Reviews
Crowley’s Little, Big was one of the best books I read this year (also in my entire life) so it was really interesting to read this collection of stories from the other end of his career, mostly from the last 10 years, published by the always-excellent Small Beer Press. These stories feel very personal, the first and last pieces in particular, which seem to flirt with autobiography. There’s Shakespeare, New England, academia, people dealing with disability and aging. There’s also a great little horror story about a killer librarian. The writing is just stellar. Crowley writes with such an ease and clarity that the pages turn themselves. This was a really perfect palate cleanser after a bit of a slog through Pynchon. The real collection highlight is the last story, “Anosognosia,” a sort of alternate personal history told with a Twilight Zone device that hit me like a lightning bolt. I won’t spoil it but for me this story alone was worth the cover price.