So does anyone want to choose a couple to start with?

William Trevor (Irish) is one of the best contemporary writers of short stories in English. I have been reading his "The Collected Short Stories" published in 1993. The book contains 90 stories in close to 1300 pages. My favorite story, so far, in this collection is "The Ballroom of Romance", which tells about a woman in her mid thirties that rides a bicycle for several hours every Saturday evening to go to a ballroom dance. She does it religiously every weekend because she knows that those dances are her only chance to find a man to share her life with.

Guy de Maupassant (French, early XX century) also has several excellent collections of short stories. One of my favorite short stories by Maupassant is named "The Convert". It's about an atheist carpenter that is forced by the local priest to go to mass every Sunday. If the carpenter does not follow the priest's indications, the priest will give a gigantic contract that includes the chorus renovation and the church benches replacement to a devout carpenter from the neighbor town.

justareader

I am a short story nut also but it depends on what they are about.

I am more apt to pick up a collection of stories from someone I have never heard of before then per say a movie star or someone famous like that.

I love short stories about lives I may never get a glimpse into otherwise.

Ok, someone please tell me if that is odd. LOL

justareader wrote:William Trevor (Irish) is one of the best contemporary writers of short stories in English. I have been reading his "The Collected Short Stories" published in 1993. The book contains 90 stories in close to 1300 pages. My favorite story, so far, in this collection is "The Ballroom of Romance", which tells about a woman in her mid thirties that rides a bicycle for several hours every Saturday evening to go to a ballroom dance. She does it religiously every weekend because she knows that those dances are her only chance to find a man to share her life with.

Hi, justareader. I completly agree with you about William Trevor as a short story writer. Also good as a novelist, though I didn't think his latest, The Story of Lucy Gault was his best. Unfortunately, I don't own any of the two or three collections of his that I've read and can't recall the title of a favorite story right now.

We will be starting a discussion on a book of short stories for March and April.

Nikolai Gogol's "The Diary of a Madman and Other Stories"

I hope you will all check it out!

DWill wrote:Hi, justareader. I completly agree with you about William Trevor as a short story writer.

I have never read anything by this author, thanks for the tip justareader and DWill

Suzanne wrote:We will be starting a discussion on a book of short stories for March and April.

Nikolai Gogol's "The Diary of a Madman and Other Stories"

I hope you will all check it out!

DWill wrote:Hi, justareader. I completly agree with you about William Trevor as a short story writer.

I have never read anything by this author, thanks for the tip justareader and DWill

Susanne, the Gogol discussion sounds good, but I'm too apt to over-commit so I don't know if I'll be there. However, since you are honchoing the short story franchise (good job!) are you open to deal-making? If we read a William Trevor collection at some point, I promise to be there and to lead the discussion.

There is a magazine that comes out twice a month and is called One Story--containing.....yes, you've guessed it, one short story. So far they have all been quite good.

Rancher: That's what Trevor's short stories are about. The characters are ordinary people from the most diverse occupations and socioeconomic conditions. But so far I haven't found a rancher in his numerous stories!. Probably ranches are not common in Ireland and England where most of his stories take place.
Justareader

Rancher1 wrote:I am a short story nut also but it depends on what they are about.

I am more apt to pick up a collection of stories from someone I have never heard of before then per say a movie star or someone famous like that.

I love short stories about lives I may never get a glimpse into otherwise.

Ok, someone please tell me if that is odd. LOL

Rancher: That's what Trevor's short stories are about. The characters are ordinary people from the most diverse occupations and socioeconomic conditions. But so far I haven't found a rancher in his numerous stories!. Probably ranches are not common in Ireland and England where most of his stories take place.
Justareader

[quote="Suzanne"]We will be starting a discussion on a book of short stories for March and April.

Nikolai Gogol's "The Diary of a Madman and Other Stories"

I hope you will all check it out!




I am going to suggest this book in our reading club in the local public library. I am curious to see the reaction of the ladies (I am the only man in the group, and most of them are close to my mother's age). Their favorite books deal with stories not too far from home, no farther than Georgia to the east or Tennessee to the north.