Posted on May 15, 2012 in Books
The Maladjusted is an anthology of short stories by new writer Derek Hayes. I don’t read a lot of short stories, but I average at least a couple of these kind of books a year. I like the format, but I prefer novels since I like to get invested in the characters and follow them along. A good short story usually hooks you in quickly to be attached. There isn’t much time to drag out your indifference. I found most of the stories in this book fairly interesting. The settings usually had a good amount of detail.
The author is based in Toronto and many of the stories are set in the city. While I have not lived in Toronto, I’ve been there and know many people from there. The stories do capture the sense of the city, its people, and a certain Canadian urbanity.
The stories I liked were the eponymous “The Maladjusted”, “A Wonderful Holiday” set in Vietnam
“A Feel for America” set in Taipei, and “Shallowness”. I like travel stories so I liked the details in those set abroad. Hayes has an attention for smell which is interesting as well.
All in all, I’ll be interested if the author writes a full length novel since I think the writing shows promise. I recommend this for Torontonians and other urban Canadians especially.
Disclaimer: This book was sent to me by the author. I was not paid for this post and all views expressed are mine alone and not influenced by the author or publisher. For more on my review policy, please see and contact me here.
Read May 13th, 2012.
Posted on February 23, 2012 in Books
While I do not consider myself an aficionado of the deer stalker hat wearing detective, a Sherlockian, this is my second Holmes/Conan Doyle inspired book in a month. Also, the miniseries. I must say that I do love the Holmes stories and this anthology of short stories reminds me of the good times I had listening to the audiobooks of the canon a few summers ago. Like all anthologies, I was more engaged in some stories than others, but I really liked the majority of them. They were fun. I think mysteries take to short stories well. It’s satisfying. Not all the stories are mysteries though. A couple of them went over my head in terms of references and what the author was trying to go for. In any case, I recommend it for anyone who likes the Sherlock Holmes stories. I think this is a good companion after reading the Holmes canon or watching the tv shows.
Read February 3-5, 2012.