Ocean City Free Public Library Book Blog

This book is great for those who love short stories and science fiction. Invisible Planets is a great book to pick up when one wants to escape into the realm of science fiction. Written by Chinese authors and translated into English there is something unique with these stories. Included are essays from Chinese and science fiction scholars including the authors explaining how there is this genre of science fiction that is not only under the radar but  how this anthology is showcasing the uniqueness of the writings and giving us the reader just a glimpse into something buried.  I enjoyed the book and can not pick a favorite story. Each one had some element that I would not have thought about. From ghosts, robots, genetic mutations, to time distortion, that are many elements that were captivating. If you want to get lost in a book, this is a good choice. Pick up Invisible Planets  today at The Ocean City Free Public Library 

      Trigger Warning is Neil Gaiman's newest collection of short stories addressing topics that question the boundaries of human capacity of disturbance and horror. True to Gaiman's usual style of writing, the stories contained in this collection are macabre in nature, at times bordering on terrifying, but never breaching the barrier into outright gory. They focus more on the building of suspense rather than the jumpscare value, in a truly H.P. Lovecraft style of story building.       What made this book stand out from Gaiman's other writings, and what made it interesting to me, was his explanation of his choice of title. In the introduction, Gaiman sets out to give a brief explanation of what the phrase "trigger warning" implies, how the landscape of storycrafting is evolving alongside social media, and how the personalisation of social media through user-tagging is changing the landscape of blogging and entertainment.       A "trigger...

Set in Pakistan, this series of short stories revolves around the servants, family members and employees of wealthy landowner/farm manager K.K. Harouni. Readers only meet Harouni in one story, the rest of the time, he is a mere catalyst, representative of great power and opportunity, or else a figure to be manipulated. The nice thing about this book is that characters appear several times throughout the different stories at different points in time. For example, Haruoni's nephew Sohail appears in "Lady in Paris," at a turning point in his relationship. He appears again in later stories in a much different type of setting. The not so nice thing about this book is the abject poverty and sense of hopelessness can be brutal at times. While some of the characters enjoy their meager living situations (see "A Spoiled Man," which had a heartbreaking ending), the majority of the female characters in all of the stories are ruthless in their attempts to break out of thei...

The literary horror machine that is Stephen King is back again. This time, King has cranked out about a dozen short stories guaranteed to make you feel anxious and slightly at ease. What's always so great about King is that some of his creepiest works don't necessarily have to involve the supernatural - human nature alone can be just as terrifying, shocking or just plain disturbing. Whether it's the threat of paranormal activities like in "The Things They Left Behind," where a man who was lucky enough to be spared on 9/11 must confront all the "ghosts" of his former coworkers or in "A Very Tight Place," whereKing takes something as common as a port-a-potty and turns it into a potential death chamber, in the end, you'll feel just a little out of sorts. Though some may argue that Sunset really isn't anything new, considering that the bulk of the stories have appeared in various magazines, it's still definitely worth a read.

Though I'm not a fan of short stories, I enjoyed Interpreter of Maladies and The Namesake as well. There was a blurb on the back of this book saying that Lahiri has a gift of using simple language to create heartbreaking characters and quite honestly, that's the reason why I've really liked all of her works. Unaccustomed Earth is no different - a series of short stories/novellas about Indians living in America and their problems/experiences combining their Americanized culture with that of their ancestry. The second part of the book has a series of related stories linking two characters (Hema and Kaushik) and their lives together and apart. The only problem I had with this book was that I could predict the manipulative ending about 10 pages away. Usually I'm not good at that. This book is fabulous and awesome and amazing and depressing (but in a good way). Everyone should read everything by Lahiri. Case Closed.