The Mole's Picks of the Year - 2014

My picks are split 2 ways, adult/YA, and children's/teens because I tend to be the one of us reading the younger readers books - out of choice. I haven't included picture books because - like a coward - it's so hard to choose.

So here I go with my choices for the older reader...
Firstly I am a fan of short story anthologies, where the anthology leads you from story to story on some form of journey and my number 1 select this year has to be Unthology 5. These anthologies are some of the best I have found, where the stories balance each other and reward you with an experience. Don't jump about the book, but read them as they come and enjoy every one.

Another very good collection was Stay Up With Me although this collection was all from the same author. Highly enjoyable and impossible to pick a favourite.




That Glimpse of Truth
was a very different collection,one that seemed more to chart the history of the short story. Starting with the story of Jonah  - and it's not really about a whale - moving through to modern stories. This is more a collection to keep on a shelf and cherry pick from as your mood suits - but still a book well worth having there.

Stepping away from short stories my next choice is a combined choice as I find it hard to select one over the other. Leigh Russell is the author of two detective series - Geraldine Steel and Ian Perterson. The DI Peterson series is a spin-off from Geraldine Steel and this year we have seen one book from each launched with more to come from both. Race to Death
 is the second DI Peterson and 

Fatal Act by Leigh Russell
 is the latest Geraldine Steel.

Brick Mother was a book that gave a very different experience and is hard to give a genre to - but the frustrations of management, the need to make a difference and the stresses of life are very well portrayed in this story.

A Bright Moon for Fools  is a story of a man who is out, unknowingly,to ruin his own life as he blunders,lies and cons his way from relationship realising, only too late,what he has done.

Above is a story in two halves of abduction  and dystopia. I preferred the first half but there was much to reflect on throughout the story. 

Shop Front was a story that took me by surprise. The story of a student taking a summer job while trying to get to university and the crowd he falls in with - and the surprises (or not) that he finds within that crowd.

Ghostwritten  is another story of self discovery and facing up to the past. It's done very well and we also learn of the hardships and deprivations suffered by interned citizens on Java during the second world war. An enlightening, if disturbing read.

But that's enough of the really serious stuff... let's lighten the mood with
Takedown Twenty I have to admit to loving the humour that the author can embed into her stories and make thrillers into a true comedic romp. The best way to end my adult selection.

My children's book selection is somewhat shorter and hopefully a little lighter although Seventeen Coffins is hardly a light read. Another time-slip story from this author bringing to life yet more of Scotland's chequered history.
 

The Reluctant Vampire is a very light read and as funny today as the day it was penned. Is a vampire who doesn't like blood "normal"?

The legend of Frog  is a story that will amuse children but keep them reading. I did have one small reservation about this book though - although it is still well worthy of inclusion.



 The Dark Inside A story of great sadness and loss - trust and friendship of the highest order and perhaps reconciliation?


But in thinking about loyalty and friendship, let's repeat those ideals - but with a generous amount of humour in Charlie Merrick's Misfits in Fouls, Friends & Football

Stay Up With Me by Tom Barbash

Review by The Mole

"A deeply humane, piercingly funny, and already widely acclaimed new short story collection that features men and women we all know or might be.
The stories in Tom Barbash's evocative and often darkly funny collection explore the myriad ways we try to connect to one another and to the sometimes cruel world around us. The newly single mother in 'The Break' interferes with her son's love life over his Christmas vacation from college. The anxious young man in 'Balloon Night' persists in hosting his and his wife's annual watch-the-Macy's-Thanksgiving-Day-Parade-floats-be-inflated party, while trying to keep the myth of his marriage equally afloat. The young narrator in 'The Women' watches his widowed father become the toast of Manhattan's midlife dating scene, as he struggles to find his own footing.
The characters in Stay Up with Me find new truths when the old ones have given out or shifted course. Barbash laces his narratives with sharp humour, psychological acuity, and pathos, creating deeply resonant and engaging stories that pierce the heart and linger in the imagination."

I generally prefer anthologies of short stories by different authors but this collection of stories really has a great harmony and style that works tremendously well. Summing the collection up is not easy which is why I have borrowed the publisher's synopsis. Overall its appeal comes from the continuity of style and the way that the approach to the theme differs so much with each story, yet it manages to be one complete collection.

David Mitchell is credited as saying that his favourite "...was always the story I'd just finished." and I certainly found that my favourite was the last in the book - "The Women". Or perhaps it was just such a perfect story to finish on? Or was it "Somebody's Son" because I found myself pondering it long after I'd moved on? Although the mother we see in "The Break" is someone we all know even if not quite to the same extreme. Or was it...? Perhaps I don't end up with a favourite after all but this collection will certainly go onto my shelf as I'm sure there is more enjoyment to be got from it on a re-read.

A really great read and the stories are short enough for coffee time reads although whether you will concentrate on anything else after, I don't know.

Currently available in kindle and hardback but shortly to be available in paperback.

Publisher - Simon & Schuster
Genre - Adult Short Stories

Buy Stay Up With Me from Amazon