I’m pretty excited about the Short Story Challenge because I always complain about not reading short stories. Oddly enough, one of my favorite reads is the short story collection Strange Pilgrims by Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez. Yet I have to wonder what stops me from reading more? I think it’s just that I prefer a longer length of narrative. I want to spend hours with the same characters and being carried away to another time or place.
Still, a good short story can be powerful indeed and with this challenge I hope to read more in the genre and learn to appreciate short stories better.
Kate has several options for the challenge and I’ve decided to go with Option 5 which is the custom option. I plan to read four short story collections plus six individual short stories throughout the year. I am not sure which individual stories I will pick so those I’ll add as I read them but they’ll probably come from one of the Best American Short Story books. As for the four short story collections, here they are:
- After the Quake by Haruki Murakami
- Open Secrets by Alice Munro
- How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer
- Life Studies by Susan Vreeland
Many thanks to Kate for hosting the challenge and good luck to everyone participating!
Just finished After the Quake today and as a fan of Murakami I can’t praise it enough. I’d also recommend Ben Fountain’s Brief Encounters with Che Guevara if you still find yourself in a short story mood after the challenge. 🙂
I’m glad you are participating in this! It will be fun — I’m looking forward to reading more stories than I usually do too.
Glad to hear you are participating in this as well! 😀 Looking forward to reading your reviews on them.
I have not yet read After the Quake, but I’ve seen it praised many times. I’m glad you’re joining this one too, and I look forward to your reviews!
I have Runaway by Alice Munro on my shelf to read one of these days. I have heard she is a good short story writer.
I am a short story buff. If I read nothing else the rest of my life, I would be a happy camper, but like you, something still pulls me toward novels.
That’s a wonderful selection of short stories, iliana, and most of them I would never have thought of. That will make following your reading all the more interesting!
I joined! I couldn’t help myself!
Michelle – That’s great! I have enjoyed a couple of Murakami books so I am looking forward to this one a lot. And, I’m taking note of the Ben Fountain book definitely. I’m always so intrigued by Che.
Dorothy W. – I am also looking forward to seeing what everyone else is reading. Hopefully I can find a lot of great suggestions 🙂
Melody – Have fun with the challenge too!
Nymeth – I do think that will be an interesting read. Have fun too!
Literary Feline – I’ve not read any Munro so I’m looking forward to this book. I originally had chosen her collected short stories for one of my challenges but switched it out. That book is quite the tome and I’d rather start off with something smaller to see how I like it.
Brianna – Are you doing the challenge too then? That’s wonderful that you enjoy them. Do you find your short stories through lit journals or collections? I feel so out of my depth with short stories! 🙂
Litlove – I hope so! 🙂 I’m so glad I already had these books and they’ve been languishing on my shelves for too long so this is the perfect time to get to them.
Andi – Yay! I can’t wait to see your list.
I’ve heard How to Breathe Underwater is fantastic. I may have to get my hands on it! I joined this one too, since I want to read more short stories this year. Should be fun!
I loved How to Breathe Underwater. It was in my top 5 for 2006. Hope you enjoy it. I quite liked the Alice Munro collection I read in December, The Love of a Good Woman. I’m pretty sure I have another of hers around here somewhere.
What a good challenge. I just picked up a book of short stories by Sam Shepard (the actor and playwright) titled Great Dream of Heaven. I found it at Half Price Books and I was flipping through and read this one story that is basically a dialogue between two characters and I just found myself smiling and almost about to laugh out loud. You might take a peek at it and see what you think.
Heather – Yay, glad you joined too! Have fun!
Tanabata – Oh wonderful to hear. I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve not read any Munro before so I’m quite excited about that collection too.
Christine – I was thinking of you when this challenge came up! You’ll definitely have to keep me posted on the book. Stories that make you laugh or smile are a good thing 🙂