Too Many Books, Too Little Time

In yesterday’s Guardian Book Blog, Chris Power poses the question, “Is the short story really the novel’s poor relation?” Power goes on to defend the short story, saying:

The short story, by contrast, acknowledges the vastness and diversity of life by the very act of focusing on one small moment or aspect of it. The story is small precisely because life is so big. Novelists are expected to tie up loose ends, whereas the short story writer can make a virtue of ambiguity.

I love the short story for many of the reasons Power discusses – the focus, the intimacy, the brevity. I sit in awe of those who can communicate so much in so few words.

As I thought about Power’s post, it caused me to reflect on some of my favorite short stories. Here’s my Top Ten, although they aren’t listed in any particular order – I think they’re all fantastic!

1. “The Things They Carried,” by Tim O’Brien

2. “Big Blonde,” by Dorothy Parker

3. “Nawabdin Electrician,” by Daniyal Mueenudin

4. “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” by Flannery O’Connor

5. “Orientation,” by Daniel Orozco

6. “The Book of Sand,” by Jorge Luis Borges

7. “Brownies,” by ZZ Packer

8. “Summer, Boys,” by Ethan Rutherford

9. “Where I’m Calling From,” by Raymond Carver

10. “Free Radicals,” by Alice Munro

What short stories do you love?

I’m very excited to tell you that Too Many Books, Too Little Time is featured today at Kittling: Books‘ ”Scene of the Blog.” This weekly feature invites bloggers to share their “creative spaces”  – the spots where we read, write, think – with others.

Please pop over to Kittling: Books, where you’ll find my guest post. I was thrilled to be invited to participate and, frankly, shocked to think I might have a “creative space”. While you’re there, be sure to check out Cathy’s great reviews and recommendations. Kitterling:Books is an awesome blog!

Many thanks to Cathy at Kitterling: Books for this opportunity to share my little corner of the world with you!

Anyone who loves reading will love Steve McCurry’s blog post, “Fusion: The Synergy of Images and Words“. The picture above is but one example. Fantastic pictures of people all over the world doing what we love to do – reading!

Thanks to Chaucer’s Books on Facebook for the link to this post, and to Steve for posting it!

For the uninitiated, every Friday Crazy-for-Books hosts the “Book Blogger Hop, “a place just for book bloggers and readers to connect and find new book-related blogs that we may be missing out on.” It’s a great opportunity to learn about and explore book blogs that may be new to you. I’ve found many, many great blogs by participating in The Hop.

To get things rolling, Crazy-for-Books also posts a weekly question. This week’s question is:

TELL US ABOUT THE BOOK YOU ARE CURRENTLY READING.

I’ve just begun The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. When I say “just begun,” I mean that I am literally only on about page 30, so all impressions are very tentative.

The book is billed as a “gothic tale.” If it lives up to the comparisons to Rebecca, Jane Eyre, and Wuthering Heights, I’m prepared to like it. It’s probably not a book I would have selected myself, but it is the current selection for my book club so I’ll give it my best effort. I have a rule of thumb that I will read 100 pages of nearly anything. If I’m not interested by page 101, I move on to the next book. But blogger Books et al posted a comment here saying that this is one of her favorite books, and we share some favorites, so that gives me hope.

If I’m sounding less than enthusiastic, it’s because the small amount I’ve read suffers from one flaw that can sometimes be fatal for me – it seems to be seriously over-written. A sample of this is in the narrator’s description of a letter she has received:

The crisp-cornered envelope, puffed up with its thickly folded contents, was addressed in a hand that must have given the postman a certain amount of trouble. Although the style of the writing was old-fashioned, with its heavily embellished capitals and curly flourishes, my first impression was that it had been written by a child. The letters seemed untrained. Their uneven strokes either faded into nothing or were  heavily etched into the paper. There was no sense of flow in the letters that spelled out my name.

All this, just to say she received a letter addressed in a childish hand.

I’ll honor my commitment to 100 pages and hope that the story compensates for the style. Come back in a week or so to find out!

On May 7 one of my favorite bloggers, The Reading Ape, responded to a post written by Jason Pinter for The Huffington Post regarding gender and reading habits. The Ape asked,”Is it really so bad that women like to read more than men?”

Fortunately Alli Rense, also writing for The Huffington Post, has answered that question with a resounding “YES!”, backed up by hard evidence, in today’s post titled “Hot Guys Reading Books“. The evidence is none other than – you got it! – photos of hot guys reading books. Rense agrees that few men read and – inadvertently answering The Ape’s question – that’s a shame because, as Rense points out, “it’s super sexy when a man picks up a book and reads.”

Don’t take my word for it – here’s evidence from her post:

You’ll have to go directly to The Huffington Post to see the rest of her compelling data - it’s worth the trip!!