The Short Story Reading Challenge 2010

The Short Story Reading Challenge 2010

This past Sunday I posted about short stories, listed some great authors that have short story collections and wrote how I really wanted to make an effort to read more short stories. Fortunately there usually is a challenge for almost every occasion, and so I've signed up to participate in The Short Story Reading Challenge 2010. This is the perfect way to be encouraged to read more short stories! Here are the different ways you can participate...

Here are the Challenge Options:

Option 1:Simply commit to reading ten short stories by ten different authors over the course of 2010. If you're relatively new to reading short stories, any ten will do.

Option 2: If you’ve already got a lot of short stories under your belt, read ten short stories by ten writers whose work you have not yet read.

Options 3: Commit to reading between five and ten short story collections over the course of 2010. Again, if you're a short story novice, the world is your oyster as far as selection is concerned.

Option 4: If you're a seasoned short story reader, read between five and ten short story collections by writers whose short stories you have not yet encountered.

Option 5: This is the custom option which you can tailor your reading list to best meet your personal reading aspirations. You might wish to craft a short story reading list that focuses on a particular place, or era, or genre.

*In the words of Mavis Gallant, short story writer extraordinaire, she advises... Stories are not chapters of novels. They should not be read one after another, as if they were meant to follow along. Read one. Shut the book. Read something else. Come back later. Stories can wait...

I am choosing Option 1, reading ten short stories by ten different authors! Two of the books I just picked up to complete part of this challenge are Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat, and Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro. I'm thinking of spending a leisurely afternoon at my local library and reading some more short story collections there... Interested in learning more? Head on over the The Short Story Reading Challenge Blog to learn more, signup, and to get some great reading suggestions from other participants!

I'll list here the stories I have read, the authors and the books that the stories are from and my thoughts on what I read, so check back every once in a while to see how it's going, (suggestions here are always welcome!) and to hopefully find some great suggestions from what I read! Good luck if you decide to participate! I look forward to having some fun discovering new authors!

Happy reading... Suzanne