BookTalk.org

Let's start something new here on BookTalk.org and read and discuss short stories as a group. Since we give our book discussions 90 days how about we give short stories 30 days? Obviously we don't need that long to read a short story but a full 30 days maximizes the chance of more members participating. People can jump in at any point during the month and add their comments.

For starters this short story discussion will be for the month of May. Let's set the rule that our short stories MUST be available for FREE online. So if you suggest a short story you should also try to provide a link to where people can read your suggested short story for free online.

We may decide to tackle one short story per week.

To get the ball rolling here are my short story suggestions...

To Build a Fire
by Jack London

The Lottery
by Shirley Jackson - not in the public domain

The Magic Shop
by H.G. Wells

A Descent into the Maelström
by Edgar Allan Poe, 1841
Info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Descent ... str%C3%B6m
Text: en.wikisource.org/wiki/Tales_(Poe)/A_De ... str%C3%B6m

Sounds like a good idea.

Some suggestions:


Symbols and Signs - Nabokov

The Happy Prince - Wilde

Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams - Plath

Awesome, Chris. This was a great idea. I will definitely participate. I have read some of the suggeted stores (a couple many years ago), but would not mind reading them again. I have no suggestions at this time, as I need to research the links for free stories, but I will.

Meanwhile,

We now have many good suggestions so I think we should not post any additional short stories in this thread and only focus on those already suggested. A short story is not a big commitment so we should all be able to agree to one of these stories.

Does anyone see a short story posted here by someone else that you would also like to read and discuss? And upon further reflection I don't think we need to set a start or end date to this discussion. A new forum won't be created like one is created for actual book discussions. We'll just create a new thread with the short story title and author name.

If the time span for discussion is to be 30 days, then I'd also suggest longer short stories such as Conrad's "The Secret Sharer"(40 pages) and Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener (30 pages).

I was thinking that a "short story of the fortnight" could be a good addition to the website.

It would allow enough time for reading and discussion and also ensure that there is an active thread most of the time.

In the second week, participants would suggest a story for the next fortnight then one would be randomly selected.



For the next discussion:

I would "vote" for The Lottery or Symbols and Signs, but will be happy to read and discuss any of them.

Sal_McCoy, I like how you think!

If we did a different short story every two weeks I think it would be ideal for us to divide every month in half. So we read one short story from the 1st thru the 15th and then from the 15th through the end of the month.

But let's start with one short story! How about Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" starting right now and ending at the end of this month?

The thread for The Lottery would remain open for additional comments forever. People who join BookTalk.org could scan the Short Story forum and participate at any time.

I will go with "The Lottery." I think I read it in high school, and I remember a radio production of it, but can offer no details (it's been too long). For the next story, I nominate "The Magic Shop" by H. G. Wells. While the other stories are great, I can't remember reading this one (though I may have). Anyway, that is my choice for the the 'second' two week period.