‘We Wave and Call’ by Jon McGregor Available here. Read it in 30 minutes. Thinking about how structure and themes interact… The story begins after the young man’s death, in the present tense (simple and continuous). For me, the opening creates a sense of detachment – it’s a combination of the use of present tense;Continue reading “A short story I recently re-read”
Author Archives: Mina Ma
A short story I recently re-read
‘The Paper Menagerie’, by Ken Liu Read it here in 15 minutes. Thinking about using foreign language and genre to illustrate a theme… I love how Liu uses words from a foreign language, and the magical realism genre, to show the character’s confusion about his identity. Chinese is character-based, but Liu Romanises the words soContinue reading “A short story I recently re-read”
A short story I recently read
Back When We Talked to The Dead, by Mariana Enriquez (trans. Megan Mcdowell) Read it here in about 30 minutes. Thinking about portraying themes… I recently discovered Enriquez, and have been reading Things We Lost in the Fire, her debut short story collection. ‘Back When’ comes come her second collection, The Dangers of Smoking inContinue reading “A short story I recently read”
A novella I recently read
Anthem, by Ayn Rand. Read it here. Thinking about use of grammatical person… Rand was born in Russia, but later emigrated to America. She wrote Anthem in 1937, as a warning about the dangers of communism (or any type of collectivism). The novella has aged well, in my opinion, because the world in which itsContinue reading “A novella I recently read”
A short story I recently read
‘Help Me Follow My Sister to the Land of the Dead’, by Carmen Maria Machado Read it here in about 25 minutes. Thinking about form and structure… I’ve fallen madly in love with Carmen Maria Machado’s writing ever since reading ‘The Husband Stitch’, which led me to read her debut short story collection, which ledContinue reading “A short story I recently read”
My top 10 of 2020
It’s hard to narrow it down, but, gun to my head, here are my 10 favourite reads from 2020: ‘Without a Map’, by Meredith Hall, in True Stories, Well Told: From the First 20 Years of Creative Nonfiction Magazine (Lee Gutkind, Ed.) In 1972 the author, broken, abandons her life and wanders, on foot, fromContinue reading “My top 10 of 2020”
Three books for winter
If you’re looking for some reading to inspire your own writing this winter, you might like to consider some of these books, which all feature wintery landscapes and isolated characters experiencing their own personal lockdowns: Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie Read an extract here. I adore Agatha Christie’s Poirot – a curiousContinue reading “Three books for winter”
A short story I recently re-read
‘The Island at Noon’ by Julio Cortázar (translated by Suzanne Jill Levine) Read it here in about 25 minutes. Thinking about using time in narrative… The protagonist in this story, Marini, is a flight steward who has become obsessed with a Greek island called Xiros, which he flies over on one of his regular routes.Continue reading “A short story I recently re-read”
A short story I recently re-read
‘Zombie’, by Chuck Palahniuk Read it here, in about half an hour. (Note: the story contains sexual elements, and mentions of suicide.) Thinking about themes and ideas… If you don’t know Palahniuk’s work, he writes fucked up, alienated characters in a dirty reality, with a big splash of irony. ‘Fight Club’ is a classic example; PalahniukContinue reading “A short story I recently re-read”
A short story I recently read
The Case of Death and Honey, by Neil Gaiman Read it here in less than an hour. Thinking about narrative point of view… This story is a lot of fun. It’s divided into two narrative strands, each using a different narrative perspective. The voices created in the two strands sound completely different to each other,Continue reading “A short story I recently read”
Mina Ma 