I've read The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, I liked it but very disturbing. Sarah, was not so gritty.
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I've read The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, I liked it but very disturbing. Sarah, was not so gritty.
Having just discovered this thread, I am continuously digging up old subjects. Hope you all don't mind.
Anyway, I love reading short stories from time to time. Here are a few collections and writers I have enjoyed in the past:
Basically anything by Raymond Carver who is, in my mind, the master of modern short fiction. My favourite Carver short story collection is probably What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Truly heartbreaking stuff, and one of the key works in the 80's dirty realism movement.
Black Ticket - Jayne Ann Phillips
Collected Short Stories - W. Somerset Maugham
Not The End Of The World - Kate Atkinson
Any short story collection by Joyce Carol Oates, especially the ones in the "Tales of the Grotesque" series
Doghouse Roses - Steve Earle (a dream come true for any diehard country fan; there are numerous references to Gram Parsons and the stories are filled with messed-up musicians that could easily be authentic ones)
Of course not, geek the girl! :D
I don't read short stories very often, but here's my feeble contribution:
Kafka's "The Hunger Artist"
Fitzgerald's "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz"
anything by William Saroyan
F*** that's obscure. He's sort of the literary equivalent of Cinema Paradiso. Exuberant but schmaltzy stuff. Give me Faulkner any day.Quote:
anything by William Saroyan
I've just read "Twisted" by Jeffrey Deaver and coincidently listed to a great radio interview with him yesterday. The book is excellent and as the title suggests each story has a twist. I'm a fan of these kinds of stories but I defy you to work out the twists. On rereading they are there but are so subtle that you'd never get them. Recommended!! :hiya
I love short stories... Here are a bunch of my all time favorites....
1. The Lottery- Shirley Jackson
2. Men with BIg Shoes - Shirley Jackson
3. Cask of Amontidillo- Edgar Allan Poe ( and THe Tell-tale Heart! , Ive loved these since the 5th grade!)
4. THe Necklace- Guy de Maupassant
5. THe Gift of the Magi - O. Henry
6. A Haunted House - Virginia Woolf
7. The Monkey's Paw - W. W. Jacob
8. Passion in the Desert - Honore de Balzac
9. THe Griffin and the Minor Canon - Frank Shelton (I think that is his last name...I cant remember! )
These are my all time favorites!!
Tallulah, I LOVE Poe. I have since I was a teenager. Also, ditto on The Gift of the Magi, The Lottery, and The Monkey's Paw. I read all of those in HS English. :nodQuote:
Originally Posted by Tallulahbaby
I don't know how recently this thread has been started or if anyone is still reading these posts, but as I've just come across it, I have to add that a great Canadian author is Alistair McLeod. His collection of short stories The Lost Salt Gift of Blood makes me cry every time.
I'm always after good recommendations. Thanks, owlie! What sort of stories does McLeod write?Quote:
Originally Posted by owlie
McLeod's stories are mostly set in Eastern Canada, usually Cape Breton Island. Most seem to revolve around the theme of a way of life passing. Mining used to be the main industry in Cape Breton and as the mines shut down, the younger generations need to leave to build a life. There's always the tension between wanting to leave and needing to stay or needing to leave and wanting to stay. Really heart-wrenching stories told with such simplicity that it's almost as if tragedy is just a matter-of-fact part of life. McLeod also wrote a novel called No Great Mischief that I thought was very good. I hope you get a chance to read some of his work!