short and sweet pt 2

This post is an update, a follow-on from my last entry. 

So I've spent the month of September focussing on the reading of short stories. Short stories aren't my usual go-to choice of reading material. I don't know why, I think I may be secretly prejudiced against them, which I'll have to spend some time (in therapy) unpacking. I have read some great ones in the past, but I just don't reach for them when I need something to read. That may change now, however, following this exercise.

My intention this month was to read as many as I could. I aimed to read 20, because I didn't want to overcommit myself, so I was surprised when I just totted up my list and found I'd read 47, and I'm secretly delighted about that. I also wanted to read widely; work by lots of different authors, some I'd never read before, and in different genres, some I don't usually favour. That kind of happened, but the collections I had in my possession tended to focus on dead, white male writers, so I had to cast about a bit, and include non-fiction and also audiobooks to give me greater range. I even sneaked in a couple of YA (Young Adult) graphic novels.

What I did decide should be a hard and fast rule was that the short stories I read should be short short stories. Some I discovered, call themselves short but run to novella length. I wanted stories of no more than 5 or 6 pages. In short, I wanted 'em short.

Was it a good, fun, interesting exercise? On the whole, Yes it was. I enjoyed many of these stories (a couple I would like to return to), and I'd like to read more work by certain of these authors. I also read work in genres that I wouldn't usually dip my toe into (Romance, Fantasy) as it's often a good idea to step outside my usual comfort zone. Of course, some of these stories I didn't care for very much, and one or two (I won't name names) I thought were badly written. But all things considered, I'm really pleased with my efforts, it was time well spent, and great research for my own short story writing endeavours.

Here, then, is a list of all the stories I read, listed alphabetically by author's first name, from Alice to Zelah.

Alice Oseman - Heartstopper Vol2 and Vol3

Alphonse Allais - The Polymath

Amy Hempel - Reference #388475848-5

Anton Chekhov - Murder Will Out

Anton Chekhov - Overseasoned

Anton Chekhov - The Malefactor

Anton Chekhov - Little Jack

Anton Chekhov - Lean And Fat

Anton Chekhov - Champagne

Beverly Farr - Something Worth Keeping

Cathy Retzenbrink - Darts

Chris McCrudden - Shy Bairns Get Nowt

D.D. Parker - Quiet On Set

Eben Bova - The Cafe Coup

Edwidge Danticat - New York Day Women

E.M. Forster - Ansell

E.M. Forster - The Torque

Fanny Fern - Aunt Hetty on Matrimony (A)

Geraldine Evans - One For The Boys

Jack Kerouac - New York Nite Club

Kenneth Graham - A Little Place Off The Edgware Road

Kit de Waal - The Things We Ate

Maggie O'Farrell - Spine, Legs, Pelvis, Abdomen, Head

Maggie O'Farrell - Neck

Maggie O'Farrell - Lungs

Maggie O'Farrell - Whole Body

Maggie O'Farrell - Neck

Maggie O'Farrell - Abdomen

Maggie O'Farrell - Lungs

Margaret Atwood - In Search of The Rattlesnake Plantain

Margaret Atwood - The Sunrise

Meilin Miranda - Non Si Muove

Mollie Panter-Downes - Good Evening Mrs Craven

Olive Schreiner - In a Far-Off World (A)

Paul DiFilippo - And I Think To Myself What A Wonderful World

P.D. Singer - Reading Material

Quinn Richardson - Mechanical Advantage

Ruth Nestvold - Embracing Sorrow

Samuel White - A Visit To Charlotte Cibber

Sarah L. Carter - Deadly Beauty

Thea Atkinson - Of Piss And Tobacco

Tony Bertauski - What I Wasn't

Virginia Woolf - The String Quartet (A)

W. Somerset Maugham - The Luncheon

W. Somerset Maugham - The Escape

Zelah Meyer - Mab

(A) = Audio Book

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