Saturday, January 20, 2018

The “Slightly Weird Short Story” Book Haul


Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews. I get to show off all the books I’ve gotten recently.

I have a thing for short stories, especially weird ones. Here are some collections I’ve picked up in the last few weeks.




The “Slightly Weird Short Story” Book Haul










What is Not Yours is Not Yours: Stories – Helen Oyeyemi

The key to a house, the key to a heart, the key to a secret—Oyeyemi’s keys not only unlock elements of her characters’ lives, they promise further labyrinths on the other side. In “Books and Roses” one special key opens a library, a garden, and clues to at least two lovers’ fates. In “Is Your Blood as Red as This?” an unlikely key opens the heart of a student at a puppeteering school. “‘Sorry’ Doesn’t Sweeten Her Tea” involves a “house of locks,” where doors can be closed only with a key—with surprising, unobservable developments. And in “If a Book Is Locked There’s Probably a Good Reason for That Don't You Think,” a key keeps a mystical diary locked (for good reason).









The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories – Ken Liu

This mesmerizing collection features all of Ken’s award-winning and award-finalist stories, including: “The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary” (Finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and Theodore Sturgeon Awards), “Mono No Aware” (Hugo Award winner), “The Waves” (Nebula Award finalist), “The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species” (Nebula and Sturgeon award finalists), “All the Flavors” (Nebula award finalist), “The Litigation Master and the Monkey King” (Nebula Award finalist), and the most awarded story in the genre’s history, “The Paper Menagerie” (The only story to win the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards).









Lungs Full of Noise – Tessa Mellas

Figure skaters screw skate blades into the bones of their feet to master elusive jumps. A divorcee steals the severed arm of her ex to reclaim the fragments of a dissolved marriage. Following the advice of a fashion magazine, teenaged girls binge on grapes to dye their skin purple and attract prom dates. And a college freshman wages war on her roommate from Jupiter, who has inadvertently seduced all the boys in their dorm with her exotic hermaphroditic anatomy.









Dinosaurs on Other Planets: Stories – Danielle McLaughlin

In a raw seacoast cabin, a young woman watches her boyfriend go out with his brother, late one night, on a mysterious job she realizes she isn’t supposed to know about. A man gets a call at work from his sister-in-law, saying that his wife and his daughter never made it to nursery school that day. A mother learns that her teenage daughter has told a teacher about problems in her parents’ marriage that were meant to be private—problems the mother herself tries to ignore.









The Shell Collector: Stories – Anthony Doerr

The exquisitely crafted stories in Anthony Doerr's acclaimed debut collection take readers from the African coast to the pine forests of Montana to the damp moors of Lapland, charting a vast physical and emotional landscape. Doerr explores the human condition in all its varieties—metamorphosis, grief, fractured relationships, and slowly mending hearts—and conjures nature in both its beautiful abundance and crushing power. Some of his characters contend with tremendous hardship; some discover unique gifts; all are united by their ultimate deference to the mysteries of the universe outside themselves.








Have you read any of these? What did you think?









16 comments:

  1. Ooh these books are all rather unusual! I hope that you enjoy them! :-)

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  2. I'm not really one for weird I must say but I hope you enjoy your new reads!

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  3. OK, so Dinosaurs On Other Planets kind of appeal to me. And you're right -these all sound slightly weird, Aj. I hope you'll enjoy them.
    Have a wonderful weekend and happy reading.
    Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews

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  4. Ooh, these all look so interesting. I am always down for 'weird' when it comes to any story. I've heard Helen Oyeyemi is amazing and definitely weird; the only other one I've seen around is Ken Liu's! I don't read enough short stories and I've always felt sort of 'meh' about them, but I almost always seem to enjoy them when I pick them up so I'm not sure why that's the case. Thanks for sharing these and reminding me to read more short stories this year!

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  5. Ken Liu's an author I've seen around but just have not read yet. Certainly sounds interesting though. Dinosaurs on Other Planets sounds good too.

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  6. Hmmm...I've never heard of these books before, but they sound interesting! I hope you get the chance to read them all!

    Here’s my Stacking the Shelves!

    Ronyell @ Rabbit Ears Book Blog

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  7. I've never heard of any of these before, but Lungs Full of Noise seems super weird and like something I might enjoy!! I hope you love all of these :D

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  8. I have heard some amazing things about Helen Oyeyemi`s writing, but I never got the chance to read anything by her yet.

    Carmen`s Reading Corner

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  9. These are all new to me. I don't really tend to look at short stories but I might need to branch out a bit. I hope you enjoy all of these!

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  10. I haven't read any of these, but I love the titles. They draw me in. Thanks for sharing...and here are MY WEEKLY UPDATES

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  11. I'm not a particular short story person, but I quite liked What Is Not Yours when I read it about a year ago for book club!

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  12. I haven’t had any luck with short stories lately. I haven’t found something I enjoyed. I will check these out though. Thank you for sharing, A.J. Have a wonderful week. ❤️😁

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  13. These look good! I love weird stories and the Lungs Full Of Noise cover is very enticing!
    Have you read the Japanese collection Revenge by Yoko Ogawa? Nicely weird :-)

    Stephanie Jane @ Literary Flits

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  14. I'm hit and miss when it comes to short stories, but I do have a copy of What is Not Yours is Not Yours because I thought those stories sounded good. I'll be curious to see what you think of that one since I'm sure it will be a while before I give it a try. Happy reading!

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  15. Wow, you tagged these ones right. However, I'm a huge fan of weird so I think they sound great. Hope you enjoy them.

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  16. I love it how each of your hauls has a theme xD
    I was quite curious about The Paper Menagerie last year. Didn't end up getting it, but maybe one day :)

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