Writers Recommend: Sarah Salway
Sarah's pick of her favourite short story collections
February has been such a busy month for ordering through the website, I really feel that I’m starting to build something now and that my trawl through the newspaper book reviews each weekend is working to inspire you all, which is exactly how I hoped it might.
If you haven’t yet had chance to catch up with Sunday’s round up, you can find it here.
Thank you to everyone who has supported The Book Room both in Tunbridge Wells and further afield, each order has been so much appreciated.
I’ve managed to get the postage system licked, sending out both via the wholesaler, from my own stock, and my local doggy deliveries, and have also this week sent my first order to the USA. I know I have a lot of readers of this newsletter over in the States (hi guys!) so you can also order from me here – it’s just the postage that will cost a bit extra.
On Tuesday night, with just hours to spare of February, I had an order for INTIMACIES, a fabulous short story collection and one of Sarah Salway’s picks for her Short Story Writers Recommend curation, and it reminded me that I still haven’t shared her entire interview with you yet, or introduced you properly to her short story curation.
Sarah is a brilliant novelist, a short story writer and poet. Visitors to my pop-up may remember seeing her most recent short story collection, NOT SORRY, on the shelves. She also did an incredible TEDX talk ‘In Praise of Everyday Words’ which I guarantee you will find absolutely fascinating and you can watch here. And on top of all that Sarah has her own substack newsletter, Everyday Words, where I always find inspiration myself, and you can sign up to that here.
And if all that were not enough, she is also a dear friend of mine.
You can watch our video interview at the bottom of this page, but just to give you a little walk through of the short story collections she talks us through (as well as telling us about her own work), here are the books she recommended and a short snippet about why. I love what an eclectic mix Sarah chose, so whether you are already a fan of short stories, or just dipping your toe into the waters of them, I can guarantee you will find something here that will make you fall in love with them, and also, with Mother’s Day coming up the entire curation would make a wonderful gift… just saying.
So, without further ado, over to Sarah:
INTIMACIES by Lucy Caldwell
Sarah says: “Lucy is young but wise and has won so many awards and I think what she does which I just love is she doesn’t try to ever say ‘oh reader you might be too stupid to understand what I’m saying so this is what this story is about’ which some writers tend to do. Lucy really gets into the nitty gritty of relationships, and I’m still thinking about some of the people in this book. If you want to understand people – you might not like them – but this book is alive with them.”
You can buy INTIMACIES here.
A SWIM IN A POND IN THE RAIN by George Saunders
Sarah says: “I’m such a fan of George Saunders that I rushed out and bought this book in hardback. He took Russian short stories and examined them how he would in class (George Saunders is also a lecturer at Syracuse University), going through and looking at all the elements. My husband isn’t a writer and doesn’t want to be a writer, but he absolutely loved it, but also if you’re interested in writing, this book gives the reader the time to examine the craft.”
You can buy A SWIM IN A POND IN THE RAIN here.
THE DANGERS OF SMOKING IN BED by Mariana Enriquez
Sarah says: “What a title… these are like Angela Carter speeded up a bit, they are wonderfully ghosty, twisted stories which still have heart and I think that is important to me. There are some short story writers I admire but I think I’m not sure where the compassion was in that, I do want to feel that the writer hasn’t manipulated me into a cynical position. These are fun stories, and we should be reading across our culture (Enriquez is Argentinian), where we are and what we’re doing, and this felt to me I was getting some of that idea of storytelling around a fire.”
You can buy THE DANGERS OF SMOKING IN BED here.
LOVE IN COLOUR by Bolu Babalola
Sarah says: “Babalola is a British-Nigerian writer and these are mythical stories but where you have these bad ass women – they are wonderful. A lot of writing is about women who are suffering, under the heel of someone, or needing to break free, but there’s not a bit of it in this book. I immediately bought copies for my daughter and daughter-in-law.”
You can buy LOVE IN COLOUR here.
I can also vouch for Sarah’s own short story collection NOT SORRY, a little dream of a book filled with stories of all shapes and sizes, that will bring a wry smile to your face, or a tear to your eye. You can buy NOT SORRY here.
And if you have been tempted by the entire collection – and remember what I said about Mother’s Day coming up – for the next week I’ve got 10% off the set of five, and you can buy that here.
And so, if you have time, have a watch or listen to my interview with Sarah and hear her tell you more about the books she’s chosen, as well as her own writing life.
• Thank you again to all who have been ordering from my online bookshop in the last week. Remember you can still support THE BOOK ROOM while I am waiting to open my physical store again by shopping online, in fact now I would appreciate the support more than ever. I can order ANY BOOK for you and you will receive it within 48 hours. It has never been a more important time to support both writers and independents bookshops, and by buying from me, you are doing both and contributing to a vital ecosystem.