Never too Late to Read Classics discussion

Short story selections will work the same for 2024 as they have for 2023 - QUARTERLY.

Every QUARTER we will read a COLLECTION of short stories by ONE AUTHOR. The collection as a whole should have an original publication date no later than 1974, 50 years ago, as per group guidelines.

Please suggest an author whose short stories you would like to read with the group next year. Please also provide a title of a collection of short stories by that author. Linking the book through Goodreads' add book/author option is super helpful for everyone. (wink, wink.) If you're unsure about the group having already read short stories by the author, please refer to our Short Story Classics section for recent reads and the Archive Short Stories section for past reads. Suggestions need at least 3 votes to be added to the schedule.

Suggestions (& votes):

1. XXXX - Father Brown: Selected Stories by G.K. Chesterton

2. XXXXX - Dance of the Happy Shades by Alice Munro

3. XX - Odessa Stories by Isaac Babel

4. XX - This is Not a Story and Other Stories by Denis Diderot

5. XXXX - Selected Short Stories by Rabindranath Tagore

6. XX - The Queen of Spades and Other Stories by Alexander Pushkin

7. XXX - A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories. by Isaac Bashevis Singer

WINNERS (Posted December 1, 2023):

1. XXXX - Father Brown: Selected Stories by G.K. Chesterton

2. XXXXX - Dance of the Happy Shades by Alice Munro

5. XXXX - Selected Short Stories by Rabindranath Tagore

7. XXX - A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories. by Isaac Bashevis Singer

Samantha have we read any from Eudora Welty? I was thinking about her A Curtain of Green and Other Stories.

The other one I was thinking about was Gerald Durrell's Marrying Off Mother: And Other Stories.

Lesle, we read some of Welty's stories in January of 2022. Durrell is new to the group, though, as far as I can tell!

Samantha I thought that sounded to familiar.

I will suggest Durrell's than. I loved the show The Durells in Corfu.

Yes, I think Durrell an excellent candidate.

I vote for Lawrence Durrell, too.

Quick question for those familiar with Durrell. GR shows the original publication date of Marrying Off Mother as 1980. I Googled it and found 1991. Does anyone know if these stories were actually published before that within our range 1974 or before? Thanks!

I'd like to put forward The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories by H.P. Lovecraft.

Samantha wrote: "Quick question for those familiar with Durrell. GR shows the original publication date of Marrying Off Mother as 1980. I Googled it and found 1991. Does anyone know if these stories were actually p..."

Probably not. I will look into it. Some of his work is and others are not. Sorry. I'll check and make another suggestion if not.

It's fine, Lesle. We all make mistakes. That's why we check behind suggestions. I saw he has at least a couple collections that are within our timeframe.

Would anyone be interested in Father Brown Selected Stories] (1903) by G.K. Chesterton instead of Durrell's stories?

Samantha wrote: "It's fine, Lesle. We all make mistakes. That's why we check behind suggestions. I saw he has at least a couple collections that are within our timeframe."

Oh which one are those? Maybe we could do that instead?

Mike wrote: "I'd like to put forward The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories by H.P. Lovecraft."

In 2020 we did a Lovecraft reading and discussing his stories as they wished. That is found under our archive horror section here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Since we are only doing quarterly reads for short stories, before repeating Lovecraft with a specific collection, it'd be best to see new authors of short stories we have not read yet as a group. Your suggestion will be revisited, though, depending on how many suggestions come in!

Lesle, upon further research, it looks like Gerald Durrell's other collections that I saw with earlier publication dates are actually nonfiction... The New Noah and Fillets of Plaice. He also has a number of explicitly nonfiction titles that are within our timeframe... if you want to plop any of those or one of the other titles I left here in another suggestion thread. ;)

Father Brown: Selected Stories by G.K. Chesterton works well! I'll add it.

I'd like to suggest one of these two books of short stories by Nobel Prize winner, Alice Munro that it into our time period:

Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You (1974)
Dance of the Happy Shades (1968)

Samantha wrote: "Lesle, upon further research, it looks like Gerald Durrell's other collections that I saw with earlier publication dates are actually nonfiction... The New Noah and [book:Fillets of P..."

Thanks Samantha for helping out with my non-researched suggestion. Lol!

Kathy, either collection by Alice Munro would work. Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You was even published as early in 1974 as possible - January 1st! I see that Munro won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013, too, which is even better. Do you have a preference on which book or you're up for either?

You're welcome, Lesle!

From Kathy's suggestion:

I would like to support Dance of the Happy Shades it contains 15 stories set on farms, by river marshes, in the lonely towns and new suburbs of western Ontario.

Sounds very interesting, Thanks Kathy!!

Since Lesle has supported it, I'll go with Dance of the Happy Shades.

Kathy wrote: "Since, Lesle has supported it, I'll go with Dance of the Happy Shades."

Thanks Kathy I have heard of her but do no have any of her works. I put it on my wish list in hopes we get more support!

suggestions/votes updated in msg 1

Would anyone be interested in reading stories by Isaac Babel?

He was born in 1894 in the Russian Empire, and died there in a prison in 1940, so all his work meets the date requirement.

The volume that caught my eye was Odessa Stories. Vice magazine described it as having language "reminiscent of Dashiell Hammett."

The blurb for the 2016 Pushkin Press translation:

"In the original Odessa Stories collection published in 1931, Babel describes the life of the fictional Jewish mob boss Benya Krik - one of the great anti-heroes of Russian literature - and his gang in the ghetto of Moldavanka, around the time of the October Revolution.

Praised by Maxim Gorky and considered one of the great masterpieces of twentieth-century Russian literature, this is the first ever stand-alone collection of all Babel's narratives set in the city, and includes the original stories as well as later tales."

JenniferAustin wrote: "Would anyone be interested in reading stories by Isaac Babel?

JenniferAustin, I'm adding this as a suggestion now. Yes, it fits within our timeframe. Also, this group has a tendency to enjoy Russian writers.

We still need at least one more suggestion for short stories and some votes. Please feel free to add a suggestion of your own and/or vote on those already suggested.

I vote for the Dance of Happy Shades.

Vote recorded, Luis. :)

My choice is to This is Not a Story and Other Stories

Suggestions updated. We have 4 suggestions, but we could have more. The goal is to have 4 suggestions for our quarterly reads that get at least 3 votes.

I suggest Short Stories from Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore

He received Nobel for Literature in 1913 for Geetanjali. I think his books will be easily available.

And I suggest The Queen of Spades and Other Stories
by Alexander Pushkin

Nidhi wrote: "I suggest Short Stories from Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore

He received Nobel for Literature in 1913 for Geetanjali. I think his books will be easily avail..."

I'm intrigued by the Rabindranath Tagore nomination.

An issue I'm having is- I did a quick search for that book on Amazon and I don't see that one exactly. I see a number of different ones called Selected Short Stories. Many of those are shown on Goodreads as different editions of the book you linked, but I'm having a hard time believing they're all the same book/different editions because the number of pages varies from 132 to 336. The one you linked has two hundred something pages. And as I mentioned the title is slightly different. And I haven't yet come across any listing the names of the stories to compare that way...
What do you think of a Penguin classic version, which may be easier to find? Like this: Selected Short Stories.

They all have similar stories, may be different translators. Like one edition is Kabuliwala and other stories, all editions have Kabuliwala story.

Nidhi wrote: "They all have similar stories, may be different translators. Like one edition is Kabuliwala and other stories, all editions have Kabuliwala story."

Ok, I imagine we can make it work.

I support Tagore

I support Tagore, too. I think I have one or more books by him.

Not read it but Stone Boy by Gina Berriault sounds interesting.

Has anyone read this?

Samantha wrote: "In 2020 we did a Lovecraft reading and discussing his stories as the..."

Ah, not long before I joined this group, should've done my homework. Oh well, I can always add to the existing conversation.

I'd like to vote for Pushkin and Chesterton.

Nidhi, I went ahead and linked the Penguin Classics edition of Rabindranath Tagore just to show that his stories are found in a common publisher's book that might be more easily found by those interested.

Bjcs wrote: "Not read it but Stone Boy by Gina Berriault sounds interesting.

Has anyone read this?"

Stone Boy seems to be its own novella or short story, and our goal here is to have a book that compiles a collection of short stories by one author. The story itself IS within our timeframe, though.

I use Fantastic Fiction a lot as a book resource and see that Gina Berriault does have a collection within our timeframe: The Mistress and Other Stories. (Reference: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/gi...) Stone Boy might be included. GR does not much information on any of the three records for it, which makes me wonder if finding the book could prove difficult.

Votes & suggestions are updated.

I would like to suggest A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories by IB Singer. it won the National Book Award in 73

Added, Jeremy! Thank you.

Thanks Samantha! I should also add that he also won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

I just read some articles to learn about this writer. Quite curious now and happy to support Singer :)

Thanks Samantha! all makes sense. Maybe one not to gi with if tricky to get hold of.

I would like to support Jeremy's suggestion of A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories.


Thanks Samantha for the Fantastic Fiction link.

Votes updated.

I first learned about Fantastic Fiction when I started working in a library. It's a great resources for fiction works. If a fiction author has also written nonfiction, the site will often show those titles as well.

I support

G.K. Chesterton
Isaac Babel
Denis Diderot
Isaac Bashevis Singer

I have read Dance of the Happy shades so i will read Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You by Munroe. Does it count as support for Munroe?

I’ll support Munro.

I support G.K. Chesterton and Isaac Babel.