March 2021
The March stories ordered solely on my personal tastes.
- ‘Lorry Raja’ by Madhuri Vijay
- ‘The Child’s Return’ by Rabindraneth Tagore
- ‘The Log’ by Guy de Maupassant
- ‘Alyosha The Pot’ by Leo Tolstoy
- ‘A Horse And Two Goats’ by R.K. Narayan
- ‘The Fashion Plate’ by Rhys Davies
- ‘Oysters’ by Anton Chekhov
- ‘The Tryst’ by Ivan Turgenev
- ‘A Russian Beauty’ by Vladimir Nabokov
- ‘Extraordinary Little Cough’ by Dylan Thomas
- ‘Roman Spring’ by Leslie Norris
- ‘The Golden Pony’ by Glyn Jones
- ‘His Excellency’ by Indro Montanelli
- ‘Madame de Luzy’ by Anatole France
- ‘A Small Sacrifice For An Enormous Happiness’ by Jai Chakrabarti
- ‘The State Of Nature’ by Camille Bordas
- ‘The Gentle Libertine’ by Colette
- ‘Love Far From Home’ by Italo Calvino
- ‘Jewellery’ by Alberto Moravia
As always, join the conversation in the comments section below, on SSMT Facebook or on Twitter @ShortStoryMT.
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The only two I could say with certainty that I’ve read (and reread) are Russian Beauty and Extraordinary Little Cough. I’m always dipping back into Nabokov and D.Thomas. There’s plenty else here to look at. Thanks!
I always have a peek on SSMT. Keep up the good work!
Thank you! It was a particularly good month. Always looking for more Dylan Thomas recs if you got em…
I particularly like Who Do You Wish Was With Us? which seems to set around an afternoon quite similar to Extraordinary Little Cough – a boyish adventure out of the town and to the seaside. He writes such sad and beautiful little stories that really sing-a-long when read aloud. I was only familiar with Under Milk Wood until last year when I picked up Collected Short Stories and it has been a joy! Another that stands out is After The Fair, which is short and dreamlike. The short stories made an immediate impression on me and his poetry clearly chimes within his prose wonderfully.
What you got lined up for April? (I should just wait and see, I guess!). I’ve got some A. Munro shorts – so far, so good.
How about Frances Bellerby? She’s not so well known, but her (life) story is amazing and her poetry and prose is imbued with such an ethereal quality: she sets strange and strangely un/recognisable childhood scenes. Exquisite & ghostly. The Carol is perhaps my favourite ghost story ever. She does this simple and so amazing trick where the final sentence is separated by a double spacing and within that space it seems, to me, so much is revealed.