never read much. who and what should I be reading? authors, anthologies, lit mags? |
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Kafka, Hemingway (the Nick Adams Stories), Faulkner, John Irving, Sid Lea, Tim OConnor, Poe, hawthorne, yeah and there's some great short stories in the erotic literature section next to self help in Borders. |
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Also, seconding Shirley Jackson recs. |
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e x t r a s p a c e |
i've read one murakami short story. i don't remember what it was called, but it was in the new yorker years ago and it involved some sort of mysterious extra-dimensionality in a stairwell. i've read anthony doerr's "the shell collector", which i really enjoyed. i don't recall reading any other collections of short stories from cover to cover. i've read the obvious flannery o'connor (a good man is hard to find) and shirley jackson (the lottery) and faulkner (a rose for emily) stories, but that is all. |
Sherman Alexie -- Ten Little Indians would be a good introduction ("Whatever Happened to Frank Snake Church?" is my favorite story he's written), or The Long Ranger and Tonto Fist-fight in Heaven. Steven Millhauser -- The Knife-Thrower and other Stories or In the Penny Arcade. He's the only author I've met who can pull off writing extremely formal descriptions of things down to the tiniest detail and make it interesting. The last story in In the Penny Arcade, "Cathay," is a good example of this (you can read the first page here). Ray Bradbury -- any collection, but his older works are better. Look for The October Country (my favorite), A Medicine for Melancholy, The Illustrated Man, or even Dandelion Wine, which is basically short stories strung together into a novel by little narrative connections. |
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do i enjoy it, most of the time. but its not a destination for me. when i commuted 45min on a city bus and train, reading was awesome. i read lots. but when im at home, and needing something to do, it seems like a chore. i cant pay attention. maybe i need to take more bus rides i hate it though. feel like i miss so much. |