***May Read-A-Short-Fiction-Collection Challenge

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***May Read-A-Short-Fiction-Collection Challenge

Tämä viestiketju on "uinuva" —viimeisin viesti on vanhempi kuin 90 päivää. Ryhmä "virkoaa", kun lähetät vastauksen.

1avaland
huhtikuu 26, 2010, 9:56 am

I think there's been a bit of a resurgence of interest in short fiction in the last decade (or maybe I'm just hanging out with some cool readers!) and thus the May challenge:

Read a single author collection of short fiction during the month and post your review and / or comments here.

For those of you accustomed to reading short fiction, here's just another excuse to dig a volume or two out of your TBR pile. For those not accustomed to reading short fiction, here's an opportunity to try a different form of fiction perhaps a collection by your favorite novelist, or perhaps a collection from an author who is known primarily for their short stories.

So, PLEASE JOIN US in reading the collection by single author of your choice (as opposed to an anthology: a collection by multiple authors).

2timjones
huhtikuu 28, 2010, 4:09 am

I am up for this (confession time: although I have had two short story collections published, I don't read as many short story collections as I should - I'm much more likely to read anthologies).

I shall probably choose either Tiny Deaths, by Robert Shearman (UK), or Ephraim's Eyes by Bryan Walpert (US/NZ).

Now, if only I can finish the April challenge in time...

3Cait86
huhtikuu 28, 2010, 7:50 am

Yay! I love short stories, and I have an Atwood collection to read (surprise, surprise). I think I might buy Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies, as I loved Unaccustomed Earth, and have been meaning to read it for ages.

4avaland
huhtikuu 28, 2010, 3:52 pm

>2 timjones: We'll save anthologies for another time:-)

>3 Cait86: Hmm. I could happily reread an Atwood collection. Anytime!

I admit to using this challenge as an excuse to buy yet another collection. Any excuse to buy another book is a good one. Guess, it will be a bit of an adventure to see which ones I am able to get to!

5Nickelini
huhtikuu 28, 2010, 4:29 pm

I'm in . . . I have a few collections set aside and I'll decide which one when I've finished the books I'm reading now.

6Mr.Durick
huhtikuu 28, 2010, 4:36 pm

I have started both the Library of America volume of Carver's stories and the Everyman's Library of Maugham's stories, but I don't see how reading them all in a month could be anything but a forced event, a chore that goes against the spirit of non-professional reading, if you will.

I'm looking forward to the reflections by other people on their taking on a whole book of one author's stories.

Robert

7avaland
huhtikuu 28, 2010, 4:49 pm

>6 Mr.Durick: Well, I didn't necessarily mean a complete collection of an author's short fiction:-) That, as you observe, could be quite daunting (while some authors' entire collection of short fiction may fit in one volume, others may not - for example, I'm trying to imagine at the moment, the very huge volume that would hold all of JC Oates's stories!)

8Nickelini
huhtikuu 28, 2010, 6:29 pm

Indeed! I'm currently chipping away at The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde, and I'm sure it will take me the whole year. It's short stories, plays, poetry, essays (but I'm skipping the novel, Picture of Dorian Gray because I've already read it).

9kidzdoc
huhtikuu 28, 2010, 8:03 pm

I'll probably read either Everything In This Country Must by Colum McCann, or Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor.

10avaland
huhtikuu 29, 2010, 11:29 am

>9 kidzdoc: interesting pair of titles. Certainly you will read "everything" no matter which you read::-)

11dchaikin
huhtikuu 29, 2010, 12:38 pm

Avaland, nice challenge. I was going to skip this one, but since you mentioned it, it has stuck in the back of my mind... and then I started looking at some of my neglected titles...maybe...I mean I should...

12kiwiflowa
huhtikuu 29, 2010, 3:47 pm

For the challenge I will read Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. I've had a brand new copy sit on my bookshelf for almost a year now. Plus it won the Pulitzer last year so it must be good.

13rachbxl
huhtikuu 29, 2010, 5:12 pm

Perfect timing, Lois - I'm right in the middle of The Interpreter of Maladies. Like you, Cait, I've been meaning to get around to it, having enjoyed Unaccustomed Earth, and I got it out of the library this week - a bit of light relief after my Lispector Trio for Belletrista (which included an excellent, if quite challenging, short fiction collection, Family Ties, should anyone be up for it).

14timjones
huhtikuu 30, 2010, 8:16 am

>7 avaland:, avaland: I have a one-volume complete collection of Borges' fiction - and another of his poetry. He's handy that way.

15avaland
huhtikuu 30, 2010, 10:43 am

I seem to have a fair amount of newish collections by authors I have not read anything from before, perhaps I shall be adventurous....

16stretch
huhtikuu 30, 2010, 12:39 pm

I'm in for this one. Considering I'm already Half way through John Connolly's short story collection Nocturnes and I just picked up Joyce Carol Oates The Museum of Dr. Moses.

I'm starting to come to the conclusion that I'm getting a little lopsided on the dark stuff.

17janemarieprice
huhtikuu 30, 2010, 2:22 pm

12 - I'm reading Olive Kitteridge right now so I'll be posting my thoughts on that as well.

18Nickelini
toukokuu 1, 2010, 10:43 am

Okay, it's now May and I picked a collection: Ethan Frome and Selected Stories by Edith Wharton. I started it last night and so far I think it's great. I have only ever read one short story by Wharton before ("Roman Fever"), and I really liked it, so I thought I'd try some more.

19akeela
toukokuu 1, 2010, 11:19 am

I think I'll also be pulling Olive Kitteridge off the shelf this month.

20charbutton
toukokuu 1, 2010, 12:56 pm

I'll probably use this as an opportunity to read The Collected Short Stories of Jean Rhys.

21rebeccanyc
toukokuu 1, 2010, 2:02 pm

I've read a few collections already this year, but this may stimulate me to read my recently acquired Ivo Andric collection, The Slave Girl and Other Stories about Women or to reread some Flannery O'Connor, now that Darryl has reminded us how good she is, but probably not the whole The Complete Stories. And I have lots of other short story collections I've never read, or never read more than a few stories in, including collections by Gogol, Ivan Klima, S. Y. Agnon, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Turgenev, Chekhov, Andrei Platonov, Kundera, and more.

Author touchstones definitely not working!

22Cariola
Muokkaaja: toukokuu 9, 2010, 10:45 pm

I won't be able to start for another 10 days or so, but I will be reading Don't Cry by Mary Gaitskill. I'll be reviewing this for Belletrista, so my comments here will be brief. I've also got an interesting collection by Lee Smith at hand: Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger (which apparently has no working touchstone).

23Nickelini
Muokkaaja: toukokuu 6, 2010, 4:07 pm

I just finished Ethan Frome and Selected Stories, by Edith Wharton, which I highly recommend. A five star read, and now I'm off to add Wharton to my favourite authors list. In addition to the novella Ethan Frome, the collection also includes "the Pretext," "Afterward," "the Legend," and "Xingu."

If you've ever been to a book club meeting, I recommend you read "Xingu." It's widely available for free online.

24avaland
toukokuu 7, 2010, 5:16 pm

I'm working through a collection by UK author Padrika Tarrant callled Broken Things (no touchstone). They are wonderful weird. More later in the month.

25stretch
toukokuu 10, 2010, 9:49 pm

I finished Nocturnes by John Connolly, this was my first experience with John Connolly, and I think it was a really good place to start. Each story was so different, yet every one equally disturbing and scary. I especially liked how Connolly is able to use everyday scenarios and twist them into a dark and macabre tale of misfortune.

26bragan
toukokuu 10, 2010, 10:07 pm

So, I didn't read any poetry in April, and although I did, in the normal course of things, read some novellas in March, I kept just not thinking to post about them in the read-a-novella thread. But it suddenly occurred to me that I have read a short story collection in May, so I might as well crosspost my mini-review here and join the fun. So:

Deathbird Stories by Harlan Ellison: A collection of short stories, originally published in the mid-70s and loosely organized around the theme of "gods" -- literal and metaphorical, ancient and modern. They range from fairly simple stories which use SF or horror elements as obvious metaphors for modern problems, to strange, surreal pieces full of obscure, dreamlike imagery. With perhaps one or two exceptions, I don't think I'd place these among Ellison's best, but "not Ellison's best," really, only means that they're merely good, as opposed to leaving you feeling as if you've just been punched in the brain.

27avaland
toukokuu 11, 2010, 7:38 am

>25 stretch: I've got to tell you, stretch, that, in person, John Connolly is a really funny guy - he could do stand-up.

28dchaikin
toukokuu 13, 2010, 10:10 am

This thread inspired me to open a short story collection by Grace Paley (called Grace Paley : The Collected Stories. I've read two stories so far, and both have been fantastic. They are called "Goodbye and Good Luck" (1959) and "A Conversation with My Father" (1974).

29rebeccanyc
toukokuu 13, 2010, 8:08 pm

I read Memoirs of Hecate County by Edmund Wilson and I'm afraid the best thing I can say about this collection of five stories and one long novella by noted critic Edmund Wilson is that I bought it at a remaindered price. The narrator for all the stories is a 30- or 40 something art historian who lives both in New York City and the fictional Hecate County, presumably a Connecticut suburb, in the 1920s and early 1930s. Although this was certainly a lively time, most of the stories present intellectual arguments about art, publishing, music, or politics, rather than introducing interesting characters in interesting situations; some even have supernatural touches. The novella, "The Princess with the Golden Hair," is notorious, because it got the book banned when it was published in 1946 due to what now seem tame descriptions of female anatomy; it is better than the stories in its presentation of characters from various walks of life but, unfortunately, they all seem designed to be symbolic, rather than real people, and i couldn't work up any sympathy for any of them, including the rather obtuse narrator. I ended up skimming the final two stories after the novella.

This is one of the very few NYRB books I have read that was a real disappointment.

30Cariola
toukokuu 15, 2010, 7:35 pm

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin.

This intriguing collection of eight interconnected short stories by Pakistani writer Mueenuddin provides insight into the lives and minds of a variety of characters, all of them somehow connected to K. K. Harouni, a wealthy landowner in Lahore. Here, it seems that everyone is struggling to get ahead, to get a life that just is a little better, or simply to stay afloat. A cook leaves her drug-addicted husband to become the second wife of the upper cook--who never tells his family of their marriage. An aging farmer buys a bride (a beautiful but mentally challenged young woman who can cook), only to find her disappear one night. A modern, Princeton-educated young woman, tiring of her fast life in the city and looking for meaning after surviving an automobile accident, marries a man devoted to the family farm. For these characters and others, every step forward inevitably ends in a step or two backwards. Mueenuddin's stories show a culture in conflict, rapidly moving into the 20th century while bound to the traditions of a feudal past. Cruelty and corruption abound, with women getting the short end of an already short stick. But there are also moments of love, of joy, of hope. Mueenuddin captures the atmosphere of modern-day Pakistan through his characters, each carefully drawn, and his sensitive, detailed writing enabling us to empathize with each of them. Overall, a lovely, if not exactly uplifting, collection.

31solla
toukokuu 19, 2010, 11:51 pm

#29 I read most of that a while back and now I barely recall it, except that it was very low key, and I didn't end up even finishing it - which is a bit unusual for me. I think I had him mixed up with August Wilson when I picked up the book, who I'd read one short story by that was quite good.

32Nickelini
toukokuu 20, 2010, 11:03 am

I'm reading my second short story collection for this challenge: the Bloody Chamber, by Angela Carter. This is a group of stories inspired by children's fairy tales, but this book is adult, very dark and moody.

33stretch
toukokuu 26, 2010, 7:12 pm

Finished The Museum of Dr. Moses by Joyce Carol Oates. Started out with a Bang but so became a drudgery. Some of the early stories were fablous. But the longest story about a Boxer and child that suffers a psychotic break were by far real let downs. Otherwise it was a quality read. Probably not the best introduction to Oates. I do, however, think that Oates is capable of exploring the dark side of human nature.

34kiwiflowa
toukokuu 27, 2010, 12:29 am

Nickelini I have the same book lined up for my next read! It's my first Angela Carter book but I have a feeling that I'm going to be a fan.

35Nickelini
toukokuu 31, 2010, 12:25 pm

Well, I managed to get two books in for this challenge (The Bloody Chamber and Ethan Frome and Other Stories). Are we doing anything in June, or taking a break before the Orange July?

36Cariola
toukokuu 31, 2010, 1:21 pm

I finished Don't Cry by Mary Gaitskill--don't want to say much about it because I'm reviewing it for Belletrista. While a rather mixed collection, most of the stories are very intense, and Gaitskill is a powerful writer.

37avaland
kesäkuu 8, 2010, 1:11 pm

Sorry, read in May but just getting around to the review now.



Broken Things: Stories by Padrika Tarrant

This collection of 19 very short stories, blends the surreal with the psychotic, the whimsical and the wacky, the real and the unreal, in sketches of people - mostly women - often doing some pretty crazy things. The stories/sketches are both tender and touching, yet disturbing, and I found that, despite their short length, I could only read a couple of these at a time.

Tarrant writes wonderfully and her prose is full of wonderful metaphors and imagery. Her first paragraphs are masterful—drawing you immediately. Here's three examples:

"Until today, I always pushed a pram, just in case I find a baby. People lose them all the time, don't they, so the chances are some day I'll get lucky and pick one up."

"The night bus splits the city lengthwise, leaving ribbons of road that are jumbled with the haunches and elbows of houses. It isn't dark, not among these blinkless, brainless streetlamps."

"They came to Mrs. Hope at dusk. The messages was for her along, although plain enough for anyone to have seen it: in the middle of the weather forecast, the girl said that a few front was coming. Coming, she repeated, and she looked right through the screen at Mrs. Hope, to make sure that they understood one another."

Thing is, you are never really sure where she is taking you! Her stories and characters often walk a fine line between reality and fantasy and it's a slippery tightrope. I don't agree with the comparisons to Angela Carter, but I think I understand why they make the comparison. Ironically and perhaps unexpectedly, her stories brought to mind some of Joyce Carol Oates stories of mentally-ill or deranged people that I'd read this year, although the Tarrant's style couldn't be more different.

It will be very interesting to see where Padrika Tarrant takes this talent, because I just might want to follow.

38timjones
heinäkuu 11, 2010, 6:33 am

At last, I can report on my May short story collection challenge book:

Though I thought Bryan Walpert's poetry collection "Etymology" was very good, his short story collection Ephraim's Eyes didn't grab me to the same extent. The stories are very well written, but I felt that, too often, the plots of the stories were contrived for an emotional payoff, rather than arising organically from the premises (usually interesting, and sometimes science-fictional) from which the stories begin.

I should clarify that: stories are contrived, or else they wouldn't be stories, but the contrivance got in the way for me with several of these stories.

So they weren't quite my cup of tea, but other readers and reviewers speak highly of this collection - it is definitely worth checking out.

For a contrasting opinion, check out this very positive review:

http://mary-mccallum.blogspot.com/2010/06/extraordinary-storytelling-of-ephraims...