Click-Clack the Rattlebag - Neil Gaiman - ★★★★.¼

-
AUTHOR: Neil Gaiman
GENRE: Short Story
PUBLICATION DATE: October 25, 2012
RATING: 4.25 stars.

Who better than Neil Gaiman to make writing suspenseful? His mastery is so visible in this tale. It's creepy and it's fantastic. And it offers a valuable lesson: don't make assumptions! 

This little story is hardly a few pages long but trust me, you will read it twice! The first time, in an offhand manner, and the second time, to locate all the clues you missed out on! Loved it a lot. Wish it were longer. I want to know what happened next!

The story is available online on many sites, but if you want to hear it from the MAN himself, check out this link.

Comments

Post a Comment

Explore more posts from this blog:

Ready Player One - Ernest Cline - ★★★★.½

-
Image
AUTHOR: Ernest Cline SERIES: Ready Player One #1 GENRE: Science Fiction, LitRPG PUBLICATION DATE: August 16, 2011. RATING: 4.5 stars. It's a rare occurrence in my life when I end up watching the movie without realising that it is a book adaptation. Now that I've read 'Ready Player One', I sure am glad that I watched the movie first! ( Be forewarned; the movie story is very different from that of the book. ) Imagine reading a book on baseball and you happen to be interested in sports but aren't an expert in baseball. You'll enjoy the book, no doubt. But there will be many terms that you can't understand and at the end, there will be a slight regret in your heart. You will start pondering, "if only I had some interest in baseball, I'd have enjoyed this book even more." That's me with 'Ready Player One'. 'Ready Player One' is a full paisa-vasool entertainer. The story is set in a dystopian 2045, where the world is in tumult aft...
Read More»

The Pink Umbrella - Amélie Callot - ★★.¼

-
Image
AUTHOR: Amélie Callot ILLUSTRATOR: Geneviève Godbout GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: January 2, 2018 RATING: 2.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A picture book that probably holds more meaning to romance-loving adults. Cute story but too rambling in the first half. Fabulous illustrations. It is officially aimed at kids, but I don’t think children will like this one. 🤔 Plot Preview: Adele runs a little café, offering it as a happy place not just for food but also for local small businesses to set up stalls. But she absolutely hates rain, so whenever it rains, she closes the café and stays inside under her covers feeling sad. Because she is such a good friend to everyone, someone decides to offer her kindness. One by one, they leave three items that will help Adele deal with the rain. All three objects are perfect for Adele in colour, style, and fit. But who is this mysterious friend trying to make sure that Adele enjoys a rainy day just as much as she loves the sunny ones?...
Read More»

The News from Dublin: Stories - Colm Tóibín - ★★

-
Image
AUTHOR: Colm Tóibín GENRE: Short Story Collection PUBLICATION DATE: March 31, 2026 RATING: 2.1 stars. In a Nutshell: A literary short-story collection by the acclaimed Irish writer. Interesting variety of characters and situations. A bit haphazard in plot development. Flat in character development. Bleak. Feels very lengthy because of the slow pacing and meandering structure. Disappointing endings at times. Didn’t work much for me. This collection comprises nine stories, a few of which have been published before in other publications. The stories are set across multiple countries, Ireland included. I had grabbed this collection mainly for two reasons. One, I have enjoyed a majority of the literary works written by contemporary Irish writers and want to explore more Irish fiction. Two, I liked one short story written by this author for Amazon Original Stories. ( ‘The Shortest Day’ ) However, this collection just wasn’t for me. For one, the 300 pages seem endless as each story is terribl...
Read More»

Doubles - Nora Gold - ★★★★

-
Image
AUTHOR: Nora Gold GENRE: Literary Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: May 1, 2026 RATING: 4 stars. In a Nutshell: A literary fiction novella about a young math-obsessed girl caught in an institution. Creative in concept, clever in execution. Dark and disturbing content. A few inclusions made me uncomfortable, though these might not affect all readers. Definitely recommended. Not for children despite the young protagonist. Plot Preview: 1968. A twelve-year-old girl is angry at being kept in a state-run children’s home. Every day, she waits for someone to come and take her back home. But why is she there? Why is she angry? The story is told to us in the unnamed narrator’s first-person point-of-view over a period of six months. I had encountered Nora Gold’s writing through the brilliant flip-book with two literary novellas, “In Sickness and In Health / Yom Kippur in a Gym” . I was impressed enough to know that I would read more of her works. This second encounter of her writing has mostly justified...
Read More»

The Word Collector - Peter H. Reynolds - ★★★★

-
Image
AUTHOR & ILLUSTRATOR: Peter H. Reynolds GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: January 30, 2018 RATING: 4 stars. In a Nutshell: A beautiful picture book about a boy who loves words. Cute story and illustrations, and loads of wonderful words. Recommended. Plot Preview: Jerome is fascinated by words and collects favourites from wherever he can. He is meticulous about organising his collection based on themes. But one day, after a little stumble, he learns that words don't necessarily belong to fixed categories, and that words from across categories can come together to create a whole new meaning. Should he keep this knowledge to himself, or share it with others? Recently, I read a picture book named 'The Gift of Words' , focussing on some beautiful words Jerome shares with others during the Advent season. When I learnt that it was a follow-up to this book, I knew I'd read this one as well. This is almost as cute! Jerome is a lovely boy in every way, as I...
Read More»