The Tweeters Recommend
We’ve been asking our Twitter followers to recommend their favourite short story reads. Here’s what they had to say…
Working for a Living:
‘The struggle to find a balance between writing and earning a living is one which most writers have experienced at some time or another.’ SALLY O’REILLY looks at how this conflict shaped the work of Raymond Carver.
Raymond Carver’s ‘A Small, Good Thing’
‘It is the contradictions of the human condition which Raymond Carver is so adept at exploring, a quality that makes his 1983 collection Cathedral a captivating read.’ WENDY GOOD recommends the story ‘A Small Good Thing’.
We Recommend – Kurt Vonnegut
PAULINE MASUREL recommends the second posthumously published collection of early Kurt Vonnegut stories and finds that his prescient voice still has a great deal to tell us about the world we live in, today.
Notwithstanding Christmas:
JOSE VARGHESE explores the longing beyond life in Louis de Bernieres’ short story ‘This Beautiful House’.
We Recommend – George Moore
‘He was a grand old man of letters when James Joyce was still the up-and-coming kid on the block’: MIKE SMITH looks at the career of Irish novelist and short story writer George Moore, and calls for a revival of his work.
We Recommend – Memory Wall by Anthony Doerr
“Here’s a caution to all short story writers: if the first story in your collection is too good, if it happens to actually be a masterpiece, watch out.” TANIA HERSHMAN, editor of THE SHORT REVIEW, looks at Anthony Doerr’s second collection of short stories.
We Recommend – Forms of Devotion by Diane Schoemperlen
FELICITY SKELTON had not heard of the Canadian writer Diane Schoemperlen, but bought a copy of her book to read on the plane ‘because it was attractive to look at and not too heavy to carry in my handbag.’
We Recommend – Flannery O’Connor
‘Flannery O’Connor is funny and wise, and her writing takes my breath away.’ KATH McKAY recommends O’Connor’s COMPLETE STORIES and the essay collection MYSTERY AND MANNERS.
Ernest Hemingway
by Loree Westron As an undergraduate at Boise State University in the 1980s, I got hooked on the short stories of Ernest Hemingway. I liked his punchy, straight-forward style of writing, a style which seemed to...