about where the original motivation for the project came from. To recap, the spark came from reading about Hunter S. Thompson, and how he spent many hours retyping The Great Gatsby on to his own typewriter so that he could learn how to write from one of his heroes.

As I said when I first posted about my Joseph Mitchell project I have no aspirations of becoming a great writer, I just want to get under the skin of Joseph Mitchell. And what little I’ve done of this project so far has brought results. The act of retyping Mitchell’s essays has made me slow down. It’s forced me to pay more attention to Mitchell’s words, and to tune in to their rhythm, cadence and flow. I’m beginning to get Mitchell on a deeper level, and it’s awe-inspiring.

Getting to the heart of Fitzgerald?
And so I’m wondering, having gone as far as I think I can with passively reading The Great Gatsby, whether I can use the same technique of retyping Mitchell to draw out the very essence of Fitzgerald’s prose? It worked for Hunter S. Thompson and so just as he did I’m going to set myself off on a journey through The Great Gatsby, retyping it word for word in the hope that I can harvest more meaning and understanding, both of the novel and of Fitzgerald himself.

Of course, my reason for taking on this particular project at this particular time is two-fold. While it would have been better to finish the Mitchell project before launching into the Gatsby one, I want to also do something to counter the media frenzy and hype that’s surrounding the film, and remind people where the foundations of Luhrmann’s visual spectacle lie. It’s true that I’ve been a bit outspoken about this latest adaptation already – stating in no uncertain terms that it looks to be lurid and shallow and that it seems to miss the point entirely (early reviews have confirmed that which I have long held as opinion i.e. The Great Gatsby is not adaptable in any visual form) – and I want to show through my own actions and effort why there is in my mind nothing more glorious about The Great Gatsby, than its original untarnished bookish form.

The set up
And so to accommodate this little project I’ve set up a little Gatsby shrine in a quiet corner of RobAround Manor where I’m going to be doing all of my retyping of the novel. I’ve put together a simple oak writing table that comes with a handy paper drawer, and for additional theming and inspiration I’ve decorated the backdrop with pages from a budget copy of The Great Gatsby, together with some of my favourite photos of the author.

As to the book itself, well I’ve chosen Vintage Classic’s latest edition of The Great Gatsby, which is the most beautiful of objects. The cover has been designed in collaboration with Tiffany and Co. and Art Deco period objects that they have stored in their archives. The inspiration for the cover comes primarily from a cosmetic set of the period, and in particular a cigarette case that forms part of the set. The text of the title itself, and of the author’s name, is inspired by hand-drawn lettering from a 1930s article, together with a photograph included in the article, showing the facade of Tiffany’s Paris. To see such a beautiful object in the flesh is to cause one’s heart to skip, and really I can think of no finer tribute that could be paid to one of most iconic literary works of the twentieth-century.

I would have dearly have loved to have made a 1920s typewriter the centrepiece of this project, but alas the oldest typewriter I have in my possession is a 1936 Remington Home Portable. And so it is this typewriter that I’ve chosen to power the project with. It’s a well built and reliable machine, and at least it was in use when Fitzgerald was still around, and so I take much comfort in this.

It goes a little something like this
How my Great Gatsby project is going to play out online is as follows. Every week I will endeavour to complete a full retype of each chapter, while providing incidental updates, comments and observations etc. on the website, via Twitter and so on, before providing a recap on RobAroundBooks every Friday – let’s call it Fitzgerald Friday – of the week’s typing, together with evidence (while respecting copyright laws of course) that I am indeed doing the retyping and not just pretending to (as if I would be anything but above board and honest ). Interaction? Well, I hope there’s going to be plenty of that because this is after all one of the main reasons I’m doing this project, to ensure that people remain focused on the most important and most beautiful aspect of The Great Gatsby i.e. the book itself, which contains nothing but Fitzgerald’s sublime prose.

So I very much hope that you’re going to be able to stick around the next few weeks, and share with me your own feedback, opinion and enthusiasm for the book and/or the author. And for anyone who’s completely seduced by Luhrmann’s adaptation but have yet to read the novel, then I urge you to do so. If watching a movie adaptation of The Great Gatsby is like a one night stand then reading Fitzgerald’s original is like having an intimate life-long relationship with a soul partner. Hopefully I’ll be able to illustrate this, but without using any sexual metaphors or diagrams, of course

But hold on, before I have you thinking that I’m some kind of virgin to the writings of one of the twentieth-century’s finest writers, let me tell you that I’ve already read most of Fitzgerald’s novels and a good number of his short stories. The Great Gatsby is one of my favourite works of literature of all time and The Beautiful and Damned is most certainly in my Top 20. Of Fitzgerald’s short stories I consider The Diamond as Big as the Ritz and Babylon Revisited to be exquisite examples of the form. They are both are beautifully written.

No, truth be told it wasn’t Fitzgerald’s fiction that I was interested in this time around. Rather, it was the myriad of non-fiction titles that have sprouted up about the author. The spark for the attraction came about unexpectedly. The merest mention in Joe Queenan’s One for the Books (Viking) of That Summer in Paris by Morley Callaghan (Exile Editions) – a memoir described as ‘the Canadian Moveable Feast’ – set me off peering into the personal life of F. Scott Fitzgerald, and as the weeks progressed I began reading more and more about the great American author.

During this time I ticked off Matthew Bruccoli’s most excellent biography Some Sort of Epic Grandeur (University of South Carolina Press). I raced through Arthur Mizener’s biography, The Far Side of Paradise (William Heinemann). I soaked myself in Tony Buttitta’s obscure memoir, The Lost Summer (St. Martin’s Press), and I even dipped into Nancy Mitford’s biography on Fitzgerald’s better half, Zelda (Harper Perennial). Yep, I was well and truly bitten.

Diving so fully into the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald not surprisingly renewed my passion in the writer. So much so that while reading about his life I began questioning my own engagement with Fitzgerald’s body of work, not least because I began to realise just how much Fitzgerald’s own life is intertwined in his fiction (isn’t that usually the case though?). As I said earlier I’m not wholly unfamiliar with Fitzgerald’s writing, and in fact compared to many other people I’m quite well read when it comes to this writer, but looking around this website you wouldn’t think so because there’s barely a mention of him. Sure, I bang on about Fitzgerald all the time on Twitter and Facebook etc. but search this website and you wouldn’t even think that I was a fan. So, I need to rectify this shortcoming and the best way I know of doing so is to launch another in my series of “Totally’ reading projects. I want RobAroundBooks to reflect just how much F Scott Fitzgerald means to me, and so I give you – Totally Fitzgerald.

As I’m doing with my Totally Knut and my recently launched Totally Callaghan reading projects, I’m going to slowly and comprehensively work my way through the bibliography of F Scott Fitzgerald. As I’m not particularly fond of the form I’m going to be omitting any of Fitzgerald’s poetry from this project (I know, shoot me ), and it’s unlikely that I will focus on any of Fitzgerald’s plays either. Everything else is fair game though, regardless of whether I’ve read it in the past or not.

Additionally, as I’ve found it to be so invaluable for both teaching me about the writer and in renewing my interest in him, I’m also going to be covering the wealth of biographical work relating to F. Scott Fitzgerald in this project. Before looking into the personal side of Fitzgerald I had no idea there was so much written about him. And to be honest what’s there is a bit of a minefield with regards to the quality and accuracy, so I hope that I’ll be able to provide some guidance in helping to point out the wheat from the chaff, so to speak.

As with my Totally Morley project I’ll be monitoring the short fiction of Fitzgerald on a separate page, but consider this the ‘hub page’ for keeping track of my progress with the longer fiction and nonfiction titles of Fitzgerald (which I will be reading in chronological order), and of the biographical titles relating to him. I list these below (subject to amendment and additions), and will link to forethoughts and afterthoughts posts as they are completed:

Novels

• This Side of Paradise (1920)
• The Beautiful and Damned (1922)
• The Great Gatsby (1925)
• Tender is the Night (1934)
• The Last Tycoon (unfinished novel – 1941)

• Save Me the Waltz by Zelda Fitzgerald (1932)

Nonfiction

• The Crack-Up (1945) nonfiction ed. by Edmund Wilson
• The Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald (1963) ed. by Andrew Turnbull

Biographies

• The Far Side of Paradise by Arthur Mizener (1951)
• Scott Fitzgerald by Andrew Turnbull (1962)
• F. Scott Fitzgerald by Andre LeVot (1983)
• Zelda: A Biography by Nancy Mitford (1970)
• Some Sort of Epic Grandeur: The Life of F Scott Fitzgerald by Matthew J. Bruccoli (1981)
• Fool for Love: A Biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald by Scott Donaldson (1983)
• Invented Lives: F Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald by James R. Mellow (1984)
• Scott Fitzgerald: A Biography by Jeffrey Meyers (1994)
• Hemingway vs. Fitzgerald: The Rise and Fall of a Literary Relationship by Scott Donaldson (1999)

Memoirs

Of course, although this is a personal ‘go at my own pace’ reading project, I’d be happy for any and all fellow readers to get involved in any way they see fit. If you have any advice or guidance, or suggestions for titles to read then please let me know. And if you have a particular favourite novel or story of Fitzgerald, or there’s a particular book you want to work through in conjunction with me then I’d love to hear from you.

Built between 1880-1887 and occupying a site in downtown Rio de Janiero, the subject for this edition of BookShelf of the Week is the Real Gabinete Português de Leitura (Royal Portuguese Reading Room).

The stunning image of the Real Gabinete Português de Leitura, as captured by Brice Bonneau, shows at once the majesty and magnificence of the interior, as it stretches throughout its four stories from floor to ceiling, further emphasising the majesty of the place. And topping it off is the most breathtaking of skylights coupled with chandelier, which ensures that visitors have the perfect light with which to read. And with upwards of 350,000 volumes there is certainly plenty for the visitor to read as they take in the stunningly ornate interior of the building.

Designed by Portuguese architect Rafael da Silva e Castro on the orders of a group of Portuguese merchants living in Rio de Janeiro who had an interest in creating their own library, the Real Gabinete Português de Leitura is built in the Neo-Manueline style – a mid-to-late nineteenth-century revival of the Portuguese Final Gothic style (Manueline) of the 16th century. And if the interior of the building isn’t enough on its own to impress, then check out the building’s facade, which was inspired by the Jeronimos Monastery in Lisbon, and carved in limestone in that city before being shipped to Rio.

If you’re thirsty for more then be sure to check out the other shots of the interior of the library that Mr. Bonneau has captured and kindly posted for us all to see. And if it’s a video tour of the Real Gabinete Português de Leitura that you’re looking for then look no further than this video presentation on Youtube. It’s in Portuguese I’m afraid but the visuals are simply stunning.

So, thoughts? Impressions? Have you ever had the pleasure of visiting this incredible library in Rio? Let me know in the comments below.

In other words, Callaghan wants to get everything down as directly and as clearly as possible, and reading this story one gets a real sense of this. Faithful Wife shows a real economy in its prose, which in turn keeps the reader locked on to the very heart of the story. Reading, one really does feel as though the words are transparent. Yet, one still gets a perfect sense of scene and of situation, and I guess this is mainly down to the fact that there’s nothing extraneous, and there’s no complicated language standing in the way.

**spoilers ahead**
So, what of the story itself? Well, as briefly noted above Faithful Wife is about a lunch counter worker (George) trying to capture some recognition and affection from a regular customer (Lola), who he has taken a bit of a shine to. He’s surprised after returning from his break on his final day to find that the object of his desire – a woman who has only ever smiled at him once, and then only recently – wants him to call around to her home. And if it all seems a bit fishy then it actually is, because it soon becomes clear that this is all something of a set up.

So who has set George up with Lola? Well, the reader is reminded more than once that George’s boss Steve, is ‘very fond of him’ and so it’s possible that the boss has set this up as a kind of leaving present. With her husband a long-term resident of a sanatorium, Lola is certainly short on cash and the story tells us as much.

There is another way of looking at this story though. Meticulously planned to ensure that things couldn’t possibly get out of hand, it could be said that Lola herself orchestrated the entire get together. With Lola’s husband away most of the time she’s definitely short on intimate contact. And who better to engage with than low-risk ‘no strings attached’ George, who’s going to be leaving the city forever in the morning? A plausible notion indeed, were it not for the fact that 1) Lola’s husband is due to come home for Christmas (although Lola admits that intimacy is difficult due to her husband’s condition) 2) Lola appears to have way too much insight on a man she’s only ever smiled at. No, my money is on Steve and possibly the lads, getting together to give George a send off he’s unlikely to forget, but one where no one’s situation is irrevocably changed or damaged.

Regardless of plot, Faithful Wife is a triumph – a story of certain depth relayed with lightness and ease. I’m overjoyed to have discovered Morley Callaghan, and if the rest of his short stories are anywhere as good as this (or the only other one I’ve read thus far – An Escapade) then I’m in for a real treat.

Notable quote: George watched carefully one girl every day at noon hour. The other men had also noticed her, and two or three times she came in for a cup of coffee, but she was so gentle, and aloofly pleasant, and so unobtrusively beyond them, they were afraid to try and amuse her with easy cheerful talk. George wished earnestly that she had never seen him there in the restaurant behind the counter, even though he knew she had never noticed him at all. Her cheeks were usually rosy from the cold air outside. When she went out the door to walk up and down for a few minutes, an agreeable expression on her face, she never once looked back at the restaurant. George, following her with his eye while pouring coffe slowly, did not expect her to look back. She was about twenty-eight, pretty, rather shy, and dressed plainly and poorly in a thin blue-cloth coat without any fur on it. Most girls managed to have a piece of fur of some kind on their coats.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

This story was read as part of ‘Totally Callaghan’ – my ongoing project to read all of Morley Callaghan’s published work. To find out more about this project please take a look at this introductory post. There is also a hub page specifically for Callaghan’s short fiction, which tracks my reading progress through this element of his work.

I’d originally been put on to the Canadian author by Joe Queenan. In his book One for the Books. Queenan talks briefly about a memoir by Morley Callaghan that had been recommended to him as the ‘Canadian Moveable Feast’. Being a huge fan of Hemingway and of the literary scene in 1920s Paris, I jumped at Callaghan’s memoir, and I wasn’t disappointed.

The book in question is That Summer in Paris, and it recounts the summer of 1929 when Callaghan spent a few glorious months in Paris with his wife, and in the presence of Ernest Hemingway, F Scott Fitzgerald, and others. From the first word to the last I was utterly gripped. Callaghan quite literally charmed the socks off me, and I count the reading of this book as being one of the finest moments of my reading life so far (not surprisingly Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast is another ).

Since reading That Summer in Paris I’ve been dipping lightly into Callaghan’s short fiction, and every time I have he hasn’t failed to move me in extraordinary ways. He’s a magnificent storyteller. He writes with insight and understanding, and with a prose that’s always precise and unpretentious.

From the little I’ve read of Callaghan I’ve always been left thirsty for more. It’s as though my appetite for him cannot be sated, and so it’s a good job that he was so prolific in his lifetime, publishing thirteen novels, half a dozen novellas, and close to a hundred short stories. The shocking thing though is he seems to be largely unheard of (or forgotten about) in the UK.

Enter ‘Totally Callaghan’ (christened to compliment my long running ‘Totally Knut’ reading project, and future ventures), and my quest to not only absorb every word that Morley Callaghan has ever written, but to bring him to the attention of as many people as I can. To not read Callaghan is to miss out on a remarkable reading experience in my mind, and so I consider it my duty to enlighten others, in the best way I know how – by reading through his bibliography, and using the passion and enthusiasm it will undoubtedly generate, to motivate others (which is exactly what literary evangelists do, right? ).

So, how am I going to set about this Totally Callaghan reading project? Well, firstly I intend to read all of Callaghan’s novels and novellas in chronological order. His short fiction I intend to treat differently, and I will read it as and how it comes to me, starting with all of the stories that Callaghan had published in the New Yorker magazine. I’m also aware that Callaghan wrote a number of plays, and as and when I get a hold of these then I’ll certainly work through them. But heaven only knows how I’m going to review a written play (much the same way as reviewing a novel?) but I’ll figure it out.

As a starting point then, here is a rundown of Callaghan’s published novels and novellas – which will eventually be linked up to afterthoughts posts – in order of publication (I’ll be tracking my short story reading separately on this page):

• Strange Fugitive (1928)
• It’s Never Over (1930)
• No Man’s Meat (1931) *novella
• A Broken Journey (1932)
• Such Is My Beloved (1934)
• They Shall Inherit the Earth (1935)
• More Joy in Heaven (1937)
• Luke Baldwin’s Vow (1948) *novella
• The Varsity Story (1948) *novella
• The Loved and the Lost (1951)
• The Many Colored Coat (1960)
• A Passion in Rome (1961)
• An Autumn Penitent (1973) *novella
• A Fine and Private Place (1975)
• Close to the Sun Again (1977) *novella
• No Man’s Meat and The Enchanted Pimp (1978) *novella
• A Time for Judas (1983)
• Our Lady of the Snows (1985)
• A Wild Old Man on the Road (1988)

Whenever I focus on an author in such an exhaustive way I also like to learn as much about them as I can. And so along with working my way through Callaghan’s fiction I will also be seeking out the biographies and memoirs that offer an insight into the man. And you can be sure that I’ll be posting afterthoughts on these too.

To ensure that I remain regular and in focus I’m also designating Mondays as ‘Morley Monday’. Both on the website and on Twitter (using the hashtag, #MorleyMonday) I’ll be devoting time and space every Monday (unless the unexpected dictates otherwise) to discussing some aspect of Morley Callaghan and his work.

I know that I said earlier that I think Morley Callaghan seems to be largely forgotten about, but I also know that there will be many of you out there – even in the UK – who have had the pleasure of reading this writer (I was speaking to a Canadian on Twitter last week who has actually met him *faints*). If you’re one of these people then I’d love to hear your own thoughts and feelings on the man, and of any tips and sage words of advice that you may have to pass on. To all who haven’t read Morley Callaghan, well I hope that I can encourage you to do so in the coming months. It would be marvellous to tread the same road to discovery with you. I look forward very much, to all that lies ahead.

Wishing to do more around the Edge Hill Short Story Prize than simply report on it, I hit upon the idea of sampling each of the collections on this year’s longlist. I do so to not only shine much needed light on an under featured prize, but also to offer some impression on the stories of some of the writers I may not have yet got to (plus it gives me yet another outlet to play around in short story world, I guess ).

Ideally it would be better to comment on the collections as a whole I know, but so large is the number of collections on the longlist (this year the total is 38), and so short is the gap before the shortlist announcement is made (this year – May 31st), that this is something of an impossibility. So, better to offer something rather than nothing, right?

It should be noted that I’ve purposely focused on the opening story of each collection, simply because most authors tend to lead with their ‘biggest guns’. I know this is not always the case, but more often than not a collection will kick off with the author’s finest.

Without further ado then, I give you Part 1 of Tasting the Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2013. And please feel free to comment and engage if you so wish (wherever possible I’ve provided information and links to the stories I’ve focused on, so you’ve no excuse not to ).

Collection: Fireproof and Other Stories (Doire Press)
Author: Celeste Augé
Synopsis: It could be said that all of us are strange, but we have spent lifetimes perfecting the art of appearing normal. The sixteen stories in Fireproof expose the moments in ordinary lives when people aren’t trying to be normal. In the title story ‘Fireproof’, a child struggles with language as she navigates her way through different cultures into adulthood. In ‘Touching Fences’ a woman is faced with the hidden fear that she has been trapped in a compromise, while in ‘Mammary World’ a teenage girl refuses to yield her vision of herself to anyone. The final story ‘DeeDee and the Sorrows’ takes a moving look at the compulsion of the artist to make art.

This collection of stories offers a refreshing variety of voices, sketching both the ordinary and the strange in life, with deep empathy. A sense of rebirth runs through this emotionally complex collection. Several stories have won awards (including the Cuirt Festival of Literature ‘New Writing’ Prize) and others have been published in literary journals in Ireland and the US.

Story selected for taster: Fireproof (this story can be downloaded from Amazon, as part of a Kindle sample of the collection)
Briefly: Mary Pheonix Lebel has an affinity with language. But perhaps this is not surprising given that she lives in Canada with an Irish mother and a French-speaking father. Language makes this young girl unique, and as she grows older so her relationship and love of language deepens and widens.
Afterthoughts: I’ve never really read anything quite like Fireproof. It’s completely unusual in that it follows the development of a character from the unique perspective of language. The story is undoubtedly influenced by the author’s own experiences (Ms. Augé is Irish Canadian, and like the main character in this story she grew up for part of her life in Canada with an Irish mother, before emigrating to Ireland), and it’s truly fascinating.

Not only is language something that is important to the main character Mary in this story – so important in fact that she takes joy and comfort in creating her own words – it also labels her as something of an outcast. It seems that Mary relishes this however, not least because it appeals to her somewhat rebellious nature. As Mary grows older and moves from Canada to Ireland and beyond, so her relationship with language shifts and develops. And it is here, or at least when she becomes a mother, that Mary’s connection with words becomes overwhelmingly poignant. To say why would be to spoil the ending, but be assured that this story has one of these endings that tends to dwell with the reader for a long time.

Additional: Celeste interviewed by fellow writer, Valerie Sirr • Read Mammary World from the Fireproof and Other Stories collection • Read Molly Fawn, also from the same collection • Celeste reading The Good Boat from her Fireproof and Other Stories collection

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Collection: Dark Lies the Island (Jonathan Cape)
Author: Kevin Barry
Synopsis: A kiss that just won’t happen. A disco at the end of the world. A teenage goth on a terror mission. And OAP kiddie-snatchers, and scouse real-ale enthusiasts, and occult weirdness in the backwoods…

Dark Lies the Island is a collection of unpredictable stories about love and cruelty, crimes, desperation, and hope from the man Irvine Welsh has described as ‘the most arresting and original writer to emerge from these islands in years’. Every page is shot through with the riotous humour, sympathy and blistering language that mark Kevin Barry as a pure entertainer and a unique teller of tales

Story selected for taster: Across the Rooftops (this story can be downloaded from Amazon, as part of a Kindle sample of the collection)
Briefly: A new day is dawning and the narrator sits post-party on the rooftops overlooking the city, with a girl he has feeling for. He contemplates moving in for a first kiss.
Afterthoughts: The opening story to Barry’s new collection is a short one but it’s as good as any other I’ve read of his. This one captures perfectly that awkward moment when a young man is on the cusp of a new relationship – one he clearly cares about – when he’s unsure about making a move should he blow everything. We’re not talking full-on sexual encounter here, but rather the first kiss that either confirms a relationship or destroys it. I shan’t tell you how it works out, but I will say that I loved this story’s subtlety, because it’s more about delicate body language than anything else. I also loved the story’s rooftop setting. Aside from anything else, it made everything feel all the more intimate.

Additional: Read Fjord of Killary from the Dark Lies the Island collection, on the New Yorker website • Author Nikesh Shukla interviews Kevin Barry following his Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award win for a story also featured in the Dark Lies the Island collection, Beer Trip to LLandudno • Rob’s review of Dark Lies the Island

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Collection: Sweet Home (Salt Publishing)
Author: Carys Bray
Synopsis: A bereaved mother borrows her next door neighbor’s baby. An outsider builds a gingerbread house at the edge of an English village. A woman is seduced into buying special-offer babies at the supermarket. A father is reminded of his son as he watches the rescue of a group of Chilean miners. A little boy attempts to engineer a happily ever after following the death of his sister.

With psychological insight and a lightness of touch frequently found in fairy tales, Bray delves under the surface of ordinary lives to explore loss, disappointment, frustrated expectations and regret. Described as ‘not just excellent, but significant,’ by poet and critic Robert Sheppard, these dark and lyrical stories illuminate extraordinary and everyday occurrences with humanity and humour.

Story selected for taster: Just in Case
Briefly: Emma is desperate to borrow a baby. And while the sex of the baby is of no concern to her, she’s fixated on trying to find one of a certain length.
Afterthoughts: Asking to borrow someone’s baby is creepy enough, but showing a puzzling interest in a baby’s length is taking a step into the realms of insanity. I’m not giving anything away here because this bizarre revelation shows up in the first paragraph, and it sets a marker for what turns out to be a highly unsettling story.

I wouldn’t be giving too much away either by saying that this story deals with the unimaginable grief that accompanies the loss of a baby, but it does so in an extraordinary way, as one woman’s heartache turns into an obsession of the most morbid kind, which is linked to an obsession of another kind.

Full marks to the author for creating a story that’s as highly imaginative as it is ‘punch in the guts’ memorable. Along with cooking up some startling visuals, Ms. Bray deftly drops in a few sentences that literally stops the reader in his/her tracks. It all adds up to ensuring that one can’t help but read past this opening story to the collection, into the realms of the author’s skewed yet completely literary mind.

Additional: Writer Paul McVeigh interviews Carys Bray • Poet and writer, Alison Lock talks to Carys Bray about the subject of short stories • Read the story Under Covers, from the Sweet Home collection, courtesy of Female First

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Collection: Catching The Barramundi (Odyssey Books)
Author: Rebecca Burns
Synopsis: Sudden, shattering moments of realisation; creeping, gradual self-awareness – Catching the Barramundi is a collection of contemporary short stories charting the dichotomous processes of reassessment and reflection. The settings vary, but the characters in each tale experience moments of introspection and self-scrutiny, quite out of step with their daily lives.

Story selected for taster: Catching the Barramundi (this story can be read on the publisher website or downloaded from Amazon as part of a Kindle sample of the collection)
Briefly: Seemingly coping with the recent loss of her husband Stan, Connie begins to realise, with the arrival of a man called Martyn at the camping ground that she runs, that she has a real need to fill the gap in her life that Stan has left.
Afterthoughts: Everything that the synopsis says about the collection as a whole is encompassed in this story. A woman still hurting from the grief of losing her husband, begins to feel the need to fulfil her own desires and to replace the emptiness that she has begun to notice in her life; an emptiness that’s all the more amplified due to the woman’s location, and the fact that her son is also living away and forging a life for himself.

The short story is, of course, the perfect platform for honing in on a single emotion or dilemma, and Ms. Burns utilises the form perfectly to implant the buds of desire inside a fragile and still grieving character, and run with it. But Catching the Barramundi is so much more than a simple tale of wanton lust mixed with guilt, and although there’s an electric undercurrent of sexual tension running through the story, it is firmly controlled and reined in. As Connie begins to feel pangs of desire she also has to subdue feelings of infidelity and faithfulness, while at the same coping with uncertainty, caution and a degree of shyness. It’s a lovely story, with a flavour of Raymond Carver to it, and I also love that it feels very Australian without ever trying to be.

Additional: Read Hades Landing from the Catching the Barramundi collection • Read The Intruder, also from the same collection • An interview with Rebecca Burns on the Female First website

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Collection: Tea at the Midland (Comma Press)
Author: David Constantine
Synopsis: To the woman watching they looked like grace itself, the heart and soul of which is freedom. It pleased her particularly that they were attached by invisible strings to colourful curves of rapidly moving air. How clean and clever that was! You throw up something like a handkerchief, you tether it and by its headlong wish to fly away, you are towed along…

Like the kite-surfers in this opening scene, the characters in David Constantine’s fourth collection are often delicately caught in moments of defiance. Disregarding their age, their family, or the prevailing political winds, they show us a way of marking out a space for resistance and taking an honest delight in it. Witness Alphonse – having broken out of an old people’s home, changed his name, and fled the country – now pedalling down the length of the Rhône, despite knowing he has barely six months to live. Or the clergyman who chooses to spend Christmas Eve – and the last few hours in his job – in a frozen, derelict school, dancing a wild jig with a vagrant called Goat.

Key to these characters’ defiance is the power of fiction, the act of holding real life at arm’s length and simply telling a story – be it of the future they might claim for themselves, or the imagined lives of others. Like them, Constantine’s bewitching, finely-wrought stories give us permission to escape, they allow us to side-step the inexorable traffic of our lives, and beseech us to take possession of the moment.

Story selected for taster: Tea at the Midland (this story can be directly downloaded from HERE (PDF format – courtesy of the Booktrust) or downloaded as part of a Kindle sample from Amazon)
Briefly: A man and woman share afternoon tea at the famous art deco-themed Midland Hotel in Morecambe. It soon becomes clear however, that the glorious setting is doing little to bring the couple closer together.
Afterthoughts: This is the story that won its author the BBC National Short Story Award in 2010, and for good reason. It’s an absolute triumph of a tale. Not a lot happens in terms of action in Tea at The Midland, but it does the one thing that all good short stories should do – it draws out a single element of the human condition and shines a light on it. Here it’s all about a failed connection, where two people are failing in their illicit relationship to hold on to the intimacy that was once existed. Fractures are beginning to show, and all against a backdrop where natural scenery and art clash, in breathtaking splendour.

The story is deeply personal one, and the views and feelings of individuals are intwined with reference to Homer’s Odyssey (sparked by Eric Gill’s famous relief artwork in the hotel), paedophilia (amongst other sexual deviances Eric Gill sexually abused his own children) and the activities of a group of kite surfers working their thing on the stretch of sea overlooking the hotel. One cannot help but feel affected, but all on a very subtle level.

Mr. Constantine is also a poet and this much is clear when reading a prose that rings with much poetic resonance. He’s also something of a grammar rebel because he doesn’t use speech marks, and such is the way that he embeds dialogue that it needs added concentration on behalf of the reader to determine all that is being spoken. This is no bad thing however because it draws the reader closer, adding all the more to the intimacy of the story.

Additional: Scotsman interview with David Constantine • A brief audio preview of Tea at the Midland • A recent essay by David Constantine at Thresholds, on Short Stories and the Power of “Not Knowing”

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You can find out more about the Edge Hill Short Story Prize by visiting the Edge Hill University website, or following updates from @EHUShortStory on Twitter.

The longlist for the 2013 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award was announced on Friday. In the running this year for the world’s richest prize for a short story collection, is a globe-spanning field of seventy five authors.

With thirty of the longlisted authors hailing from the US, the American writers dominate the longlist this year. Heading the pack is literary legend Joyce Carol Oates, who makes the longlist with her 25th collection of short stories. She’s joined by fellow American, George Saunders – a writer who is as equally renowned for his prowess in short fiction writing, the actor Molly Ringwald, who makes the longlist with a debut collection, and recent winner of The Story Prize, Claire Vaye Watkins. And fresh from his triumph in this year’s Sunday Times EFG Private Short Story Award, Dominican-American Junot Díaz also joins the longlist with the same collection that his winning story came from.

There is also, as always, a strong showing of UK and Irish authors on this year’s Frank O’Connor Award longlist. 2012 Man Booker shortlister Alison Moore is joined by poet and translator David Constantine and novelist and scriptwriter Jane Rogers, with Irish language writer Micheál Ó Conghaile heading the strong Irish contingent.

From wider reaching countries to have made this year’s longlist is Iraqi filmaker and writer Hassan Blasim, Israeli writer Ayelet Tsabari, Nigerian short story specialist A. Igoni Barrett, and from Switzerland, Peter Stamm.

The longlist in full, as elected by a panel of three – comprised of poet, publisher and short story writer, John F. Deane, deputy editor of The Sunday Times and founder of the Sunday Times Short Story Award, Cathy Galvin, and former executive editor of the Paris Review and founder of New York-based literary journal A Public Space, Brigid Hughes – is as follows (links lead to author websites where available, and publisher pages):

• Louise Aronson, USA, A History of the Present Illness (Bloomsbury Publishing)
• Celeste Augé, Irish-Canadian, Fireproof and Other Stories (Doire Press)
• Ramona Ausubel, USA, A Guide to Being Born (Riverhead Books)
• Steven Barthelme, USA, Hush Hush (Melville House, NY)
• A. Igoni Barrett, Nigeria, Love Is Power, Or Something Like That (Graywolf Press)
• Chris Beckett, UK, The Peacock Cloak (NewCon Press)
• Marie-Helene Bertino, USA, Safe as Houses (University of Iowa Press)
• Hassan Blasim, Iraq, The Iraqi Christ (Comma Press)
• C.P. Boyko, Canada, Psychology and Other Stories (Biblioasis)
• Charles Boyle, UK, The Manet Girl (Salt Publishing)
• Felix Cheong, Singapore, Vanishing Point (Ethos Books)
• Joshua Cohen, USA, Four New Messages (Graywolf Press)
• David Constantine, UK, Tea at the Midland and other stories (Comma Press)
• Nancy Jo Cullen, Canada, Canary (Biblioasis)
• Robert Day, USA, Where I Am Now (BkMk Press, University of Missouri-Kansas City)
• Tamas Dobozy, Canada, Siege 13 (Milkweed Editions, Minnesota)
• Emma Donoghue, Irish-Canadian, Astray (HarperCollins Canada/Picador (UK))
• Junot Diáz, Dominican-American, This Is How You Lose Her (Riverhead Books)
• B.C. Edwards, USA, The Aversive Clause (Black Lawrence Press)
• Valerie Fioravanti, USA, Garbage Night at the Opera (BkMk Press, University of Missouri-Kansas City)
• Kitty Fitzgerald, Ireland, Miranda’s Shadow (Iron Press)
• Sarah Gerkensmeyer, USA, What You Are Now Enjoying (Autumn House Press)
• Rodge Glass, UK, LoveSexTravelMusik: Stories for the EasyJet generation (Freight Books)
• Manuel Gonzales, USA, The Miniature Wife and Other Stories (Riverhead Books)
• Sue Grafton, USA, Kinsey and Me (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
• Jennifer Haigh, USA, News from Heaven (HarperCollins)
• Brindley Hallam Dennis, UK Talking to Owls (Pewter Rose Press)
• Aideen Henry, Ireland, Hugging Thistles (Arlen House)
• Liesl Jobson, South Africa, Ride the Tortoise (Jacana Media)
• Jessica Francis Kane, USA, This Close (Graywolf Press)
• Andy Kissane, Australia, The Swarm (Puncher and Wattmann)
• Rebecca Lee, Canada, Bobcat and Other Stories (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill/Hamish Hamilton (Canada))
• Deborah Levy, South African-British, Black Vodka (& Other Stories)
• Peter Tieryas Liu, USA, Watering Heaven (Signal 8 Press)
• Joanna Luloff, USA, The Beach at Galle Road (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill)
• Colette Maitland, Canada, Keeping the Peace (Biblioasis)
• Adam Marek, UK, The Stone Thrower (Comma Press)
• Helen Marshall, Canada, Hair Side, Flesh Side (ChiZine Publications)
• Mike McCormack, Ireland, Forensic Songs (The Lilliput Press)
• Bernie McGill, Northern Ireland, Sleepwalkers and Other Stories (Whittrick Press)
• Nadine McInnis, Canada, Blood Secrets (Biblioasis)
• Alan McMonagle, Ireland, Psychotic Episodes (Arlen House)
• Susan Midalia, Australia, An Unknown Sky and Other Stories (The University of Western Australia Publishing)
• Jennifer Mills, Australia, The Rest Is Weight (University of Queensland Press)
• Alison Moore, UK, The Pre-War House and Other Stories (Salt Publishing)
• Joyce Carol Oates, USA, Black Dahlia & White Rose (HarperCollins)
• Micheál Ó Conghaile, Ireland, The Colours of Man (Cló Iar-Chonnacht)
• Chinelo Okparanta, Nigerian-American, Happiness, Like Water (Granta Books)
• Prajwal Parajuly, India, The Gurkha’s Daughter (Quercus Books)
• Janice Pariat, India, Boats on Land: A Collection of Short Stories (Random House India)
• Jonathan Pinnock, UK, Dot Dash (Salt Publishing)
• Garry Craig Powell, UK, Stoning the Devil (Skylight Press)
• Ron Rash, USA, Nothing Gold Can Stay (HarperCollins(USA)/Canongate(UK))
• Molly Ringwald, USA, When It Happens to You (HarperCollins)
• Rob Roensch, USA, The Wild Flowers of Baltimore (Salt Publishing)
• Jane Rogers, UK, Hitting Trees with Sticks (Comma Press)
• Josephine Rowe, Australia, Tarcutta Wake (University of Queensland Press)
• Ethan Rutherford, USA, The Peripatetic Coffin and Other Stories (HarperCollins)
• Alfian Sa’at, Singapore, Malay Sketches (Ethos Books (Singapore))
• Ted Sanders, USA, No Animals We Could Name (Graywolf Press)
• George Saunders, USA, Tenth of December (Bloomsbury)
• Anis Shivani, USA The Fifth Lash & Other Stories (C&R Press)
• Joan Silber, USA, Fools (W. W. Norton & Co)
• Chad Simpson, USA, Tell Everyone I Said Hi (University of Iowa Press)
• Peter Stamm, Switzerland, We’re Flying (Granta/ Other Press LLC)
• Susan Steinberg, USA, Spectacle (Graywolf Press)
• Ashley Stokes, UK, The Syllabus of Errors (Unthank Books)
• Steven Schwartz, USA, Little Raw Souls (Autumn House Press)
• Ayelet Tsabari, Israel, The Best Place on Earth (HarperCollins Canada)
• Jess Walter, USA, We Live in Water (HarperCollins)
• Guy Ware, UK, You Have 24 Hours to Love Us (Comma Press)
• Claire Vaye Watkins, USA Battleborn (Granta/Riverhead Books)
• Tony Williams, UK, All the Bananas I’ve Never Eaten: Tales of Love and Loneliness (Salt Publishing)
• Joel Willans, UK Spellbound–Stories of Women’s Magic Over Men (Route)
• Nancy Zafris, USA, The Home Jar (Northern Illinois University Press)

The longlist will be reduced to a shortlist of up to six books in late May, with the winner being announced in July. The winner will be presented with his/her cheque at the Cork International Short Story Festival in September.

For further details please visit the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award website, or the award’s Facebook page.

The Edge Hill Short Story Prize longlist for 2013 has been announced, revealing a record entry for the UK’s only prize for single-author collections of short stories published in the UK.

Now running in its seventh year, the 2013 Edge Hill Short Story Prize longlist of thirty eight titles has a strong Irish presence, with literary legends Joseph O’Connor and Emma Donoghue rubbing shoulders with, among others, 2012 Sunday Times EFG Private Short Story Award winner Kevin Barry, Dublin-born writer Nuala Ní Chonchúir, Galway-based author and poet James Martyn Joyce, and Dublin-based writer Mary Costello.

Joining the Irish on this year’s longlist, which is also dominated by the smaller independent publishers this year, is 2012 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award winner Jon McGregor, Scottish poet and novelist Jackie Kay, Welsh writers Gee Williams and Jon Gower, and 2011 BBC National Short Story Award winner, DW Wilson.

The 2013 Edge Hill Short Story Prize longlist in full is as follows (all links lead to publisher pages):

• Fireproof by Celeste Auge (Doire Press)
• Dark Lies The Island by Kevin Barry (Jonathan Cape)
• Sweet Home by Carys Bray (Salt Publishing)
• Catching The Barramundi by Rebecca Burns (Odyssey Books)
• Tea at the Midland by David Constantine (Comma Press)
• Snow Shoes by Eileen Casey (Arlen House)
• Mother America by Nuala Ní Chonchúir (New Island Books)
• The China Factory by Mary Costello (The Stinging Fly)
• Talking To Owls by Brindley Hallam Dennis (Pewter Rose)
• The Shelter Of Neighbours by Éilís Ní Dhuibhne (Blackstaff Press)
• Astray by Emma Donoghue (Pan Macmillan)
• Too Cold For Snow by Jon Gower (Parthian)
• My Mother Was An Upright Piano by Tania Hershman (Tangent Books)
• What’s Not Said by James Martyn Joyce (Arlen House)
• Reality, Reality by Jackie Kay (Pan Macmillan)
• The Stone Thrower by Adam Marek (Comma Press)
• Forensic Songs by Mike McCormack (The Lilliput Press)
• This Isn’t The Sort Of Thing That Happens To Someone Like You by Jon McGregor (Bloomsbury)
• Where Have You Been? by Joseph O’Connor (Harvill Secker)
• The Weight of the Human Heart by Ryan O’Neill (Old Street Publishing)
• I’m on the Train! by Wendy Perriam (Robert Hale Ltd)
• All Embracing And Other Stories by Dave Pescod (Route Books)
• Dot Dash by Jonathan Pinnock (Salt Publishing)
• Stoning the Devil by Garry Craig Powell (Skylight Press)
• Furnace by Wayne Price (Freight Books)
• Hitting Trees With Sticks by Jane Rogers (Comma Press)
• Stepping Out by Cynthia Rogerson (Salt Publishing)
• Fatty Goes To China by Royston Tester (Tightrope Books)
• Entanglement by Douglas Thompson (Elsewhere Press)
• Communion Town by Sam Thompson (Fourth Estate)
• You Have 24 Hours To Love Us by Guy Ware (Comma Press)
• Border Lines by John Walsh (Doire Press)
• A Girl’s Arm by Gee Williams (Salt Publishing)
• Spellbound by Joel Willans (Route Books)
• All The Bananas I’ve Never Eaten by Tony Williams (Salt Publishing)
• Staying Afloat by Sue Wilsea (Valley Press)
• Once You Break A Knuckle by DW Wilson (Bloomsbury)
• Diving Belles by Lucy Wood (Bloomsbury)

Speaking of this year’s longlist, Prize co-ordinator Dr Ailsa Cox, Reader in Creative Writing and English at Edge Hill University, had the following to say:

This is the biggest and the most impressive long-list we’ve ever had, with a fantastic mix of voices and styles. Clearly, writers and their publishers are recognising the significance of this prize, unique in the British book world.

“The variety is matched by the very high standard of so many of these collections. It is going to be harder than ever to limit our shortlist to five.

A shortlist of five will be announced on 31st May, with the overall winner of the £5,000 main prize and a separate £1,000 Readers’ Prize being unveiled at an awards ceremony on 4th July at Waterstones Piccadilly, London.

For further details and updates please visit the Edge Hill University website, or follow updates from the @EHUShortStory account on Twitter.

Dominican-American writer, Junot Díaz has been chosen as the winner of this year’s Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award, for his story Miss Lora.

Recently a finalist for The Story Prize for the same collection that his winning story is taken from (This Is How You Lose Her), the former Pulitzer Prize winner beat off competition from a strong shortlist of six that included such names as Ali Smith, Mark Haddon and Sarah Hall, to pick up the cheque for £30,000 and become the latest winner of the world’s most lucrative prize for a single short story. Each of the shortlisted authors – including Toby Litt and Cynan Jones – each received a runners-up cheque of £1,000.

Speaking of Mr. Díaz’s winning story, which explores the subject of sexual relationships with an older woman, judge and Literary Editor of The Sunday Times, Andrew Holgate, had the following to say:

If the test of an outstanding short story is that it deepens with every reading, then Junot Díaz’s Miss Lora passes that test with flying colours. It is a rich, precise and challenging story whose emotional pull becomes more and more apparent with each revisit. Díaz is one of the most exciting voices in the language, and a wonderful addition to an already distinguished list of international winners.

Now in its fourth year, Mr. Díaz joins the roll of honour for the award, which includes previous winners Kevin Barry, Anthony Doerr, and C.K. Stead.

For further details, including a video interview with year’s winner, please visit the Booktrust website.

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Rob’s Reaction: As a big fan of Junot Díaz’s short fiction I’m obviously delighted that he’s won this year’s Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award, but I don’t think he’s the worthiest winner, at least not for this award. There is no doubt that Miss Lora succeeds and that it can be read as a standalone story, but Mr. Díaz tends to write short stories that interlock with one another and as such there are threads embedded within the story which link it to something bigger. In other words, Miss Lora is a component of something greater, and I feel that the story loses some of its potency when read away from the rest of the collection. Certainly This Is How You Lose Her as a whole is more than deserving of any literary award. It was certainly worthy of making it as one of the three finalists of this year’s Story Prize – and I’ll be more than shocked if it doesn’t emerge as one of the strong favourites for this year’s Frank O’Connor Short Story Award – but as the winner of this year’s Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award I don’t think it quite cuts it.

So who did I think should have been crowned as the winner of this year’s Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award? Well, I’ve already put forward my own thoughts on this so I’m not going to go into it again, but I will say through the course of speaking to many of you that I’ve discovered that every story on the shortlist has its own diehard fans, and this has lead to much lively debate and discussion which has been a real delight to engage with.

For the layman at least, and for the promotion of the form, this is what is most important. Over the past few weeks I’ve seen many people getting turned on (quite literally ) with the stories on this year’s shortlist, and most exciting of all, I’ve also seen a good number of people who would normally turn away from the short form, showing an interest.

This is what really warms me and motivates me because ultimately it doesn’t matter to the lover of short fiction who wins or loses these prizes in the long run, provided we are given the opportunity to wallow in the glory of our favourite form. And these past few weeks I, and many others, have seldom been away from the literary ‘mud pit’ as the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award 2013 has trundled towards its final destination. Once again I have a lot to be grateful for, and while I may be disappointed that my own choice of winner for this year’s award didn’t triumph, I couldn’t be happier that this award has once again brought the short story to the fore, and set the social networking portals a-buzzin’. I look forward to doing it all again next year.

So over to you guys. Are you happy with this year’s winner? What do you think of the prize as a whole? Has your interest in the short story been piqued? Please let me know in the comments below.

P.P.S. If you’ve yet to have the pleasure of reading Mr. Diaz’s winning story, you can do so via The New Yorker magazine.

For a few months now I’ve been completely out of sorts with my reading. I’ve felt as though I’ve been merely going through the motions of reading without getting any real reading done. This has made me unfocused and completely unmotivated (I’ve a feeling that you may have noticed ). Thankfully, I seem to have put all this behind me, when the fire was reignited in my belly over the weekend, setting me off in great haste once more on my personal journey through the literary landscape. I thought I’d mark the ocassion by telling you what made the fire spark up again, and I thought I’d do so through the feature that’s been missing for a long time on RobAroundBooks – my reading journal.

The mighty Joe Queenan
It all started on Saturday when I picked up Joe Queenan’s latest essay collection, One for the Books (Viking). If you don’t know, Mr. Queenan is held up as one of America’s top contemporary humorists. He’s written for a ton of top magazines and aside from anything else he’s a bit obsessed with books and reading. One for the Books is about his obsession with books and reading.

My daughter had bought me the book for Christmas, and feeling guilty about it languishing for so long without ever having being opened, I thought I’d pick it up and tick off a few pages, if only to make my conscience that little bit clearer.

As it happened I was instantly hooked, and I read Queenan’s book through in a single sitting. And although I found Queenan to be somewhat abrasive and doggedly opinionated at times (this might just be the flavour of his humor), his boundless passion for books and reading came through, and I found him to be oh so inspiring. So inspiring in fact that the dreadful cloud of bookish melancholy that’s been hanging over me these past few months was quickly blown away.

By speaking about the books he owns and how long it can take him to read for any of his whacky personal reading projects, Queenan really got me thinking about my own book collection and the journey that I myself was taking through literature. It quickly dawned on me that my literary journey had actually ground to a halt. Rather, I had pitched my tent in a clearing in the woods and I was satisfying myself with just nibbling at the fruit and fauna that was within comfortable reach. In other words I’d stopped shooting for distant destinations in the literary landscape and heading for mighty milestones, and instead I was just lethargically gazing out into yonder, not growing, not evolving, and not challenging myself in my reading. Boo, me!

Queenan also makes a point about having less freedom as one gets older to read things at whim (I’m paraphrasing but you get the gist). As one ages and the years begin to run out, one has to get more picky with one’s reading if one is to be able to read all (or at least most) of that which he desires to read. Wow….wake-up call! I may not be as old as Queenan (he’s just into his sixties and I’m forty five), but why am I sitting here acting as though I have all the time in the world when actually, I don’t? Should I be blessed to be reading up until the age of eighty, that still only gives me a measly thirty five years of reading time. So little time, I must get a shift on. Farewell rudderless reading, it’s time to get myself back on track. (hehe..I bet I’ve got you lot thinking about this now, too )

“The Canadian Moveable Feast”
Aside from Queenan managing to get my gears turning again, he also helped to set me up with my second full read of the weekend (hardly surprising given the number of books he reels off in his essay collection).

Luckily I was able to source a copy of this book quickly, which enabled me to spend much of Sunday consuming it. It’s a day that I will always remember fondly because I found That Summer in Paris to be exquisite; an absolute treat. What a beautiful, warm and affectionate book it is, and it’s made all the more so through Callaghan’s illuminating prose.

That Summer in Paris follows Callaghan briefly from his part time reporting days while a student, to the summer of 1929 where his dreams come true and he spends a few short months in Paris with Hemingway and Scott Fitzgerald, and a number of other leading literary and artistic figures of the period.

It’s a ‘worth its weight in gold’ kind of book because not only does one get an insight into some extraordinary Parisian events – dinner with James Joyce, boxing bouts with Hemingway, dates with the Scott Fitzgeralds, unexpected encounters with artists such as Joan Miro etc. but one also gains some perspective on the relationship between Hemingway and Scott Fitzgerald. It also lays to rest, sort of, the rumour that Callaghan knocked out Hemingway in a grudge match, after Hemingway gauded Callaghan into fighting him.

Is That Summer in Paris as good as A Moveable Feast? Well, it’s close to being an equal. I certainly found Callaghan’s memoir of the period to be a lot warmer than Hemingway’s (mainly because of the reverence that Callaghan shows almost continually for both Hemingway and Scott Fitzgerald), but how can one possibly top such an iconic work from the great man himself? Callaghan’s efforts are certainly laudable however, and I urge everyone to go and seek out a copy. Read it (with a pinch of salt) and you’ll walk away with that warm glow that accompanies every read of a great book.

There was even time for shorts
Leaving That Summer in Paris on a high, I even had the time and motivation to read a couple of short stories yesterday too. The first was a story recommended by my good friend and fellow short story lover Sue who lives all the way over on the other side of the Big Pond. Not so long ago she encouraged me with much enthusiasm to read Belgian, Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt’s short story collection, The Most Beautiful Book in the World (Europa Editions). She was most taken by the titular story of the collection, and so this was the one I chose to read as a warm up to journeying through the collection as a whole at some point in the future.

The story itself (or rather ‘fable’ as it’s dubbed) concerns a group of female political prisoners who find themselves desperate and needing in some Gulag on the frozen plains of Siberia. A new woman (Olga) joins the group and the women are hopeful that she has something secreted on her person. It’s not one of the obvious things like weapons, drugs or files in cakes etc. Rather it’s something a lot less innocuous. Remarkably, Olga has what the other women are looking for, and so begins a story that has a degree of warmth, hope and tenderness to it. Personally, not one of the best short stories I’ve ever read, but nowhere near one of the worst either. A fuller review when I get around to the collection as a whole.

The second short story I read? Well, given all the praise that Hemingway and Fitzgerald were allegedly heaping on Callaghan in the 1920s for the quality of his fiction, I couldn’t let the day go by without at least sampling a taste of the Canadian’s short stories. I sourced a few in the New Yorker archive (I’m a subscriber don’t you know? ), and I set about reading An Escapade, the first story he had published in the magazine in November 1928. Did Callaghan’s story live up to my expectations? In a nutshell: yes it did, but if you want to know more than you’ll have to click over to my afterthoughts on the story.

‘Reading Journal’ provides an unedited, on-the-fly record of the bookish highlights in Rob’s reading day.