We talked a bit about short stories/essays today, and I was wondering if anyone could recommend some? I find them fascinating. This is due to me having to study Joan Didion for IB English, in a class in which everyone, for some reason,
despised her work. I realized I loved it. Another short story that fascinated me in - Salinger's "Hapworth", which is just an absolute mess. I believe it was the last thing he published (it was published in
The New Yorker) and he was clearly going a bit mad. It literally makes no sense. It's great. It's awful, but it's utterly
fascinating. I just remembered it the other day.
ALSO- in writing this, I just remembered this WILD short story called "All Summer in a Day." Ray Bradbury. Did anyone read it in school? I remember having to look up what the word "tumultuous" meant when I was reading the story.
(Found it, if anyone's interested:
http://staff.esuhsd.org/danielle/English%20Department%20LVillage/RT/Short%20Stories/All%20Summer%20in%20a%20Day.pdf
In retrospect, it was way more shocking when I was in 7th grade. I credit a lot of my interest in literature to this story.)
What short stories have you guys read? Anything of interest?
Hi! I also love short stories. My recommendations would be Vampires in the Lemon Grove, a collection of stories by Karen Russell, and I always pick up the yearly "Best American Short Stories," and I more recently picked up "Pen America Best Debut Short Stories 2017" which features one of my favorite stories I've ever read: State Facts for the New Age by Amy Sauber.
ReplyDeleteHey Brooke, when I hear the phrase "short stories" the first person I think of is Kurt Vonnegut. I think his short stories, collected in the book "Welcome to the Monkey House" are a great read. The collection "Drown" by Junot Diaz is also good—this was his debut work, so it really expresses his perspective of the Dominican-American identity head on. "The Dead" by Joyce is a classic, and of course so is "Of Mice and Men" by Steinbeck. Both of these short stories have absolutely influenced my own writing, so I highly recommend them.
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