“The Secret Lives of People in Love” by Simon Van Booy

The Secret Lives of People in Love is the second collection of short stories by Simon Van Booy published by Beautiful Books in the UK. Van Booy won the 2009 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award for his first collection which I loved, and I couldn’t wait to read these new stories set in New York City, Wales, Cornwall, Paris, Rome and Greece. As the title suggests, the stories explore the private feelings and memories of individuals experiences of love.

And it is exquisite. There really isn’t a better word to describe the latest collection of short stories. Tales of love and loss are beautifully written, with the emotions flowing off the page and into your heart.

I am in complete awe of the mastery of a writer who can express the depth of a love between a man and woman, and the heartbreaking sadness of loss within the confines of a story that is only a few pages long, but Simon Van Booy achieves just this.

The first book of his short stories I read was Love Begins In Winter, and these ranged from 25 to 70 pages in length. Although there are some longer stories in The Secret Lives of People In Love, they are on the whole much shorter in length, some just a few pages long. In fact, my favourite, “The Reappearance of Strawberries” is only three pages, but heartbreakingly poignant.

A truly wonderful book that has shot to the top of my favourites for this year.

“Nocturnes” by Kazuo Ishiguro

This is a collection of short stories on the theme of music by Booker Prize winning author, Kazuo Ishiguro, who others have recommended to me in the past.

There is an art to writing short stories, every word is important and needs to be considered due to the brevity of the text. Unfortunately, I don’t think the stories in this collection worked; they all feel as though they are an extract from a novel, incomplete and have not encapsulated the essence of the story or characters successfully for me.

As the author was recommended on the strength of his novels, I would like to try more of his books, but I definitely won’t be bothering with any more of his short stories.

“Tales of the Otherworld” by Kelley Armstrong

I can’t deny it, I’m addicted to Kelley Armstrong’s supernatural series Women of the Otherworld. This collection of short stories is a great addition to the canon, with some short stories giving us glimpses of the vampire world, the wedding of Paige and Lucas, and the slightly longer look at how Eve Levine and Kristof Nast got together. But for me, the most enjoyable stories were the two longer novellas, the first being the story of how werewolves Elena and Clay met, while the second focusing on an investigation into an alleged vampire kill by Paige and Lucas.

My favourites in the main series tend to be the stories focusing on the werewolves, but Paige and Lucas as quickly catching them up, so this book was a fantastic interlude between books in the main series, and has totally whetted my appetite for the next instalment Waking The Witch due out later this year.

“Ox-Tales: Earth”

Only available through Waterstone’s, “Ox-Tales” is a set of four collections of short stories, poems and extracts with each one based around a theme of one of the four elements, Earth, Fire, Water and Air. With contributions from well known authors, the books are being sold in aid of Oxfam to promote the charity’s work in various project areas around the world.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my ventures into short stories over the last few years, and I so wanted to enjoy this book what with some of my favourite authors contributing and it being sold in aid of Oxfam, but unfortunately, I found it rather unsatisfying on the whole. The Earth collection included one poem, eight short stories, and one extract from a work in progress. Of these, I did enjoy the Rose Tremain story, and as she’s an author I’ve only read one book by, I was pleased to find I liked this contribution, as I have another book on my TBR list, and lots of recommendations for her others, so I will definitely be reading more. I also loved the extract called “Telescope” by Jonathan Buckley, although I’ve never actually heard of him, the extract was the most intriguing piece in the collection, and I definitely want to read the book when it’s published!

Despite not being particularly inspired by this one, I think I will probably get the others, as they are only £5 each and some of that goes to Oxfam, plus I want to see what some of the other authors I admire have contributed, but I have lowered my expectations after this instalment and will be on the look out for some other short story collections by individual authors, as these have been more rewarding.

“Men of the Otherworld” by Kelley Armstrong

I’ve read all the Women of the Otherworld books from Kelley Armstrong, a series fantasy novels based around female supernatural heroines such as werewolves, witches, necromancers, etc. They’re exciting adventures and perfect for light entertainment.

I was dubious about reading this book, because I always felt the strength of the Women of the Otherworld was the female characters, but I was happy to be proven wrong. Ostensibly, this is a collection of two short stories, but actually it’s two short stories, and two novellas. The first short story centres around alpha werewolf Jeremy’s father, then come the two novellas, detailing how Clay became a werewolf and the story of his childhood, adolescence and integration in to the pack, before the final short story brings the focus back to Jeremy.

The great thing about the whole of this book was that it was like reading the authors notebook to a certain extent, as it’s basically the back story of the male characters in the main series. It was fascinating to go back into the history of characters I thought I knew well, and understand more about how they came to be the people they are. As I expect from Armstrong now, it was an easy style of writing, and the strong storytelling which makes you want to keep going with the book and never put it down. Pure entertainment.

“Love Begins In Winter” by Simon Van Booy

This is a collection of short stories from Welsh author Simon Van Booy. The five stories are linked by the theme of love, but also by the theme of childhood. With these two themes in common, it’s probably not unsurprising that the book is emotional and affecting, beginning the heart-breaking dedication at the start of the book.

The collection opens with the longest story, Love Begins In Winter, a tale of grief, and love, and includes an incredible depiction of the recital given by the narrator, a cello soloist. Next is Tiger, Tiger which considers the effects of the relationships of parents on children, followed by The Missing Statues with a different view on a similar theme. The Coming and Going of Strangers is the fourth story, and my favourite in the collection, following Walter who is a wonderfully, romantic hero. Finally, The City of Windy Trees, is another uplifting tale, which shows how seemingly inconsequential meetings make an ordinary life extraordinary.

While some of the best novels are the stories of peoples lives, for me, the best short stories are the glimpses and snapshots of the incidents, emotions and relationships that define an individual, and although I haven’t read a huge amount of short stories, these are some of the best I’ve encountered. The writing is beautifully considered, lyrical and expressive. but in the sparse style which suits the short story format. Although it’s a short 226 page book, I took a good few days to read it, as it requires the time to savour the words on the page, but I can definitely recommend it.

“Good Evening, Mrs. Craven” by Mollie Panter-Downes

This book is a collection of short stories, originally published in the New Yorker magazine during the second World War. The author was a prolific writer for the magazine throughout her career, submitting a wide range of work including poems, book reviews, London Letters, and Letters from England, as well as these short stories.

The twenty-one stories in this collection are vignettes of Middle England through the war, briefly chronicling the experiences and emotions of her subjects. The stories range from light-hearted, almost wickedly observed meetings of a Red Cross sewing party, to the melancholy tale of a lonely, isolated civil servant, to the sparkling joy of a young bride finally stepping out from the shadow of her sister. The characters are perceptively observed, and the wit and compassion of the writer jumps of the page all the while shrewdly documenting wartime England, and the state of the nation.

Persephone Books are fast becoming my fail safe method of ensuring I read entertaining, intelligent, beautifully written books, and this was no exception. I don’t read a lot of short stories, but these were an absolute joy, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to others.