I appreciate you so much. Your dedication to bring us great book selections makes me so, so grateful. Every video of yours, I make sure to watch. My favorite “genre” to read is the short story collection / anthologies. Might I suggest some of my all-time favorites: Emerald City and A Visit From the Goon Squad - both by Jennifer Egan. Both have made indelible marks on me long after having read them. Another, One More Thing by BJ Novak (one of the actors and writers for The Office US) for a fun, disorienting experience. I also loved Tom Hank’s Uncommon Type, surprisingly. And Karen Russell’s St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves. Hope you can try any of them out and enjoy them!
Great recommendations! I love this type of video because it helps branch out my reading. I'm always looking for ideas for both short story collections and translated works. Thanks so much!
I need to read LOT because I read his short story that I think was published in the New Yorker and loved it xx My favourite short story collection is The Birds by Daphne Du Maurier very famous but I just loved each one ❤️ Thank you for your recommendations ... I always trust them and find the best books XXX
Some more for my TBR. Do you recommend reading short story collections all together or spaced out? I notice you recommend reading a story a night for some of the collection. Do you read from the first story in the collection or do you dip in and pick a story at random? These might seem stupid questions but I come from a novel reading background and would like to read more short stories. Liked and subscribed, btw.📚
Not stupid at all. I think we are all different. I always read a story collection in the order they have been put in the book. I believe the author did it for a reason, so I trust them. I also like to sprinkle in collections - I dont read them back to back for me that doesnt work. I hope that helps.
I also still have Lot on my tbr shelf after hearing Jacelyn and Simon raving about it. Have you read Krik? Krak by Edwidge Danticat? I think you will like that collection.
I have heard so many reviews of Her body and other parties, but yours is the first one that actually made me go "I need to get my hands on it right now!!"
I am not sure what you mean exactly. But have you read Her Body and Other Parties or Get in Trouble? If you like fantasy type stories : The Paper Menagerie is very good.
I've been trying to expand my literary styles and get into short stories. I've read a few collections but bought many more. I bought and DNF'ed the Kathleen Collins. I've bought Her Body and Other Parties, and saw CMM speak in Sydney when it came out - still haven't read it. I've borrowed Head of the Coloured People several times from my library but haven't got to it yet. I've also bought the Lucia Berlin on your recommendation before- still unread. And I'm very keen for Lot. I've bought heaps of Australian short story collections, but again haven't made much headway as yet. I've been on a big nonfiction binge this year really. I just finished the audiobook of Roxane Gay's Hunger which I know you love- I did too, although I didn't always agree with her. Also just finished Bill Bryson's The Body. Currently reading Adam Kay's This is Going to Hurt. Which is fantastic. I'm seeing him speak in Sydney in April. Very excited about that.
I would highly suggest Bojack Horseman. It's a funny show at times, but it is so raw and relatable. Who knew I would shed a tear over a cartoon about a horse?
I thought you might have more Anthology Selections. No Jewish Writer or Short Stories about the Jewish experience in the USA. We don't count? I would recommend The Short Story Anthology - The Science Fiction Weight Loss Book. All the stories have to do with Weight and Food Issues. Some of the stories were amazingly good.
I actually do not read any anthologies. I would rather read one authors works at a time. It was a short list, so I could not include everyone. I did my best.
In my top 10 short stories of all time: Grace Paley “ Wants” from her 1974 short story collection “ Enormous Changes At The Last Minute” Nominated for the National Book Award For Fiction ). ~ I saw my ex-husband in the street. I was sitting on the steps of the new library. Hello, my life, I said. We had once been married for twenty-seven years, so I felt justified. He said, What? What life? No life of mine. I said, O.K. I don't argue when there's real disagreement. I got up and went into the library to see how much I owed them. The librarian said $32 even and you've owed it for eighteen years. I didn't deny anything. Because I don't understand how time passes. I have had those books. I have often thought of them. The library is only two blocks away. My ex-husband followed me to the Books Returned desk. He interrupted the librarian, who had more to tell. In many ways, he said, as I look back, I attribute the dissolution of our marriage to the fact that you never invited the Bertrams to dinner. That's possible, I said. But really, if you remember: first, my father was sick that Friday, then the children were born, then I had those Tuesday-night meetings, then the war began. Then we didn't seem to know them any more. But you're right. I should have had them to dinner. I gave the librarian a check for $32. Immediately she trusted me, put my past behind her, wiped the record clean, which is just what most other municipal and/or state bureaucracies will not do. I checked out the two Edith Wharton books I had just returned because I'd read them so long ago and they are more apropos now than ever. They were The House of Mirth and The Children, which is about how life in the United States in New York changed in twenty-seven years fifty years ago. A nice thing I do remember is breakfast, my ex-husband said. I was surprised. All we ever had was coffee. Then I remembered there was a hole in the back of the kitchen closet which opened into the apartment next door. There, they always ate sugar-cured smoked bacon. It gave us a very grand feeling about breakfast, but we never got stuffed and sluggish. That was when we were poor, I said. When were we ever rich? he asked. Oh, as time went on, as our responsibilities increased, we didn't go in need. You took adequate financial care, I reminded him. The children went to camp four weeks a year and in decent ponchos with sleeping bags and boots, just like everyone else. They looked very nice. Our place was warm in winter, and we had nice red pillows and things. I wanted a sailboat, he said. But you didn't want anything. Don't be bitter, I said. It's never too late. No, he said with a great deal of bitterness. I may get a sailboat. As a matter of fact I have money down on an eighteen-foot two-rigger. I'm doing well this year and can look forward to better. But as for you, it's too late. You'll always want nothing. He had had a habit throughout the twenty-seven years of making a narrow remark which, like a plumber's snake, could work its way through the ear down the throat, half-way to my heart. He would then disappear, leaving me choking with equipment. What I mean is, I sat down on the library steps and he went away. I looked through The House of Mirth, but lost interest. I felt extremely accused. Now, it's true, I'm short of requests and absolute requirements. But I do want something. I want, for instance, to be a different person. I want to be the woman who brings these two books back in two weeks. I want to be the effective citizen who changes the school system and addresses the Board of Estimate on the troubles of this dear urban center. I had promised my children to end the war before they grew up. I wanted to have been married forever to one person, my ex-husband or my present one. Either has enough character for a whole life, which as it turns out is really not such a long time. You couldn't exhaust either man's qualities or get under the rock of his reasons in one short life. Just this morning I looked out the window to watch the street for a while and saw that the little sycamores the city had dreamily planted a couple of years before the kids were born had come that day to the prime of their lives. Well! I decided to bring those two books back to the library. Which proves that when a person or an event comes along to jolt or appraise me I can take some appropriate action, although I am better known for my hospitable remarks -Grace Paley
I appreciate you so much. Your dedication to bring us great book selections makes me so, so grateful. Every video of yours, I make sure to watch. My favorite “genre” to read is the short story collection / anthologies. Might I suggest some of my all-time favorites: Emerald City and A Visit From the Goon Squad - both by Jennifer Egan. Both have made indelible marks on me long after having read them. Another, One More Thing by BJ Novak (one of the actors and writers for The Office US) for a fun, disorienting experience. I also loved Tom Hank’s Uncommon Type, surprisingly. And Karen Russell’s St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves. Hope you can try any of them out and enjoy them!
Awe thank you so much. I read the Novak and Russell ages ago. Loved them. Some day I will have to tell you my thing with Tom Hanks. LOL...
Ink and Paper Blog oh I am interested! Do tell someday! :)
Great recommendations! I love this type of video because it helps branch out my reading. I'm always looking for ideas for both short story collections and translated works. Thanks so much!
I will have to do a translated works video then ;-)
I don't even read short stories, but it's Russel so I'm here :)))))
Well that is so sweet. Give one of these a try - it may surprise you
Ink and Paper Blog just got Carmen Maria Machado’s short stories collection an hour ago actually 😹😹😹
thanks! these sound amazing!
Glad you like them! Thank you for watching. Happy Reading.
I need to read LOT because I read his short story that I think was published in the New Yorker and loved it xx My favourite short story collection is The Birds by Daphne Du Maurier very famous but I just loved each one ❤️ Thank you for your recommendations ... I always trust them and find the best books XXX
So many people love The Birds. Why haven't I read it yet!!
Thank you so much 😊 I was looking for a good collection to read. Then your video happened. So happyyyyyyy!!
I love when things just work out that way.
This is great! I've had Her Body and Other Parties as well as Heads of the Colored People on my TBR, so I'm glad to hear you loved them.
Read them now! Trust me.
Have you ever read any of robert shearmans short stories?
I have not .. I do not know Mr. Shearman
The ribbon around her neck I read as a teenager and I'm in my 50's now so it isn't new but it scared the begeebies out of me!
Such a great story, but scary for sure.
Some more for my TBR. Do you recommend reading short story collections all together or spaced out? I notice you recommend reading a story a night for some of the collection. Do you read from the first story in the collection or do you dip in and pick a story at random? These might seem stupid questions but I come from a novel reading background and would like to read more short stories. Liked and subscribed, btw.📚
Not stupid at all. I think we are all different. I always read a story collection in the order they have been put in the book. I believe the author did it for a reason, so I trust them. I also like to sprinkle in collections - I dont read them back to back for me that doesnt work. I hope that helps.
@@InkandPaperBlog Thanks for the reply, food for thought.
I also still have Lot on my tbr shelf after hearing Jacelyn and Simon raving about it. Have you read Krik? Krak by Edwidge Danticat? I think you will like that collection.
I have not - I have not even heard of it or the author... I will check it out.
I have heard so many reviews of Her body and other parties, but yours is the first one that actually made me go "I need to get my hands on it right now!!"
Well that is what I like to hear
Just finished a brand new exceptional collection by a first-time Canadian author-The Private Apartments. Fantastic collection about Somali diaspora.
I will take a look for that one. Thanks for the recommendation.
Try reading. j D. Salinger’s Nine Stories and Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio.
I have read and really enjoyed both of these. Classics of the short story genre, and mandatory English major reading LOL..
I need to read more short stories. I’m not sure why I don’t choose them. Woman and Other Parties has been on my list for too long. Have a great week.
You do.. but we have so much to read every day do we not. Come on Su no more anything but reading.
Ink and Paper Blog if I had it my way I’d become Liberty and read 20 hours a day... hahaha.
Can you suggest any mindfuck short story collection?
I am not sure what you mean exactly. But have you read Her Body and Other Parties or Get in Trouble? If you like fantasy type stories : The Paper Menagerie is very good.
I've been trying to expand my literary styles and get into short stories. I've read a few collections but bought many more. I bought and DNF'ed the Kathleen Collins. I've bought Her Body and Other Parties, and saw CMM speak in Sydney when it came out - still haven't read it. I've borrowed Head of the Coloured People several times from my library but haven't got to it yet. I've also bought the Lucia Berlin on your recommendation before- still unread. And I'm very keen for Lot. I've bought heaps of Australian short story collections, but again haven't made much headway as yet. I've been on a big nonfiction binge this year really. I just finished the audiobook of Roxane Gay's Hunger which I know you love- I did too, although I didn't always agree with her. Also just finished Bill Bryson's The Body. Currently reading Adam Kay's This is Going to Hurt. Which is fantastic. I'm seeing him speak in Sydney in April. Very excited about that.
I would highly suggest Bojack Horseman. It's a funny show at times, but it is so raw and relatable. Who knew I would shed a tear over a cartoon about a horse?
You and my husband are on the same team here. LOL
Joy Williams. Read her. Try the short stories first. Honored Guests.
I have a collection of her's on my shelf. I will need grab it soon!
I thought you might have more Anthology Selections. No Jewish Writer or Short Stories about the Jewish experience in the USA. We don't count? I would recommend The Short Story Anthology - The Science Fiction Weight Loss Book. All the stories have to do with Weight and Food Issues. Some of the stories were amazingly good.
I actually do not read any anthologies. I would rather read one authors works at a time. It was a short list, so I could not include everyone. I did my best.
In my top 10 short stories of all time:
Grace Paley
“ Wants”
from her 1974 short story collection “ Enormous Changes At The Last Minute”
Nominated for the National Book Award For Fiction ).
~
I saw my ex-husband in the street. I was sitting on the steps of the new library.
Hello, my life, I said. We had once been married for twenty-seven years, so I felt justified.
He said, What? What life? No life of mine.
I said, O.K. I don't argue when there's real disagreement. I got up and went into the library to see how much I owed them.
The librarian said $32 even and you've owed it for eighteen years. I didn't deny anything. Because I don't understand how time passes. I have had those books. I have often thought of them. The library is only two blocks away.
My ex-husband followed me to the Books Returned desk. He interrupted the librarian, who had more to tell. In many ways, he said, as I look back, I attribute the dissolution of our marriage to the fact that you never invited the Bertrams to dinner.
That's possible, I said. But really, if you remember: first, my father was sick that Friday, then the children were born, then I had those Tuesday-night meetings, then the war began. Then we didn't seem to know them any more. But you're right. I should have had them to dinner.
I gave the librarian a check for $32. Immediately she trusted me, put my past behind her, wiped the record clean, which is just what most other municipal and/or state bureaucracies will not do.
I checked out the two Edith Wharton books I had just returned because I'd read them so long ago and they are more apropos now than ever. They were The House of Mirth and The Children, which is about how life in the United States in New York changed in twenty-seven years fifty years ago.
A nice thing I do remember is breakfast, my ex-husband said. I was surprised. All we ever had was coffee. Then I remembered there was a hole in the back of the kitchen closet which opened into the apartment next door. There, they always ate sugar-cured smoked bacon. It gave us a very grand feeling about breakfast, but we never got stuffed and sluggish.
That was when we were poor, I said.
When were we ever rich? he asked.
Oh, as time went on, as our responsibilities increased, we didn't go in need. You took adequate financial care, I reminded him. The children went to camp four weeks a year and in decent ponchos with sleeping bags and boots, just like everyone else. They looked very nice. Our place was warm in winter, and we had nice red pillows and things.
I wanted a sailboat, he said. But you didn't want anything.
Don't be bitter, I said. It's never too late.
No, he said with a great deal of bitterness. I may get a sailboat. As a matter of fact I have money down on an eighteen-foot two-rigger. I'm doing well this year and can look forward to better. But as for you, it's too late. You'll always want nothing.
He had had a habit throughout the twenty-seven years of making a narrow remark which, like a plumber's snake, could work its way through the ear down the throat, half-way to my heart. He would then disappear, leaving me choking with equipment. What I mean is, I sat down on the library steps and he went away.
I looked through The House of Mirth, but lost interest. I felt extremely accused. Now, it's true, I'm short of requests and absolute requirements. But I do want something.
I want, for instance, to be a different person. I want to be the woman who brings these two books back in two weeks. I want to be the effective citizen who changes the school system and addresses the Board of Estimate on the troubles of this dear urban center.
I had promised my children to end the war before they grew up.
I wanted to have been married forever to one person, my ex-husband or my present one. Either has enough character for a whole life, which as it turns out is really not such a long time. You couldn't exhaust either man's qualities or get under the rock of his reasons in one short life.
Just this morning I looked out the window to watch the street for a while and saw that the little sycamores the city had dreamily planted a couple of years before the kids were born had come that day to the prime of their lives.
Well! I decided to bring those two books back to the library. Which proves that when a person or an event comes along to jolt or appraise me I can take some appropriate action, although I am better known for my hospitable remarks
-Grace Paley
I write short stories,if anyone is interested.
Oh you have to read “not that bad” edited by Roxanne gay.
I have too! It is the only thing Roxane Gay I have not read!
Ink and Paper Blog not an easy read, but an important one. Love you and your channel