Another lovely read, Matthew, Melissa. William Trevor one of my favourite short story writers, and Süskind’s The Pigeon possibly my favourite short story (although I get lost where the short story classification ends and the novella begins!). And 100% with you, Melissa, on Sarah Winman’s wonderful ‘Still Life’: such a special book and rich story.
Sarah’s wife is a photographer friend who I know loosely and it takes all of my self-restraint to not be a complete fan-boy in the few messages we exchange! Such a beautiful book. There are several lovely podcast interviews with Sarah where she talks about the book.
Matthew and Melissa, I loved this, great piece! Melissa, this is totally my experience with short stories, even including your thoughts on The Lottery. I reread it last year but it has been stuck in my brain since high school which was 40 years ago. I’m looking forward to checking out many that you recommended and your Substack as well. Thank you!
While we read short stories in our english and literature classes, the format only gripped me in the published anthologies and periodicals featuring short science fiction stories - of which I was a much bigger fan.
Wonderful! Thank you for this post. I also loved “The Lottery” when I read it. It’s one of those stories that stays with you forever. I used “The Tell-tale Heart” as teaching material in one of my English classes, and I think I enjoyed it even more than the students 😅
How fun that you get to introduce students to Poe and other authors! That's amazing — and some day, when they're an old lady like me, they'll be talking about how cool you were to teach them "The Tell-Tale Heart."
As soon as I saw Melissa was all in on ‘Still Life’ I was hooked … we know Sarah (and her talented wife, Patricia Niven, the food photographer) and her books are among our absolute favourites. We are planning a Europe-wide (3-month) interrail trip this Autumn and we’ll be Florence bound with ‘Still Life’ and ‘Room With A View’! Anyhoo, to short stories … I thought I was in the ‘no short story’ club but I’ve relished - Claire Keegan ‘Small Things Like These’, Nan Shepherd ‘The Living Mountain’ and the wonderful ‘Peaks and Bandits’ by Alf Bonnevie Bryn. Lovely piece, Melissa.
How fun that you know Sarah! I have her other books on my TBR — what a writer! Story level, sentence level... all of it. Your rail trip sounds amazing. Florence! How lovely! The universe owes us a trip there. We had one planned for March 2020 :-( Such a beautiful city; I hope you have a fantastic adventure!
Coincidently, we’re starting our trip in Scandinavia where we were meant to be heading in April 2020! Unfinished business. And Florence will be a second go for us. We were a bit overwhelmed by it way back in 2013 … we’ll do better this time!
Another lovely read, Matthew, Melissa. William Trevor one of my favourite short story writers, and Süskind’s The Pigeon possibly my favourite short story (although I get lost where the short story classification ends and the novella begins!). And 100% with you, Melissa, on Sarah Winman’s wonderful ‘Still Life’: such a special book and rich story.
Ooooh, 'The Pigeon' sounds so good! I loved 'Perfume.' Thank you for that recommendation.
I had *such* a book hangover from 'Still Life.' I think about the family's annual trip to the island ALL THE TIME. So much love in that book.
Sarah’s wife is a photographer friend who I know loosely and it takes all of my self-restraint to not be a complete fan-boy in the few messages we exchange! Such a beautiful book. There are several lovely podcast interviews with Sarah where she talks about the book.
Wonderful piece. I’m a lifelong fan of “The Lottery” and had to read the Finney story right away. It’s a stunner. Full text here. https://www.lakes.k12.in.us/cms/lib/IN01001338/Centricity/Domain/325/Contents%20of%20a%20deadmans%20pocket.pdf
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed 'Contents of a Dead Man's Pockets'! So good.
Happy Tuesday great read
Thank you! Happy Tuesday to you :-)
Thanks, Melissa and Matthew. This title is tongue in cheek, but the first story is required reading for any Poe fan:
The five greatest short stories ever written (the last two by substackers)
"The Sandman" by E. T. A. Hoffmann (1816)
https://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~rlbeebe/sandman.pdf
Poe’s principal predecessor and the inspiration for Freud’s essay on “The Uncanny”
"Inferno, I, 32" by Jorge Luis Borges (1960)
https://biblioklept.org/2013/05/31/inferno-i-32-jorge-luis-borges/
300 words never carried more meaning
“I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” by Harlan Ellison (1967)
https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/?get_group_doc=22694/1540157347-HarlanEllison-IHaveNoMouthandIMustScream.pdf
Predicting the AI apocalypse more than half a century ago
“Sea Oak” by George Saunders (1998)
https://barcelonareview.com/20/e_gs.htm
Bizarre (trigger warning), but hilarious and heartfelt
“What, of this Goldfish, Would You Wish?” by Etgar Keret (2012)
https://images.shulcloud.com/4182/uploads/Archives/WhatofthisGoldfishWouldYouWish.pdf
Speaks for itself
So many fun links to explore. Thank you for that!
Hope you enjoy at least some of them, Melissa. Thanks again, Mark
Matthew and Melissa, I loved this, great piece! Melissa, this is totally my experience with short stories, even including your thoughts on The Lottery. I reread it last year but it has been stuck in my brain since high school which was 40 years ago. I’m looking forward to checking out many that you recommended and your Substack as well. Thank you!
I'm so happy you enjoyed it... thank you!
Truly, just thinking about The Lottery makes my neck feel all tingly. What a writer!
While we read short stories in our english and literature classes, the format only gripped me in the published anthologies and periodicals featuring short science fiction stories - of which I was a much bigger fan.
Wonderful! Thank you for this post. I also loved “The Lottery” when I read it. It’s one of those stories that stays with you forever. I used “The Tell-tale Heart” as teaching material in one of my English classes, and I think I enjoyed it even more than the students 😅
How fun that you get to introduce students to Poe and other authors! That's amazing — and some day, when they're an old lady like me, they'll be talking about how cool you were to teach them "The Tell-Tale Heart."
As soon as I saw Melissa was all in on ‘Still Life’ I was hooked … we know Sarah (and her talented wife, Patricia Niven, the food photographer) and her books are among our absolute favourites. We are planning a Europe-wide (3-month) interrail trip this Autumn and we’ll be Florence bound with ‘Still Life’ and ‘Room With A View’! Anyhoo, to short stories … I thought I was in the ‘no short story’ club but I’ve relished - Claire Keegan ‘Small Things Like These’, Nan Shepherd ‘The Living Mountain’ and the wonderful ‘Peaks and Bandits’ by Alf Bonnevie Bryn. Lovely piece, Melissa.
How fun that you know Sarah! I have her other books on my TBR — what a writer! Story level, sentence level... all of it. Your rail trip sounds amazing. Florence! How lovely! The universe owes us a trip there. We had one planned for March 2020 :-( Such a beautiful city; I hope you have a fantastic adventure!
Coincidently, we’re starting our trip in Scandinavia where we were meant to be heading in April 2020! Unfinished business. And Florence will be a second go for us. We were a bit overwhelmed by it way back in 2013 … we’ll do better this time!
A very good read, with interesting points. Thank you Matthew & Melissa.
So glad you enjoyed it!