Then the dog tells me my truths and I forget what my question was. – Erin Morgenstern, The Dog Will See You Now
Have you ever wondered whether Erin Morgenstern, author of the popular book The Night Circus, wrote anything else? I did. Unfortunately I found out that after her debut novel in 2011, Morgenstern hasn’t published any new books. But there is a silver lining: while looking around on her website I found her project called ‘Flax-golden tales’.
The tales, 261 in total, consist of a photograph by Carey Farell accompanied by a 10-sentence short story written by Erin Morgenstern. The project has now ended, but you can read the complete collection of tales here.
The stories are funny, endearing, horrible and estranging. Morgenstern manages to capture a full narrative in only a few sentences of fresh and original writing. The topics vary from light anecdotes about talking animals and road signs, to imaginative musings about life in general. Most tales leave you with a slightly unsettled feeling of a meaning that you could not quite grasp.
Some of the tales are definitely more inventive than others, but they are all worth checking out. Here are two of my favourites to start with:
What do you think?
Another Night of Reading 