For anyone that read my blog on short stories you will know that I am not a big fan of short stories in general. In fact I almost returned the latest Louis de Bernieres without reading it when I discovered it was short stories. A friend pointed out the stories were set around a central village called Nothwithstanding so I thought I might as well give it a go. Thank goodness I did otherwise I would have missed out on a truly delightful read.
Some stories were amazing character studies that you felt like you knew the “person” within the confines of a short story, others had twists, both surprising and funny. The afterword is interesting too, with Louis talking about his own upbringing in a small English village. Notwithstanding has a little bit of everything…I laughed, I cried and I enjoyed immensely. It made me wonder though, how many great reads by favourite authors have I recklessly disregarded due to their short story status? Is it time to rethink my reading ways?
Have you got any reading habits or aversions that it might be time to let go of?
Christchurch City Libraries Blog 