richardderus reads stories in 2026

Hello. I'm Richard, as you'll have guessed. I've been a very voracious reader of stories over the years, and a poor record-keeper so often I don't remember the ones I've read...until I accidentally re-read them. My 2013 thread in this group is evidence of my forgetful habits.

2026 is a fresh start. I'll post over 500 total reviews in 2025, All linked somewhere in my most-used thread. If I've got that kind of energy, it stands to reason I can keep up record-keeping on stories, culminating in #MayIsShortStoryMonth. Below this post I'll keep a master list of stories/collections/anthologies I've read with links to their reviews updated to appear in the post.

The links will look funny because the system I use for tracking reviews is an annual-numbering by categories...Pearl-Ruled or quit reading at a certain point with notes on *why* being the review; concise reviews called "Burgoines" that track the mouldering mound of ~meh~ mid basic not very interesting that filled some time but... and then the normal reviews. For example: 1 (323) Igifu in >3 richardderus: below; my first review posted here, my 323rd full review posted on LT, and the title.

I'm part of the 75ers here, the chattiest group on the site by far every year. Feel free to jump in with comments, anecdotes, dis/agreements, whatever you'd like to say. Be polite or I block you. Be rude to others and risk being bounced from the group.

May is #ShortStoryMonth in the US. As is my habit, I will address each story's merits (or lack thereof) using the Bryce Method, named after my old Goodreads friend Bryce; it involves going tale-by-tale through all of the collection/anthology's stories, offering my take and rating by their individual merits. The collection/anthology as a whole then gets an overall rating based on its gestalt...did it hang together? was it supposed to? are these meant to address a theme, and did they succeed?...which I default assume you kinda suss out from the individual takes. If that's not the case for some reason, I'll provide an explanation of my thoughts. Reviews will be tallied separately under the hashtag in this post. They'll also count into my annual total I track in my 75ers thread, which is why you'll see a parenthetical number on each review; I won't post it when linking here.

I'm starting early because I want to. After all, read this little post from an OG founder of the celebration:

May is the month for a special focus on the short story: why we love it and why everyone should be reading them. April has had poetry (since 1996), so in 2010 we declared May the month of the Short Story.

Rebel status suits me.
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1 Igifu in post #3.

1 (323) Igifu by Scholastique Mukasonga (tr. Jordan Stump)

IGIFU by the Rwandan refugee Literary star SCHOLASTIQUE MUKASONGA & translated by Jordan Stump via Archipelago Books gets all five stars from me, no notes.