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Normal Rules Don't Apply: Stories
Normal Rules Don't Apply: Stories | Kate Atkinson
A dazzling collection of eleven interconnected stories from the bestselling, award-winning author of Shrines of Gaiety and Life After Life, with everything that readers love about her novels--the inventiveness, the verbal felicity, the sharp observations on human nature, and the deeply satisfying emotional wallop. In this brilliant volume, nothing is quite as it seems. We meet a queen who makes a bargain she cannot keep; a secretary who watches over the life she has just left; a lost man who bets on a horse that may--or may not--have spoken to him. Everything that readers love about the novels of Kate Atkinson is here--the inventiveness, the verbal felicity, the sharp observations of human nature, and the deeply satisfying emotional wallop. Witty and wise, with subtle connections between the stories, Normal Rules Don't Apply is a startling and funny feast for the imagination, stories with the depth and bite to create their own fully-formed worlds.
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Ambl1966
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I‘m reading this, it‘s off kilter short stories with an element of magical realism, it‘s very enjoyable so far.

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MommyWantsToReadHerBook
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Pickpick

I really enjoy anything by Kate Atkinson and these stories were her wonderful sort of weirdness. I especially liked Blithe Spirit. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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deirdrebeecher
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Pickpick

This is a collection of short stories. I'm slumpy at the moment so finding short stories easier to digest.

Feel likes these stories were written by Atkinson to purge some weird little ideas and characters out of her brain. There is a bit of mystery, a bit of Spec Fic and a lot of oddness. I found them very enjoyable but they might not be for everyone.

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quietjenn
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Pickpick

I don't think I've ever not loved a Kate Atkinson book? This collection of somewhat linked short stories was a little weird and a lot wonderful.

Tamra Arresting cover! 6mo
Ruthiella I‘ve definitely really liked if not loved what I‘ve read from Atkinson. I‘ve got this one on my shelf waiting! 6mo
merelybookish I think she's a genius at plot! 6mo
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Gleefulreader
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Pickpick

I really enjoyed this collection of short stories, some of which are linked, or featuring a recurring character. In particular the first story really stood out. They were just slightly weird enough to keep you wondering. A definite pick!

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peanutnine
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Mehso-so

I really liked the first story in this collection. The others were hit or miss. Lots of weird magical realism and some of the stories were slightly interconnected. Atkinson writes compellingly, but it was hard to see where things were going sometimes. Overall each story made me think, a lot of the time it was 'wtf did I just read?'

Sally over here posing to match the dog on the cover #dogsoflitsy

Leftcoastzen 🐶👏 7mo
dabbe #sweetsally 🖤🐾🖤 7mo
charl08 Nicely done Sally. I think I liked this more than you did. (But it's been a while, and beyond the meddling gods at the advertising agency, not much has stuck...) 7mo
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cariashley
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Pickpick

Kate Atkinson can do no wrong in my book, and I loved her latest collection of linked stories. It was really fun to read her work in a new type of format. I‘ve been watching the BBC adaptation of the Jackson Brodie novels and am getting myself really psyched for the new one coming out later this year!

BarbaraBB It seems summer where you are 😍 8mo
cariashley @BarbaraBB it‘s up to 55 degrees Fahrenheit here today (Long Island, NY) and it‘s such a treat! Definitely a bit of false spring, but I‘ll take it 🥰 (edited) 8mo
Ruthiella There‘s a new Jackson Brodie novel coming out?!?!? Fantastic news! 🤩 8mo
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charl08
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If she had her time over again she wouldn't bother with university, certainly wouldn't bother with Colin, she would go straight from school to Paris. Sit in Café de Flore ...sipping tiny espressos.... And then lie languidly in the warm, rumpled sheets of a bed in a garret with a view of the city's rooftops, a lover by her side. This vision was based on an Opera North production of La bohème.... Art was dangerous, it gave you ideas.

charl08 Image: photoshistoriques.info 10mo
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charl08
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In reality, it was almost impossible to explain the
structure of this novel to anyone, including himself.

Even now, many years later, just thinking about it
could give him uncomfortable palpitations of loath-
ing and desire. He still lived with the curse of it, and
the back-up copy, on an ancient floppy disk locked in a drawer, had the power to haunt him like the beat of a nightmarish tell-tale heart.

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Pinta
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Bailedbailed

I love Kate Atkinson‘s writing, but couldn‘t stick with this. A short story is not just a quick finish to an abandoned idea for a novel. 2023

dabbe #hailthebail! 🖤💜🖤 10mo
charl08 Ouch! Just starting this one. 10mo
17 likes2 comments
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Kazzie
Pickpick

Really good! The stories are connected, sometimes loosely. Surprising endings, some fantastical elements

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HeatherBookNerd
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Pickpick

This is a very loosely connected group of short stories. Entertaining, and, of course, Atkinson‘s prose is beautiful, but I think this may not be my favorite form for her.

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Aims42
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Pickpick

As an already huge fan of Kate Atkinson‘s writing I loved this collection of short stories 🥰 This is a definite pick for fans already, and I‘d agree with others saying that new readers should start here to test the waters with her unique writing style.

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Hooked_on_books
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Pickpick

This is a very good story collection. She threads sly humor throughout it and also continues some characters in various stories throughout. I really enjoyed this and it even worked on audio (and short stories don‘t always, imo).

merelybookish I love her so glad to hear it's good! And agree re: short stories on audio. I think they tend to all blur together. 13mo
Aims42 I‘m reading this now and am pleasantly surprised at the humor, so far I‘ve enjoyed all the stories 😄 13mo
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Ephemera
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Pickpick

I‘m a huge Kate Atkinson fan, so of course I put this book of short stories on hold at the library as soon as I saw that it was coming out. I was not disappointed, it‘s a wonderful book. The stories are interconnected and full of twists and surprises. Naturally the writing is terrific. Atkinson never fails to please. If you‘ve never read any of her books, try this one just for fun. Five big stars.

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Lizpixie
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Bk4 of my recent #BookMail is the new signed edition of her 1st shortstory collection in awhile. Plus I love the cover! The foiled dog & fox screams autumn vibes & is another perfect #Scarathlon2023 book. In this there‘s a Queen who makes a bargain she can‘t keep, a secretary that watches over the life she just left, & a man whose life changes when a horse talks to him. A little bit creepy & a little bit funny & a whole lot brilliant.

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Bookboss
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I had to run to the bookstore to pick this up! Kate Atkinson is an auto-buy author!

Ruthiella Ooh! For me too! 14mo
ErikasMindfulShelf Found this at the library today. 14mo
33 likes1 stack add2 comments