books i can’t wait to read: exploring my physical tbr, ep. 3

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Hi friends! How are you? What have you been reading recently?

Today I wanted to do a chill post so I’m going to be talking about the various short story and poetry collections that are languishing on my shelf! Let me know if you’ve read any of these and which ones I should prioritise!

Shall we get into it?

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The only poetry collection on my shelf that I have not yet read is one that I preordered and have been anticipating but…just haven’t read yet. How embarrassing. The collection is 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝑴𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒚 𝑶𝒄𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝑽𝒖𝒐𝒏𝒈. I have read 𝑶𝒏 𝑬𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝑾𝒆’𝒓𝒆 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒇𝒚 𝑮𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑵𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝑺𝒌𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑬𝒙𝒊𝒕 𝑾𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒔 by this author and they were both 5 star reads, some of my favourites of all time. 𝑽𝒖𝒐𝒏𝒈 is a literal genius and I adore his works, in all their forms. Time is a Mother is 𝑽𝒖𝒐𝒏𝒈’s second poetry collection and is an attempt to search for meaning in life in the aftermath of his mother’s death. It is an intimate collection, highlighting grief, family and the joy of living. I cannot wait to read this but I think the reason why I haven’t picked it up is because of the emotional impact it’s going to have on me. Vuong’s previous works have always rendered me in tears.

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The first short story collection is one that I spontaneously purchased for a couple of dollars at my local library’s book sale. It is called 𝑫𝒂𝒘𝒏 𝒃𝒚 𝑺𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏 𝑫𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒔 and it is a collection of stories about ordinary people living their ordinary lives. The author is an imprisoned progressive politician in Turkey, who wanted to write about ordindary people as he believes that it is these people who can institute real change. It sounds interesting and though I have never heard anyone speak about it, it has me intrigued. It is meant to showcase the voices and people of Turkey and of the Middle East, to see the experiences of the people behind the headlines, according to the author.

𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒂 𝑬𝒏𝒓𝒊𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒛’𝒔, 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑺𝒎𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝑩𝒆𝒅 blew my mind. I remember reading that thinking, what the fuck. When I could, I immediately purchased her other short story collection, 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝑾𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒊𝒓𝒆. This is a collection (similar to 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑺𝒎𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝑩𝒆𝒅) that intends to reveal the scars of Argentina’s dictatorship, of the trauma and horror of the people. It’s gothic and horrific and I am already enthralled. 𝑬𝒏𝒓𝒊𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒛’𝒔 writing reminds me of 𝑪𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒂 𝑴𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒅𝒐 – the macabre, the perverse and the brutal.

I have never read anything from this next author, but I have two of his books on my shelf. 𝑩𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒏 𝑻𝒂𝒚𝒍𝒐𝒓 made waves with his book, 𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝑳𝒊𝒇𝒆 (which I still need to read and is currently staring at me from my shelf) which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. I picked up his short story collection 𝑭𝒊𝒍𝒕𝒉𝒚 𝑨𝒏𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒔 because I thought that I would read his short stories first before delving into his novel. I’ve literally done neither, but let’s not talk about that. 𝑭𝒊𝒍𝒕𝒉𝒚 𝑨𝒏𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒔 is a collection of stories that are all linked and highlight violence, love and empathy. I feel like this collection is going to break open my heart.

The next short story collection is the only one I have which includes multiple authors…so I guess it’s more of an anthology? It’s one that i’m actually planning on reading soon and it’s 𝑨𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑨𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒂, 𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝑴𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒆𝒍 𝑴𝒐𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝑨𝒉𝒎𝒂𝒅. This collection has stories by 𝑪𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝑮. 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏, 𝑯𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒂𝒉 𝑫𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒚, 𝑲𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏 𝑾𝒚𝒍𝒅, 𝑴𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒘𝒎 𝑶𝒎𝒂𝒓 𝑺𝒂𝒌𝒓, 𝒁𝒐𝒚𝒂 𝑷𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍, 𝑺𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒉 𝑹𝒐𝒔𝒔, 𝑲𝒂𝒚𝒂 𝑶𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒛, 𝑲𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒅 𝑾𝒂𝒓𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆, 𝑹𝒐𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝑮𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔, 𝑭𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝑫. 𝑭𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒍, 𝑨𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏 𝑲𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒎𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒂, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑳𝒆𝒏𝒂 𝑵𝒂𝒉𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒔. This collection of stories imagine an alternate Australia. One that offers glimpses of Australia’s past, present and future as we head towards the year 2050.

As you all know, I have a weird relationship with 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒕 𝑨𝒕𝒘𝒐𝒐𝒅. But I do have a short story collection by her that I have not yet read and I do plan on eventually reading it. 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 is a collection of stories that centre on the ageing process. I think there’s also murder. That’s really all I know.

THE NEXT ONE I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT!!!!! It’s 𝑶𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂 𝑴𝒐𝒔𝒉𝒇𝒆𝒈𝒉’𝒔, 𝑯𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑨𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅. I love 𝑶𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂 𝑴𝒐𝒔𝒉𝒇𝒆𝒈𝒉 and I’ve always thought that her style of writing would lend itself quite well to the form of short stories. Now, the blurb literally gives nothing as to what these stories are about but I’m guessing they’re going to be weird, horrific and possibly perverse but also emphasising some big feelings and possibly…hope. We shall see! Gosh, I can’t fucking wait.

The last short story collection I have on my physical tbr is 𝑺𝒂𝒚𝒂𝒌𝒂 𝑴𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒂’𝒔, 𝑳𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝑪𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒚. I have read 𝑴𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒂’𝒔 previous two works, 𝑬𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏 and though on the surface, both of these stories were vastly different, I think at their core they’re quite similar. It’s about two people who feel different and who feel like they don’t belong and feel the pressures of conforming to society. 𝑳𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝑪𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒚 is 𝑴𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒂’𝒔 first story collection and I think it’s going to be about similar themes.