Happy Thursday everybody!
Today is another book chat link up with Sweet Green Tangerine and the prompt is: What are your favorite short stories/novellas? Have you ever written a short story?
I'm not an actively huge fan of short stories (in that I don't seek them out), but I do enjoy them as a genre. Humor-wise, I really enjoy David Sedaris as a short story writer. I think he is witty and brusque in an entertaining way, however, I will put a BIG DISCLAIMER here that some of his stuff goes too far in the inappropriate/adult-content areas for my taste. I have definitely started a story and skipped over bits. I do enjoy his writing so it's a catch-22 on that one.
Secondly, for classically awesome short stories, I go to Holmes. Doyle's Sherlock Holmes short stories are fantastic and intriguing in a way that few people can accomplish today. There is a reason they're a classic and why people are still making them in to TV shows and movies…Doyle was brilliant and his short stories are so cool. (Sidenote—if you're looking for an incredibly adaption of Holmes to add to your Netflix list, I would strongly suggest the BBC's Sherlock. It is a modern adaption but they stick to some of the old story lines and it is very well acted. You'll love it.)
Regarding my own foray into short stories…yes, I have written several. Most were for class assignments either in high school or college (BA in English Lit…kind of inevitable), but I have tried a few just for fun. I don't think I ever set out to write a short story so much as try to write something really good and run out of plot ideas around the page count of a short story—which far demonstrates my lack of creative writing skill more so than my feelings for the genre. Haha
So what short stories have you really enjoyed? And come join the link-up today!
I have heard tons about Sedaris and I've been wanting to try it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up again!!
I've tried one Sedaris collection before and didn't really like it, but I've been meaning to try another. He's more an essayist than a short story writer though, isn't he? I thought his stories were more like personal memoirs? Maybe I'm completely wrong haha.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE everything Sherlock Holmes. Great suggestion.
Maria - yes, I suppose Sedaris is more an essayist, but I'm going to pretend it's close enough to be the same. :)
DeleteIf you haven't yet, you should listen to David Sedaris read some of his work (I think he is usually the voice for his audio books), it makes it so much better. At Christmas I always listen to his Santaland Diaries and I also recently heard one of his excepts from Me Talk Pretty One Day, and was laughing for most of the story!
ReplyDeleteI love his voice! I've been trying to get to one of his live reading events for ages but I can never seem to find the $. He is hilarious and I've been meaning to read Santaland Diaries. Thanks for the reminder!
DeleteI definitely forgot about the collections of short stories I've read when writing my post for this week (e.g. Me Talk Pretty One Day). I was a little late, but I finally linked up today if you want to check out my favorite short stories! Most are from high school reading assignments.
ReplyDeletehttp://megancstroup.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-book-chat-short-stories.html