Why Don't You Stop Talking

Title: Why Don't You Stop Talking
Author: Jackie Kay
Published: 2002 by Picador
Genre: Short stories
Pages: 244


Ah man, these early winter months, they just suuuck the life right out of you, don't they? I've had zeeero interest in anything creative lately, including updating this little journal. I almost even gave up on reading there! That was a scary two days, I can tell you that...

I don't usually read short stories much, and after this collection, all I'm thinking is And why the hell not?! I really should, at least more by this particular writer! Why... was the second book I bought from London, while getting Misfortune, and while I've kind of regretted swapping this for Jackie Kay's Trumpet, which I was going to get first, it's now only a regret of getting to read that one later.

It's been what, a month or so, since I finished Why... so my memory is fuzzy, but many of the stories still keep coming up: images, phrases, how beautifully they were written. Physics and Chemistry actually made me cry. Happy tears, though! Aww. There are 14 stories altogether, mostly of women: mothers, daughters, girlfriends, wives, grandmothers, women who fancy other people's wives... all kinds. Normal lives, normal days, and you're in there with them. I will definitely try to get my grabby hands on more of her books!


   She let herself into her office on Kingsland High Street, Dalston Travel, and put her fresh fish in the fridge. (Now, she'd need to make sure not to forget her trout when she was leaving.) She made herself one of her three cups of coffee per day, stirred in two spoonfuls of sugar, the white killer, but what the hell, and sat down in front of her computer with her bagel. Friday was busy in Dalston Travel. Weekends made everybody think of going somewhere. Paris. Amsterdam. Madrid. Lyon. Bologna. Bruges. Brussels. On a Friday, Melanie prepared herself to expect anything.