I love literature. Recently I've become more engrossed by short stories, particularly the themes and ideas that an author can convey in a few pages as opposed to a few hundred. Until a couple of weeks ago my favorite piece was by Hemingway called "Hills Like White Elephants".
A couple weeks ago I found my new favorite piece:
For sale: baby shoes, never worn.
He was challenged to write a 6 word short story, and, in my opinion, this is the best short story ever written. I'm sure most of you understand what it means. So I'm curious, what are your favorite short stories? Or the ones that hit you right in that dark spot we sometimes call a heart?
EDIT: So the above short story might not be by Hemingway (evidence points towards that fact). Still a pretty cool one, and a bunch more in the thread.
For some reason The Girls in their Summer Dresses by Irwin Shaw has always been one of my favorites. A story about how you can be faithful/love who you are with but still have eyes for every single girl that passes you by.
"When I think of New York City, I think of all the girls, the Jewish girls, the Italian girls, the Irish, Polack, Chinese, German, Negro, Spanish, Russian girls, all on parade in the city. I don't know whether it's something special with me or whether every man in the city walks around with the same feeling inside him, but I feel as though I'm at a picnic in this city. I like to sit near the women in the theaters, the famous beauties who've taken six hours to get ready and look it. And the young girls at the football games, with the red cheeks, and when the warm weather comes, the girls in their summer dresses . . ." He finished his drink. "That's the story. You asked for it, remember. I can't help but look at them. I can't help but want them."
I can't say Rikki-tiki-tavi is really my thing, but The Girls in their Summer Dresses, just read it and that is something I can relate to for sure. For those who haven't: http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/dresses.html
Rikki Tikki Tavi.
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/k/kipling/rudyard/jungle/chapter9.html
DM,
Anything by Hemingway has a place in my heart. I've traveled all over the world and wherever I go, even though I have a Kindle now, I still take a collection of Hemingway's Short Stories with me. As far as other authors with short stories I like, Lovecraft, Poe and Neil Gaiman both come to mind. It really depends on the kind of Authors you like though. I've got a soft spot in my heart for Neil Gaiman because the first thing I read was Sandman (and if you haven't read it, it is one of the best comic book series there are. You'd be shocked that it's a comic book considering the writing) and I've been reading all of the books he's written ever since. Other than that, I really can't think of many authors off the top of my head who have written short stories.
I love Hemingway, I would for sure have his babies. Also, I definitely think a lot of the graphic novels don't get the credit they should. It's not really my thing, but they can be great pieces of art.
Love SoK, and I haven't read Shooting an Elephant, but I'll definitely check it out. I kinda like Orwell but I haven't read all that much of his work.
Snows of killiminjaro and to shoot an elephant! Also politics and the English language. Orwell is great.
on a more serious note, the only short stories i indulge in are the CLASSIC science fiction ones. all the sci crap nowadays are...crap. most of the classic ones have philosophical undertones and many of their twists and turns are truly genius and, should i say, works of art.
anyone read sci fi short stories from the classic and cyberpunk era like issac asimov, william gibson, walt shieldon, john finney, etc...? should google some stories by asimov and gibson...their story twists will blow you away.
The best short stories to me (because of how utterly deep and ambiguous they are) are those by Kafka. Also, Doestoevsky has some great short stories as I like his longer novels too.
Also this gem for you Hemingway freaks:
Faulkner on Hemingway; "He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary."
Hemingway response; “Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don't know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use.”
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
I think I'm going to record this and take care of myself later to it. :-p Can't say I'm a huge Faulkner fan
One for the ages, bro
I think I'm going to record this and take care of myself later to it. :-p Can't say I'm a huge Faulkner fan
Yeah, me neither. He's a great writer no doubt, just don't like what he writes about and it can be a little dry.
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad. The best novella ever, and part of the western canon
Einhorn vs Allied. ...until I realized we were talking about actually stories that were short, not stories about shorting...
Goodnight Moon!
BH... Fuck Goodnight Moon. Try Go The Fuck To Sleep!
http://www.youtube.com/embed/CseO1XRYs9I
The pit and the pendulum
Anything by Poe. He gets me.
Oh and all of David Foster Wallace short stories
Weird coincidence this was in the news:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2013/01/30/hemingway-didn-t-write-b…
Agreed on Kafka, will probably check out some of the ones mention. Didnt someone put up a link of a website that has downloadable books free a while back? I forget what it was.
Oooh, didn't see that, thanks for the heads-up. Either way, it's a great short story haha.
And there are a bunch of websites that offer ebooks for free, usually classics. Just Google it and you'll get a million hits.
Check out "Before the Law". Can't really remember the others I've read.
Think most famous is "The Cockroach"?
On it. Also found the site I was talking about - Project Gutenberg.
http://www.gutenberg.org/
Asimov, the one that ends with the word light :)
If we include novellas, then The Old Man and the Sea; The Open Boat by Crane; To Build a Fire Jack London
Short stories are sweet. You can get even more action and plot in a short number of pages than those dragged out books. So much more worthwhile and in many cases even better stories.
There are definitely others that I really like, maybe even better. But one that has always stuck in my mind is The Lottery. I always remember reading it the first time and being completely surprised.
The Veldt by Ray Bradbury. The song by deadmau5 isn't bad either.
Was actually just about to post that. Love Bradbury. Lovecraft is also great.
I had no idea that song came from a Bradbury short story, that's epic.
The Count of Monte Cristo unabridged
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