Summer is Short — Read a Story
HarperPerennial celebrates the short story this summer. Buy some. Read some. Talk some. All season long we’ve got piles of great content lined up, fun contests, great books and something exceptionally special — some of our favourite short stories by some of our favourite Perennial authors here on the site for you to read. As Steven Millhauser said in an essay that appeared in the New York Times: “The short story apologizes for nothing. It exults in its shortness. It wants to be shorter still. It wants to be a single word. If it could find that word, if it could utter that syllable, the entire universe would blaze up out of it with a roar. That is the outrageous ambition of the short story, that is its deepest faith, that is the greatness of its smallness.”
What’s your favourite short story? Do you even read short stories? Have you ever written a short story? What’s your best argument in terms of why people should read more short stories? Let us know what you think in the comments. I’ve got a copy of one of the new Classic Shorts for the best comment.
Looking to read a great short story? We’ll be featuring a new short story every couple of weeks throughout the summer. Here’s the main list of what you can read to date:
“Bolero” by Frances Itani
“Damaged Goods” by Tim Winton
“Miss Fatt and Miss Thinne” by Michel Faber
“Ninety-three Million Miles Away” by Barbara Gowdy
“Five Small Rooms: A Murder Mystery” by Diane Schoemperlen
And if you’re an avid reader, why not try our Summer is Short. Read a Story challenge. And be sure to visit Fifty-Two Stories here for even more short story goodness.
I read a lot of novels, but I need short stories as much as I need laughter. Which is as often as possible. Usually, short stories go well between novels –especially after reading an emotionally involving story in which characters were so real that I know I won’t be able to get into another novel for at least a few days. Also, whenever I have a window of time of less than 45 minutes to read, I’ll pick up a short story collection and read a story or two.
My favourite short story writer right now is Simon Van Booy. A friend of mine gave me “Love Begins in Winter” and those 5 stories blew me away; they contain more than most novels do these days. More character developments, more emotions, more brilliant prose, more reality, etc. Then, I went and bought Van Booy’s previous collection (his first) “The Secret Lives of People in Love”. Those stories are shorter but as effective as the ones from Love Begins in Winter. I’ve read his stories at least three times each and I know I’ll keep on reading them.
Van Booy is a writer who’ll end up winning one of the huge awards like the National Book Award, the Pulitzer and maybe someday a Nobel Prize in Literature; he is that good.
Comment by Jacques Filippi — September 10, 2009 @ 9:04 pm