In a Nutshell: The second in a series of four, Ox-Tales: Air employs the same winning formula that was applied to the first volume, to produce a reading collection that’s original, varied and wholly entertaining.
If you’re a regular follower of RobAroundBooks then you will know that I am gradually working my way through the four-volume series of Ox-Tales, a collection of original short stories and extracts from 38 of the top UK writers, who have unselfishly given their time and creativity in order to raise funds for Oxfam (the raison d’être for the existence of the Ox-Tales series). I’ve already read through the first volume in the series (Ox-Tales: Earth) and posted my ‘afterthoughts’. And after gradually working my way through the second, I now offer my afterthoughts on Ox-Tales: Air.
As I did for my ‘afterthoughts’ on Earth I am going to present my thoughts and scores on each of the individual stories, before commenting on the volume collection as a whole. To aid this I’ve also included extracts from my reading journal, which offer ‘live’ commentary of my thoughts on each story as I read it. Each extract is linked to the original journal entry, where more information on each story can be found:
- Still Life – Alexander McCall Smith (Reading journal: ‘a delightful little tale’. Score: 3.5 out of 5)
- The Tipping Point – Helen Simpson (Reading journal: ‘I’m actually still trying to work [this story] out. Nice writing but definitely not one that’s pitched at my lower intelligence. Consequently, this is not one I enjoyed’. Score: 2.5 out of 5)
- Suddenly Dr. Cox – DBC Pierrre (Reading journal: ‘a wonderful story’. Score: 4 out of 5)
- Vanish – Al Kennedy (Reading journal: ‘Stacks of confusing (read: intelligent) inner dialogue going on and a bit of weirdness with the prose left me not really bonding with this one’. Score: 2 out of 5)
- The Desert Torso – Kamila Shamsie (Reading journal: ‘…turned out to be a nice little story, with a very thoughtful ending. Enjoyed it thoroughly!’. Score: 4 out of 5)
- Goodnight Children, Everywhere – Beryl Bainbridge (Reading journal: ‘I rather enjoyed the story which…[left me] suitably creeped out’. Score: 3.5 out of 5)
- The Night Highway – Louise Welsh (Reading journal: ‘A bit crude for my liking…but I quite liked how observant Welsh is in her descriptions’. Score: 3 out of 5)
- Calculus – Diran Adebayo (Reading journal: ‘an extract I’m assuming and it kind of felt like it. A bit disjointed, a bit confusing too, but overall not a bad little taster.’. Score: 3.5 out of 5)
- Trouble in Paradise – Helen Fielding (Reading journal: ‘I’ve got to say that I found this lengthy extract to be rather charming and very entertaining.’. Score: 4 out of 5)
So that’s the stories rated individually but I guess the ultimate question is whether I consider Air to be as good as the first in the series, Earth? Well to be honest that’s something that’s a little too subjective to answer, at least in a definitive sense. Given that Air has been presented in exactly the same way as Earth (as one would expect) i.e. introductory poem by Vikram Seth, all stories/extracts fronted by a short author bio, and a closing afterword from Oxfam themselves, Air is certainly no less accomplished. But for me the story selection found in Earth as a whole, was slightly better, even though the mix and variety were pretty much the same. For that reason I score Ox-Tales: Air a half a mark less than I did for Earth, but please bear in mind that 1) I’m scoring according to taste 2) the collection of four Ox-Tales should be (and eventually will be) rated as a whole.
Rating: 
Ox-Tales Air | July 2009 | £5.00 | PAPERBACK | 208 PP | ISBN: 9781846682612
About Rob
I think it’s great that authors donate their work to causes like Oxfam, but I’ve found the collections produced tend to be 4 stars out of 5. Do you think it’s a better bet to go with straightforward anthologies?
Charles Dickens produced a book like this for the widow of a contemporary writer back in the day. It was a common way to raise funds when a writer died without a substantial estate. Dickens’s book was called The Picnic Papers. It’s a fun collection to read 150 years later but it’s got the same four stars out of five problem.
says:
CB – Great to hear from you. Collections vs anthologies? Well provided one is a fan of a particular writer then there is a good chance it could hit a score of 5 out of 5, a score that is a lot more attainable than for an anthology which is so subjective, and so hit and miss that, as you say (kind of) a 5 out of 5 is a complete pipe dream.
Surprisingly (or probably not) I’ve never heard of ‘The Picnic Papers’ but then again I’m not a big fan of Dickens so that’ll be why. Regardless it seems rather endearing.
Warmest
Rob
P.S. I’ve not forgotten that little job I was doing for you