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Short Story Appreciation Discussion - March 2024 (Patreon)

Published:
2024-03-14 21:10:13
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2026-06
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Dear Book Club Readers ---

Your comments in our last short story appreciation thread made for fascinating reading. So it would be wonderful to hear what short stories you are enjoying alongside your other reading this month.

Our short story appreciation thread is a place to mindfully check in and share what works of short fiction have resonated with us recently.

The best way to appreciate the magic of short stories is to dive into some great ones and start discussing your insights and impressions with others. So let us know:

What short stories are you appreciating at the moment?

Let us know anything that has resonated with you during your short story excursions:

  • Powerful subtext
  • Compelling themes
  • Resonant passages
  • Your favourite writers
  • Beautifully crafted lines
  • Complex character studies
  • Elements you want to examine
  • Stories you want to recommend
  • Reflections, musings, and insights
  • How the stories inform your wider reading

This is the place to put your short story appreciations and get other readers weighing in on your thoughts!

Short Story News

Ray Bradbury is one of the most loved short story writers of the twentieth century. Yet his debut short story collection Dark Carnival from 1947 has been out of print for decades. Until now. 

Today marks the date that a much-needed reissue of Bradbury's first collection is once again available (here). I pre-ordered my copy over a year ago and have been fervently awaiting its arrival. I'll be excitedly reading this volume from cover to cover. 

As Bradbury is on my mind, I would like to recommend one of my personal favourite talks from the great writer himself. You can watch him here discussing the short story form, prescriptions for writers, and also some wonderful reading advice.

Curated Short Stories:

I have also specially curated three stories for you to enjoy. This is, of course, completely optional. Don't feel like you need to read all three. I recommend sampling the opening lines, or the first few paragraphs, of each one and seeing which one pulls you in. Spend time with the story that most speaks to your heart.

My aim is to offer you short masterworks that will inform your wider reading. I love these works, and believe that being attentive to the themes, characters, and style of writing will prove to be very rewarding.

The short stories I would like to recommend for you are:

I would love to know what you make of the chosen stories. Which one did you focus on? Why did the style or theme resonate with you? If you read a different short story, let us know your thoughts on it. Or tell us about your favourite story.

All short stories can be found in the anthology That Glimpse of Truth, which makes an excellent collection for deepening your appreciation of the short story form.

Thank you so much for sharing your love of great literature with us.

Happy reading, everybody!

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Comments

Diane

I've read the Executor and read/listened to The Horla. Glad I listened to that one because I think it helped me stay engaged over the long story. Pretty wild. I liked them both but probably The Executor a bit more. Maybe it is the haunting by a family member and the personal nature of the experiences that felt eerier to me. From the comments so far, I'm not sure I am going to tackle the Pagan Rabbi right now. Sounds like a bit of a chore and I have plenty of other concurrent reading going on to keep me busy. I also feel like the King Lear lecture could drop soon so I really need to get to that.! Will likely get back to the final short story at a later date! So much to read, so little time!

Tatiana
>>132795995

How we juggle! I am pushing through the last third of Genji because I am going to Istanbul in May and want June to read Montaigne in French. I am alternating Genji with Faulkner and other Southern Gothic lit and criticism. Thanks for reminding me about Lear. I should carve out a day for that this week.

Vickie Kokkalenios-Prieto

I haven't read these. Unfortunately, I have been dealing with some awful oral surgery and the pain has made it difficult to focus, but my POINT is that I miss reading what everyone has to say and I miss sharing also.Ohhh, it's almost World Poetry Day. 21/3. Regards from NY! Vickie

Estella

So far, I have read The Executor - I enjoyed this one! I just started listening to The Horla as well. The haunting aspect of The Executor was really interesting. Having a loved one communicate through a book of sorts was intriguing and even creepy. I'm still trying to understand how this ties into the narrator's action or inaction regarding the completion of the manuscript. Maybe I missed something? Anyway, it reminds me of something I wrote about my paternal grandfather whom I never met. I wish I would have known him...but I wrote it through a voice that was compiled of my father's stories and my own interpretation of these stories as a way to know him, if that makes sense. Last week I read Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus and I enjoyed that one immensely. I am currently working on a personal writing/essay on the topic of Frankenstein (the Modern Prometheus), so this additional reading gave much more insight.

Jane

I read Claire Keegan’s latest short story , « Antarctica »last night it was good and chilling :) pun intended.

Kristen Egener Chaddah

What an excellent interview with Cynthia Ozick! I am deeply moved. Funny too that I have always said that I want my epitaph to read - “here lies Kristen. She tried.” 🤣 and Cynthia said she wants simply, “she tried.” Imagine that!

Tatiana
>>133221409

Oh Kristen, you are better than that, you didn't just try, you succeeded. How about nothing made me happier than literature?!

Mayelin Garcia

A little late, I am trying to read Benjamin’s short story recommendations, and so far I am done with The Executor” by Muriel Spark, and I loved it. It made me laugh a couple times, and also it reminds me my maternal grandmother, I don’t know why yet. Some people stay with us for a long time.

Emily Bowie

Other than standard questions like, what are the themes, symbols, etc. do you like to ask yourself during and after reading short stories? Looking for some interesting ideas for short story journaling.

Hannah

I've just read The Horla and am feeling a bit spooked! I found the style tricky, but did enjoy the diary format. It made me think of Dracula because of this form, as well as the dark and haunting aspects. I'm going to watch the linked video later. It was interesting to me how the narrator seemed to be coming up with elaborate explanations for The Horla coming into being, whilst clearly descending into madness. The theme of the body was interesting. Imagining The Horla as an invisible/formless being and what being "dead" would mean. This in contrast to The Executor where the haunting is communicated through writing in a book, and not really as physical being. I think I preferred Muriel Spark's style and the story. Maybe I'm biased being Scottish! I'm planning on reading The Pagan Rabbi over this weekend.

Hannah
>>133817976

I'm also just getting round to reading these recommendations. I find the stories nice to read on a weekend morning with a cup of coffee! I also really enjoyed The Executor and like Spark's humour. Lovely it reminded you of your grandmother :)

Helen Lyons

Just catching up on these - I have to say I liked the Executor - Muriel Spark always give that 'sting' to her stories. I usually like Guy De Maupassant - this was okay but I prefer some of his other stories.