Sunday, April 27, 2008

Short Stories

I recently found myself in between novels, and, as usual, I was having a rather difficult time deciding which book I should move onto next. There are a bazillion novels that I know I should read (The Sound and the Fury, Anna Karenina, and Middlemarch sit unread on my shelf, their presence practically heckling), and then there are those I know I shouldn’t read but want too (I think we’ve all got those).

So what did I do? I skipped all of them, and instead went to the library and checked out a bunch of short stories.

As a result, I’ve lately been dipping into collections by Edward Jones, H.P. Lovecraft, Jorge Luis Borges, and P.G. Wodehouse. That’s a rather wide spread of styles, but that’s one of the reasons I like reading short stories – you can cover a wide swath of styles in a short time.

Each of the collections that I’ve been working through is quite strong. I’d recommend taking a look at these authors, if you get the chance. They’re worth a look.

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