All About Books discussion

I figured that we should have a thread where people can discuss short stories that don't fit the seasonal theme.

I recently finished a reread via audiobook of some very funny short stories by P.G. Wodehouse -- Very Good, Jeeves!. This might be a good place for people to try Wodehouse if they have never read his books before.

I'm reading a connected book of shorts, actually the last book written by this author, Points North: Stories by Howard Frank Mosher

At the moment I'm listening to Twice-Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Really interesting and well written

LauraT wrote: "At the moment I'm listening to Twice-Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Really interesting and well written"

Are you listening to a LibriVox recording?

Leslie wrote: "LauraT wrote: "At the moment I'm listening to Twice-Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Really interesting and well written"

Are you listening to a LibriVox recording?"

Yes. By Bob Neufeld

LauraT wrote: "Leslie wrote: "LauraT wrote: "At the moment I'm listening to Twice-Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Really interesting and well written"

Are you listening to a LibriVo..."

I decided to get read a few more of these stories this month. Maybe I will listen to them as there is a free audio edition!

I am reading a collection of short mystery stories - John Thorndyke's Cases. This is the second book in the Thorndyke series.

I read Very Good, Jeeves! last year (my first Wodehouse book) and really enjoyed it. I’m starting several short story collections (authors- PKD, Ben Bova, and Don Delillo) and will comment more when I decide which one to stick with! I’d like to read all of them but, realistically, I probably won’t! 😬 My experience with short story collections is that I read a few that appeal to me. Unless I’m counting it for a challenge, I don’t usually finish the book, unless it’s amazing.

Pam -- I really liked The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick Volume 1: The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford. Is that the collection you are trying out? If not, which one is it?

I am reading some more Wodehouse short stories, this time in a library book called Plum Pie. It seems to have a little bit from most of his major series so far - a Jeeves & Wooster story, a Blandings Castle story, a Ukridge story, a golf story... no Psmith story yet though.

I was a bit amused by the fact that many of these stories were first published in Playboy magazine!

Leslie wrote: "Pam -- I really liked The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick Volume 1: The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford. Is that the collection you are trying out? If not, which one is it?"

I think it’s the same one but with a different title/packaging - Paycheck and Other Classic Stories By Philip K. Dick. 25 tales from1952-1955. I’ve read 1 of the stories before, using the Serial Reader App. I’m planning on reading a lot of SF this year and sampling different authors.

I am reading a book consisting of a novella and six stories. I thought I should mention it here. It looks to good to miss: Where the Rivers Flow North

Those sound good, Chrissie.

Will be starting All the Names They Used for God: Stories.

Well, the first two short stories said nothing to me.

I have started another book of humorous short stories, this time by Saki -- Improper Stories.

Sounds interesting Leslie!

Have started The Largesse of the Sea Maiden

As I was going through my house, in attempt to declutter, I found a short story collection that I forgot I had but want to read. However, it is not listed in GR and has no ISBN! It's a collection of three stories by Russian author Vsevolod Garshin, titled Last Translations Three Stories published by Colorado Quarterly. Does anyone know how to get it added to GR since it has no ISBN?

Also, has anyone read anything by this author? The GR metadata states that he is "considered one of Russia's masters of short fiction." I have never heard of him! And, I have no idea where I came by this book. It's a mystery!

Is it not this book Last Translations. Three Stories?

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

You can add another edition if you want, if your copy is paperback for example...

Leslie wrote: "Is it not this book Last Translations. Three Stories?

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3..."

That is it, Leslie! Thank you. I swear it was not there yesterday. I queried by title and by author. I wonder if someone added it, after I asked about it in a Librarian Help thread.

Pam wrote: "Leslie wrote: "Is it not this book Last Translations. Three Stories?

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3..."

That is it..."

Probably it was added by someone then.

Leslie wrote: "Pam wrote: "Leslie wrote: "Is it not this book Last Translations. Three Stories?

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3..."..."

I looked back at my thread and someone did add it for me! I think I will read it this week, since it’s there now!

The Snows of Kilimanjaro is marvelous. I wanted to share my enjoyment of it with you. There is a link to the story free online in my review.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I stuck in a short storyThe Nightingale and the Rose by Oscar Wilde

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I just stuck in a short story by Stephen Crane--The Blue Hotel. I read it because I very much enjoyed the author's The Open Boat.

My review of The Blue Hotel:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I did NOT like it at all.

Read this short story:Arrangement In Black and White by Dorothy Parker. She wrote for the New Yorker. It will not take you more than five minutes. It is marvelous.There is a link to the story in my mini-mini review.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

While I was reading Emma, I got a bit bored and needed a break. I stuck in a short story by W. Somerset Maugham--Up at the Villa. It's good. It makes you think. Here is my very short review of the story: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... There is a link in my review to the story free online.

Reading Last Stories.

I stuck in a short story by Zora Neale Hurston--Spunk.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Starting June 3, 2018, several of us will be discussing it under my review. There is also a link to the story in my review.

Have started a book of shorts Awayland

When I was exasperated with a book I was reading, I stuck in a short story by the author, Jhumpa Lahiri. Here follows a link to my review of The Boundary:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
It contains a link to The New Yorker where it is accessible to all.

I have listened to two short stories by Jamaica Kincaid:

*Girl
*Wingless

Both are read by Edwidge Danticat

I have a link to them on the net in my review.

My review of the two stories: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

This short story "Sweat" by Zora Neale Hurston, is VERY good.

I have provided a free online link to the story in my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Starting Ayiti by Roxane Gay

I found some more free "flash fiction" from The New Yorker.

https://www.newyorker.com/books/flash...

I stuck in a short story today: The Story of the Girl Whose Birds Flew Away.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I have completed The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick. My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I have provided a link to it in my review. Everyone should read this in some format.

Pam wrote: "As I was going through my house, in attempt to declutter, I found a short story collection that I forgot I had but want to read. However, it is not listed in GR and has no ISBN! It's a collection o..."

How interesting Pam! I have not heard of this author either. As far as adding, maybe ask this in the "Ask the Librarians" thread? Hopefully one of our librarian members will be able to help.

Greg - Someone from another group added it for me. I still haven’t read it, though! I’ve gotten so caught up w reading books on the Great American Read List that everything else has fallen by the wayside! On top of that, I just created a personal 5 year challenge to read 60 authors before 60. (I don’t know what I’m thinking!) If I ever get around to reading any of my short story collections, I will come back to this thread and discuss them! The one I will most likely read this year is The Island: Three Tales by Gustaw Herling. The author is Polish but the stories are set in Italy.

Pam wrote: "Greg - Someone from another group added it for me. I still haven’t read it, though! I’ve gotten so caught up w reading books on the Great American Read List that everything else has fallen by the w..."

Glad you got someone to add it Pam - and that Polish author sounds interesting too! Both of my grandparents on my mother's side emigrated from Poland.

Another VERY good short story, this time Alice Walker's Everyday Use.

My very, very short review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

As usual, I put a link to the story free online in my review.

I tested Alice Munro with her short story The Shining Houses.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I will try one more; if that fails me, I will call it quits.

I just received a GR giveaway for a short story collection titled Half Gods by Akil Kumarasamy!
Being a bird lover, I love the cover!

It is a "startling beautiful debut". I will have to give it a read, once I finish my stack, and see if I agree with that statement! Thanks to the publisher Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

Pam wrote: "I just received a GR giveaway for a short story collection titled Half Gods by Akil Kumarasamy!
Being a bird lover, I love the cover..."

Congratulations Pam! :)

Pam, can you read a book of stories one after the other? I absolutely cannot!

Nice that you won a free book!

Chrissie wrote: "I tested Alice Munro with her short story The Shining Houses.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I will try one more; if that fails me, I wi..."

Alice Munro didn't work for me either. I've read a collection of short stories by her a few years ago but didn't like them a lot because I had the feeling something was missing, a feeling of incompleteness. It was as if she wasn't able to go in depht with the characters analysis. The stories also hadn't a real start and a real ending. I had a weird feeling reading those stories and some were also boring.

Pam wrote: "I just received a GR giveaway for a short story collection titled Half Gods by Akil Kumarasamy!
Being a bird lover, I love the cover..."

Congratulations! It's a long time I don't enter a giveaway because there is nearly nothing for people outside the USA or UK. I also don't like the rule that you must add that book in your to-read list in order to win a giveaway.
But when I won one in the past, I was too curious to start it so every other book was put aside to start reading the giveaway.

dely, this is interesting! Many of us seem to dislike Munro. I will try one more I have a link to, but I am not optimistic.

I have a book of Munro stories also, which surprisingly I haven’t read yet! I’m now curious to read a few of the stories to see what I think, after seeing some of your comments.

Chrissie, I don’t read a lot of short stories, even though I have quite a few collections. My approach, unless it is a GR giveaway that I’m reviewing, is to skim through and read ones that look interesting. They are so hit-or-miss for me. Hypothetically, yes I can read one after another! Have I ever done it? No. The one Collection that I absolutely loved and is one of my favorite books is the The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu.

Chrissie wrote: "dely, this is interesting! Many of us seem to dislike Munro. I will try one more I have a link to, but I am not optimistic."

Have you read Friend of My Youth? That is the one I have.