I have always had a hard time with short story collections for two reasons -- 1) I am very task oriented and feel I have to complete books and 2) for some reason I think I can jump around in story collections. Reading your analysis of these three collections has changed the way I look at both these issues. I really like your suggestion to think of the stories as bedtime reading for a child. And I have suddenly realized that the stories are selected for their place in the collections for a REASON - duh! I tried out this new way of thinking with The Crane Wife which isn't exactly the same but close enough. It really helped me to get the overall theme and thinking of the author's work. Thank you! I really enjoyed reading your work and I love the way your mind work out your ideas through your fingertips on the keyboard. Keep up the conversations! We love it.
My birth year - finally! I loved this one. I have not bought a short story book in years until your enthusiasm around this genre and Lauren Groff. But I did read tons of short stories in my teens and 20s in magazines. Mademoiselle always had excellent selections in what was otherwise a fashion magazine for young women. Now I read online newspapers - maybe the NYTs should run short story selection. At any rate, as always, you make me want to read all these books. I don't need a through line or theme, just if each story is able to grab me. I think it is very spot on to suggest perhaps we need to think of short story books as something we read slowly, digesting each selection as we go - rather than trying to devour the book like a novel. Excellent suggestion!
I've been behind in life and therefore behind in reading your newsletter.
Short stories are the heart of my love of fiction. I absolutely think that they're not meant to be read in one setting. Interacting with more "bookish" internet people has altered my reading habits negatively, but I think speed reading is probably the most consistently destructive habit. Short stories, like poetry, are often better when taken in slowly. Literature, like so many other things, is bending to compete with shortening attention spans. Page numbers dwindle. Thoughts and ideas make themselves smaller.
I love short stories! I think to create a whole universe in just a snapshot is way harder to do than to write a novel. My favorite short story writers are Raymond Carver and Joy Williams. I do like collections that feel cohesive and have a voice. I need to go back to Flannery O'Connor. Thanks for all your research-- I hope it's as fulfilling for you as it is for us to read and think about. And I think to have complicated feelings about artists is truly a gift. To go beyond the binary and think and change and form different opinions is wonderful. Despite all I didn't learn in school I think being taught to think critically was the one great take away. Take care!
I have always had a hard time with short story collections for two reasons -- 1) I am very task oriented and feel I have to complete books and 2) for some reason I think I can jump around in story collections. Reading your analysis of these three collections has changed the way I look at both these issues. I really like your suggestion to think of the stories as bedtime reading for a child. And I have suddenly realized that the stories are selected for their place in the collections for a REASON - duh! I tried out this new way of thinking with The Crane Wife which isn't exactly the same but close enough. It really helped me to get the overall theme and thinking of the author's work. Thank you! I really enjoyed reading your work and I love the way your mind work out your ideas through your fingertips on the keyboard. Keep up the conversations! We love it.
My birth year - finally! I loved this one. I have not bought a short story book in years until your enthusiasm around this genre and Lauren Groff. But I did read tons of short stories in my teens and 20s in magazines. Mademoiselle always had excellent selections in what was otherwise a fashion magazine for young women. Now I read online newspapers - maybe the NYTs should run short story selection. At any rate, as always, you make me want to read all these books. I don't need a through line or theme, just if each story is able to grab me. I think it is very spot on to suggest perhaps we need to think of short story books as something we read slowly, digesting each selection as we go - rather than trying to devour the book like a novel. Excellent suggestion!
I've been behind in life and therefore behind in reading your newsletter.
Short stories are the heart of my love of fiction. I absolutely think that they're not meant to be read in one setting. Interacting with more "bookish" internet people has altered my reading habits negatively, but I think speed reading is probably the most consistently destructive habit. Short stories, like poetry, are often better when taken in slowly. Literature, like so many other things, is bending to compete with shortening attention spans. Page numbers dwindle. Thoughts and ideas make themselves smaller.
I’m DYING that these came out at the same time! O’Connor AND Welty! As I get older and re-read O’Connor, I’m blown away by her.
I love short stories! I think to create a whole universe in just a snapshot is way harder to do than to write a novel. My favorite short story writers are Raymond Carver and Joy Williams. I do like collections that feel cohesive and have a voice. I need to go back to Flannery O'Connor. Thanks for all your research-- I hope it's as fulfilling for you as it is for us to read and think about. And I think to have complicated feelings about artists is truly a gift. To go beyond the binary and think and change and form different opinions is wonderful. Despite all I didn't learn in school I think being taught to think critically was the one great take away. Take care!