Favourite Short Stories/Novellas

kaos · Post by **kaos** » 14 Aug 2005 07:42

Since the favourite books thread seemed to have died, I was wondering was everybodies favourite short stories and/or novellas were?

I was lucky enough to find three great short stories' complete text on the web:

Guts by Chuck Palahniuk
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
The Harvest by Amy Hempel

Guts is one of the stories that appears in Palahniuk's Haunted, and apparently lots of people fainted at some of his readings of it. So beware...

Also, read The Harvest last, since according to Palahniuk, after reading it, almost every other book you read will suck. not really

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Kobus Brümmer
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"All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." - Leo Tolstoy

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 14 Aug 2005 08:12

Breakfast at Twilight by Phillip K Dick is the only piece of fiction that has ever made me cry (or at least bring tears to my eyes). I don't know if it's the best short story I've read but the last paragraph really reads very true for me. I think it's more of a personal thing than Dick's amazing writing.

I like most of Dick's short stories actually.

Also I think Stephen King is a fantastic short story writer - much better than writing novels in my opinion. Can't remember any highlights. Oh "The Moving Finger" is sooooooooo funny - awesome stuff.

Thy Blood Like Milk - Ian Watson is another of my favourite short stories. Just the atmosphere of that story is good. Ian Watson is definitly one of my favourite writers and should be so much more popular than he is.

The Informers by Brett Easton Ellis has a few good short stories too but nothing to compare with his novels.

I haven't read Haunted yet but my brother has a copy - I've just had too many other books to read

Very soon though - although my Mum just delievered a crate of books to the house (which are all my favourite books that I've read before) so good chance I'll re read some of them

vanderwax · Post by **vanderwax** » 14 Aug 2005 11:53

Hahaha, Oh man... Guts is soooo vile. I love it! I felt so sick the first time I read that short story... but i kept on reading it!!

Lemme see if I can find a link to it for all you chaps to read.

http://www.punkottawa.com/board/viewtop ... light=guts

ENJOY!

also, read ANIMAL FARM! Donno if thats short story but I like it since it doesnt take a year to read.

EDIT: shit im a dumbass and didnt notice the link in the first post, OH WELL!

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 16 Aug 2005 07:46

So I started reading Haunted.

I have to say I think guts is way over rated. Possibly the fact that I've heard a real story of basically the same thing happening to a 5 year old girl rather than some ficticious wanker took a lot of the impact away from the story. I didn't really understand it's point - just to horrify us? I'm not sure.

bigdirtyfoot · Post by **bigdirtyfoot** » 16 Aug 2005 07:50

Omg Jeremy thanks for reminding me about that - I should post the epic story in my blog sometime.

kaos · Post by **kaos** » 16 Aug 2005 12:05

In this interview with Palahniuk he tries to explain his motive for his literary style and subject matter. Apparrently Guts combines three actual stories that Palahniuk had heard, don't know how much is fiction or not, but I doubt that is the point. I think its about your reaction to the story, and I think the point is that each person reacts differently after reading a story like this, i.e. the reader becomes part of the creative process.. (compare that with reading something by Jane Austin, everyone basically is going to react the same (and I'm not refering to the boredom))

For me its sort of the same as when reading American Psycho, where Bret Easton Ellis mixes disturbing (bordering gross) descriptions of brutal murders (with a killer that is indifferent to his actions) with passages describing "normal" everyday stuff, like he is testing the reader's reaction to the different scenes. To be honest, I found American Psycho much more disturbing than Guts, its deeper, and more intelligent, it comments more on society and social issues etc., but Guts provoke a more emotional response with me...its sad.

brian relly · Post by **brian relly** » 16 Aug 2005 14:42

I just finished The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber by Hemingway, which was really really good....

Oh, and the Metamorphosis? That's a fairly famous novella....

Also, The Lottery is amazing, thanks for mentioning that.

Blackend · Post by **Blackend** » 17 Aug 2005 12:18

James and the Giant Peache rules!

Juice · Post by **Juice** » 17 Aug 2005 15:05

I like the Paul Jennings "Un" books. I think it's by him. I may have gotten mixed up with Morris Gleitzman.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 13 Sep 2005 22:06

"Odd Tippling" by Kurt Kusenberg is mind numbingly good.

A lot of Jorge Luis Borges` short stories are fantastic.

I like Asimov`s "I, Robot" short stories.

And as Jeremy mentioned, Stephen King writes real entertaining short stories. I agree that they are way better than his novels.

kaos · Post by **kaos** » 13 Sep 2005 23:53

I second Jorge Luis Borges, his stuff is really good. Also, I got round to read The Metamorphosis, definitely a must read...

jon · Post by **jon** » 14 Sep 2005 06:13

The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios by Yann Martel is a great book of short stories. (liked it much better than Life of Pi)

My absolute favourite is: Vinyl Cafe Diaries -- by Stuart McLean. So much humour and honest realism about a Canadian family. A pleasure to read and relate to.
Also: Home from the Vinyl Cafe : A Year of Stories, The Vinyl Cafe Unplugged, Stories from the Vinyl Cafe all also written by McLean and are in my opinion fantastic!