About

The primary focus of The Sitting Bee is on reviewing short stories, particularly (though not exclusively) short stories by American, British, Indian and African writers. Some of the writers that you will find on the blog include Raymond Carver, Flannery O’Connor, J.D. Salinger, Saki, Katherine Mansfield, Virginia Woolf, R.K. Narayan, Ruskin Bond, Mulk Raj Anand, Chinua Achebe and Bessie Head. Whether someone is studying or just keen to get a deeper insight into a story it is hoped that they will find the reviews on The Sitting Bee helpful in some way. I decided to set up the blog after completing my degree and from the first initial posts on some of Raymond Carver’s short stories the blog has grown from just a handful of reviews to over one thousand one hundred. I also try to update the blog as often as possible and time permitting I hope to be able to review at least one short story collection a month.

I have no set criteria when I choose a collection to read. Generally I like to go to the book store and randomly pick writers collections, some I have heard of and some are unknown to me. So far I am pleased with the writers that I have selected to review. All have very different styles of writing but still manage to keep me engaged as a reader. At the moment I am buying more books than I am able to read but I still hope to get around to reviewing everything I read at some point. It is because of this (so many books) that I am unable to accept review submissions. It’s not that I don’t appreciate a free book (I do) it’s just I simply don’t have enough time to review the books I’ve bought and those that may be submitted to the blog for review.

The comment policy for the blog would be very similar to many other blogs and I will try to reply to every comment I receive. I would also be very grateful if you would let me know about any errors you might come across on the blog. I would not want a visitor to the blog to be hindered unnecessarily when reading something I have written because of bad punctuation or confusing typos.

If you are student and would like to cite any of the posts on the blog please feel free to do so. You will find a link underneath the title of each post which when clicked will give you a MLA styled citation for the post. The blog is also print friendly.

If you would like to contact me, all you have to do is click here.

Hope you enjoy The Sitting Bee

Dermot