After a long hiatus, I restarted blogging about my favourite short stories half-way through 2025. Here are some of my favourite novels from my 2025 reading, to join those short stories: On the Calculation of Volume I, by Solvej Balle (trans. Barbara J. Haveland) This novel is the first of a series, which will eventuallyContinue reading “My top 3 of 2025”
Tag Archives: satire
A short protest story
‘Zimmer Land’, by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah Read it here in about 35 minutes. In relation to the 2022 Winter Olympics, thinking about how we can use literature to protest… Adjei-Brenyah uses satire and surrealism in a near-futuristic story to, ironically, paint what I think is probably a rather realistic picture of the experience of beingContinue reading “A short protest story”
A short story I recently read
‘Gubeikou Spirit’ by Te-Ping Chen Read it here in about 45 minutes. Thinking about use of surrealism… The opening of this story depicts experiences that visitors to China may be familiar with: the stereotypical crowds, dashing about, pushing and shoving (‘she was beaten back against the wall’); the ‘state-of-the-art’ underground train system; the ubiquitous securityContinue reading “A short story I recently 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”
Mina Ma 