The Literate Kitty

I'm a fan of protein bars. You can grab one, throw it in the microwave for a few seconds (or not), and wolf it down—keeping your blood sugar up and the hangries at bay—in a couple minutes, flat. Short stories, to me, are the protein bars of the reading world. When life is too crazypants to devote (or even have ) the time and concentration a novel requires, a collection of such is nice to have on hand; select a quickie, dive into it on your lunch hour, Uber ride, or when you crawl into bed but aren’t quiiiite sleepy enough to turn your brain off, and voila, you've entertained your brain.  No, a short story isn’t my favorite thing to read… but sometimes, it's a good option. (And, in some cases--think Stephen King, or Edgar Allen Poe--it  can even be a brilliant art form, letting an amazing tale unfold in an almost-unbelievably short space.) So, when I saw that Norwegian mystery/thriller writer Jo Nesbø had a new book of shorts out—around the busy holiday season, no les