Hello everyone, my name is Meg, and this is the inaugural post of a little blog I like to call The Denver Bibliophile. This summer I’ll be taking you through the ins and outs of that oldest, greatest form of entertainment—reading. Check back every week for book recommendations, tips on the best places to get your reading fix, the low-down on Denver’s best bookstores and more.

For my first post I’ve decided to share one of my all-time-favorite books: “Stranger Things Happen” by Kelly Link. I was actually introduced to this book in a creative writing class with author and creative writing guru Laird Hunt during my sophomore year, and I’ve reread it several times since. (On a sidenote, I highly recommend taking a creative writing class with Laird if you get the chance. You won’t regret it). Here are the details on the book:

Title: “Stranger Things Happen”
Author: Kelly Link
Pages: 266
Genre: Speculative Fiction
Available At: Anderson Academic Commons, Denver Public Library, Amazon

“Stranger Things Happen” is a collection of short stories that crosses regularly from the normal to the paranormal. Each story is about 20 pages long, making this collection perfect for readers who can’t commit to a 300-page novel; you can read it story-by-story or all in one sitting. It’s not just for fans of fantasy or horror, either—Link glides effortlessly from genre to genre, and each of her stories evokes something larger than the supernatural in a way that is wholly undefinable. In fact, the best thing about “Stranger Things Happen” is that it forces you to think deeply about the characters and stories within it—and just what the heck all of it could possibly mean.

Of all of the short stories found in the book, one of my personal favorites is “The Specialist’s Hat.” In this story, a pair of twins named Samantha and Claire live in an old house called Eight Chimneys with their newly-widowed father. As their father spends his days writing about the poet who mysteriously vanished from the house years ago, the girls pester the house’s caretaker and ponder the difference between grey and gray, or dead and Dead.

One day, their father leaves them with a babysitter—an unprecedented occurrence—and she teaches Claire and Samantha about the Specialist in the attic and his unusual, noisy hat. The babysitter seems to know more about the house than she should, and in the end the twins learn more about the Specialist than they had ever intended.

If that sounds vague or a little bit confusing, it should. Each of the 11 short stories in Link’s collection are marked by ambiguity and un-canniness, and as they come to an end, you’re left with the feeling that perhaps the story is going on without you somewhere. Many left me with an uneasiness in the pit of my stomach, while others left me wanting to laugh while not exactly knowing why.

One such story is “Travels with the Snow Queen,” in which the classic fairy tale princess gives up on waiting for her prince and sets out to find him herself, letting her bare feet lead the way. The story is written in second person, inserting the reader into the point of view of the protagonist to give it an uncomfortable yet familiar quality.

Link’s writing in “Travels with the Snow Queen” is witty, thought-provoking and beautiful. Some lines are introspective and effervescent, like “You have heard of other travelers whose maps are breadcrumbs, whose maps are stones, whose maps are the four winds, whose maps are yellow bricks laid one after the other. You read your map with your foot, and behind you somewhere there must be another traveler whose map is the bloody footprints that you are leaving behind you.”

Others are candid and even humorous: “Ladies. Has it ever occurred to you that fairy tales aren’t easy on the feet?”

Link vacillates smoothly between serious and silly, horrific and humorous, and always leaves the reader slightly unsure of what they’re feeling. But that’s the beauty of her writing; literature is meant to reach outside of what is known, forcing us to question what we do know. And at this, Link is a master.

“Stranger Things Happen” is a book that will make you wonder. Though this may not make it perfect for reading on the beach, it’s certainly perfect for keeping your intellectual side stimulated during the summer vacation. It’s also great for non-committal readers, since you can read one story at a time and put the book down for as long as you’d like in between. So if you’re looking for an engaging, refreshing summer read, pick up a copy of “Stranger Things Happen.”

If you read and liked “Stranger Things Happen,” check out these similar books: