This was my first experience reading Noon and I very much enjoyed it. The stories were thought provoking and wide-ranging. I thought it was particularly interesting to read the classic Katherine Mansfield story, BLISS, along with Christine Schutt's inspired writing in response. And the mixture of stories and art together made for a unique reading experience.

Having loved Noon 2022, I was excited to get my hands on Noon 2023, however my excitement was sadly short lived. I know collections of short stories can be hit or miss, and this one had a lot of misses for me. It wasn't completely without hope - I found myself particularly enjoying Susan Laier's contributions. On the flipside, Lydia Davis' "Undated Slips of Paper from the Wooden Box" was one of the most self-indulgent things I've read in a long while.
Here's hoping Noon 2024 gets things back on track.

Another excellent edition of NOON Magazine! I was pleased with the variety and quality of short writing, as well as the inclusion of the reprinted Katherine Mansfield short story with a piece by Christine Schutt that responded to it—a dialogic move I haven't seen in a literary magazine before. I also loved the Lydia Davis diary excerpts (that seem to be landing everywhere, including the summer's Paris Review,) but I feel like the NOON editorial people are more attuned to find the best ones. The one line Marc Tweed story was also a standout. Every page is absorbing, which says a lot!

I was offered and ARC of NOON 2023 and was looking forward to exploring the experimental titbits put into this year's edition. Unfortunately I found myself a bit disappointed when compared to last year's NOON as there didn't seem to be anything in particular that stood out or caught my interest. With this kind of publication, these kinds of things are very hit and miss depending on your personal taste and this edition was just not for me. As a creative writing student, the most useful section was the interview with Christine Schutt discussing her story written in response to Katherine Mansfield's "Bliss" (although she does say that it was not her initial intention) .

I had never encountered NOON before, and this has been a wonderful introduction to thoughtful writing and visual art (drawings, paintings, and sculpture). Writers in NOON 2023 include Brandon Hobson, Kathryn Scanlan, Lucie Elven, Christine Schutt, Susan Laier, and others.

I particularly enjoyed the snippets from writer and translator Lydia Davis’s wooden box—a kind of commonplace book, which is always a fun thing to peruse. I also enjoyed the interview with Christine Schutt about her story, The Life of the Palm and the Breast, which was written in response to Katherine Mansfield’s Bliss.

Although there are some rather confrontational pieces in here (fiction, and visual art), I found that most of the writing left me pensive, which is my favourite post-reading mood. I also enjoyed the various visual breaks very much.

Recommended!

Thank you to NetGalley and to NOON. Inc for this ARC.

Weird and surprising, but I would expect no less in a collection edited by Diane Williams. Stories tend to be short but not light; this is content that will stick with you. Like other reviewers, I think the Lydia Davis story is the highlight, but there's something to be enjoyed about each one. I wouldn't have known to look for this if Merve Emre hadn't tweeted about it, so thanks, Merve, and thanks to the publishers for giving me a chance to read it.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher NOON Inc. for an advanced copy of this this new annual collection of writers and artists.

William Shakespeare once wrote "Brevity is the soul of wit".This quote is actually about the length of some of the stories in this annual literary review. And like the quote these stories carry quite a lot of meaning, even a powerful emotional wallop of two. Edited, as NOON has been since the annual's founding in 2000 by writer Diane Williams, NOON 2023 features many new names, many familiar writers and artists in a magazine that is both quick to read, and yet stays long in the memory.

NOON 2023 features about forty writers, some with multiple stories on different themes, and artists working with paints, computers, photos and more. Most of the pieces are short, sometimes a few lines, sometimes a page or two. My favorite piece by Lydia Davis is actually long for her. Excerpts from a Journal is a wonderful bit of writing featuring short ideas and snippets collected from an idea journal, kept in a box. NOON 2023 also features hurt clowns, love gone real bad, or real good. A few stories have women being picked up, physically by people, a literary theme I for one never saw coming. A few are angry, which considering the times make sense, and one is about eating Grandfather, thought that is probably metaphorical. A few are very silly, but good, some are short but seem much longer. The problem with collections is that not everything ever agrees with a reader, but this is a very strong collection of varied works.

NOON 2023 is mostly fiction, with a few essays, a book forward added. All have a strong point and a definite goal, maybe the size of the selections give the writer more focus. None of the stories really strike out, and some stay with the reader after the e-reader or tablet is turned off. I enjoyed, as I wrote earlier, the Lydia Davis story, but I am a big fan of Davis so that is expected. Lucie Elven was another writer who I was unfamiliar with, but after reading I have become quite enamoured with. The writing, the style of Elven really made her work stand out, and will be looking for more. There are also two photos that even now in typing this I have to stop and think about again, as on first glance that did not seem that special but keep coming to mind with even more details. Others might find these photos ehh, but to me I honestly can't stop thinking about them, and in a good way.

A very good collection, one I enjoyed more than I have the last few Paris Reviews. The stories, though short, have a lot of meaning and a lot to thought behind them. For readers who enjoy short stories, or flash fiction, and for readers who always want to find new authors. There are quite a few writers here that deserve much more attention.

Noon 2023 edited by Diane Williams is worth reading for Updated Slips of Paper from the Wooden Box by Lydia Davis.

I absolutely loved reading this book. I was completely drawn into the topic and could not stop reading it.