Sunday, December 05, 2010

Short Story Reading Challenge

 An apparently defunct challenge- seems like the only kind I enjoy- I have decided to challenge myself anyway.

What: Reading short story collections
When: January 1st 2011-December 31st 2011
Level: Read at least fifteen collections of short stories. 

Completed so far:
  1. The Mother Who Stayed by Laura Furman (Review) 
  2. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver (Review)
  3. A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman by Margaret Drabble (Review)
  4. Better Living Through Plastic Explosives by Zsuzsi Gartner (Review)
  5. Separate Kingdoms by Valerie Laken (Review)
  6. Love Begins in Winter by Simon Van Booy (Review)
  7. The Secret Lives of People in Love by Simon Van Booy (Review)
  8. --
  9. --
Tentative list of short story collections I have not yet read:
  1. Self-Help by Lorrie Moore *
  2. Like Life by Lorrie Moore *
  3. Birds of America by Lorrie Moore *
  4. Break It Down by Lydia Davis *
  5. Almost No Memory by Lydia Davis *
  6. Samuel Johnson Is Indignant by Lydia Davis *
  7. Varieties of Disturbance by Lydia Davis *
  8. Half In Love by Maile Meloy *
  9. Girl Trouble by Holly Goddard Jones *
  10. Dubliners by James Joyce *
  11. My Mistress's Sparrow Is Dead edited by Jeffrey Eugenides *
  12. Progress of Love by Alice Munro *
  13. The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murakami 
  14. Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami 
  15. Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary by David Sedaris
  16. Magic For Beginners by Kelly Link 
  17. Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman 
  18. Chemistry and Other Stories by Ron Rash *
  19. Fishing the Sloe-Black River by Colum McCann 
  20. How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer 
  21. My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me edited by Kate Bernheimer *
  22. Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk *
  23. Because They Wanted To by Mary Gaitskill
  24. I Cannot Tell a Lie, Exactly: And Other Stories by Mary Ladd Gavell *
  25. The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
  26. Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King *
  27. The Dead Fish Museum by Charles D'Ambrosio 
      * Indicates books I already own

      2 comments:

      1. I was waiting to see if the Short Story Reading Challenge would be resurrected this year too. I joined last year as a way to push me to read short fiction. I didn't accomplish all that I wanted but I intend to make up for that this year.

        ReplyDelete
      2. Hello! I just found your blog through a search for "short story reading challenge 2011". I don't know if you figured it out yet, but the same challenge you referenced in this post is continuing this year. It looks like this blog is hosting it instead.

        Hope this helps! :)

        ReplyDelete

      Your comments make my day!