Short Stories
 

As I get older I find myself reading shorter novels and collections of short stories instead of trying to motor through a 600 page book. I just finished Stephen King's Bag of Bones and really loved it and will definitely be going to find more of his stuff. I've also read a few of Vonnegut's collections and they were fantastic too. Any reccomended books or authors I can keep an eye out for? Anything semi Vonnegut/King would be great but I'm open to just about anything that won't put me to sleep.

Check out the Bachman Books.

As a lazy intellectual, short stories make up some of my favourite works. Anything by Joyce Carol Oates or Flannery O'Connor is worth your time. A few other favourites

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The Bees by Dan Chaon
The Hunger Artist by Franz Kafka
Turn of the Screw by Henry James (more of a novella but whatever)
1408 by Stephen "Absolute Hack" King


And for fun I'd like to redisclose that Ray Bradbury is an on-the-nose technophobe with a boring writing style.

^^ thanks I'll definitely be getting some of those if they have copies. It's a second hand bookstore so it can be hit or miss but they have alot.

PDFs of all of them except for the Turn of the Screw (I only assume it's not up because of the length) can be found pretty easily online if you're okay with that mode of reading.

I prefer physical copies but I can dig it.

Ask Ori for some of his stuff. 100% serious. Guy's gonna be huge some day.

Etgar Keret's collections seem just what you're looking for. I dig his flash fiction style, the Vonnegut-esque breaking of the fourth wall, and the melancholic whimsy in each story. Highly recommend The Bus Driver Who Thought He Was God, The Nimrod Flipout, and The Girl On the Fridge

Edit: he's best known for his story Kneller's Happy Campers which was adapted into the film Wristcutters: A Love Story

I guess Dostoevsky's out. :laughing:


You probably have read them but Kafka and Edgar Allan Poe are great short storytellers. I also picked up Vonnegut's God Bless You Dr. Kevorkian. That book made me smile. Also, if you like sardonic humor, check out the Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce.

I adore Kafka's shorts, The Hunger Artist being my favorite. Oscar Wilde and George Orwell also have some great ones (Shooting the Elephant has always haunted me).

Also David Sedaris if you'll accept creative nonfiction recs.

Well they had less than I thought but I did pick up these before giving up.


I'll check out the others you all mentioned on amazon. Looking forward to some of these. Ori, can you PM or post some of your writing? I'd love to read it too. :yeah:

I dunno if you're interested but I've a lot of short stories too, if you want to read any...
:shycouch:

Of course! Send me your favs.

I loved the Metamorphosis by Kafka. I also especially liked the Penal Colony.

^ I read your comment, rubber soul, and saw dreadnaught's photo of recent acquisitions and noticed something strange: in Britland, Kafka's short story never gets a "The". People might ask, "Have you read Metamorphosis?" because that's its published title in the UK.
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Something much lighter than Kafka are the stories by Trollheart's fellow countryman, William Trevor. This is not a list of his stories, it's a list of his books of stories, so multiply by about ten to get an idea of how many he wrote in his life:-

https://image.slidesharecdn.com/will...?cb=1335037051

I haven't read the collection below, but the cover gives a clue to the world of William Trevor, in which old people, lonely secretaries, and other humdrum individuals are described with an exquisite affectionate charm as WT unveils their moments of passion or doubt. If the dated, the bittersweet, the melancholy appeal to you at all, you'll enjoy his stories. They always leave me with a warm, uplifted feeling because they re-affirm something that I believe irl; that the lives of unassuming people are just as valid, just as interesting, as the lives of the world's brash go-getters:-

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VH6KTkA-CM...n-the-side.jpg

+1

Really fun reads that are easy on the brain. I wrote a couple of short stories 30 years ago inspired by King that I can email to anyone interested. They're in PDF format.

Shoot me a PM.

Kings stories would make great films but with the recent track record of movies based on his novels I'm not holding out for anything lol. the Jaunt in particular is a favorite or Mrs. Todd's shortcut... very Big Fish/Benjamin Button-y.

I liked 1408 but not as much as the short story. His writing in that one is really interesting and the ending is too predictable for him to **** up like he always does.

Did you see Gerald's Game?

Nah, the last thing I saw was Dark Tower.:rolleyes:

I'll check it out though

It's one of the most intense movies I've ever seen tbh. Still my favourite movie of 2017.

I like the sound of that. Is it streaming anywhere besides the dark interwebs? I'll definitely watch if so.

It's a Netflix original film.

Hell yas. Thanks for the suggestion.

Super intense. Really liked it.

Let me know if this works. Sorry, all I have is scanned copies.

http://docdro.id/7PyC44j

http://docdro.id/vEwu5Is