What is your favorite American lit short story?

[6882]

It can be a poem too. The road not taken always messes with my head. It’s funny that I’m typing this because I always struggled in American lit in college. Funny because I feel like what took me forever to figure out stuck the most with me. Would infuriate me that other kids in the class could read something from some deviate beatniks poem and decipher it by the time they were reading it where as it would take me a day to figure out and still wonder if i had it figured out. All those short stories and poems that I hated having to read and figure out that made me feel so stupid at the time are still so stuck in my head like twenty years later.

i just remember thinking, “just get to the point! I have other tests I have to be studying for, this is bull shit!” Kinda crazy and wishing I could relive those American lit classes. I’m a big fan of Imagery and love stuff like old man and the sea and the hustler.

btw, “short story” is bull shit. Some of these “short stories” were over a hundred pages which wouldn’t be that big of a deal if I didn’t have to keep coming back to every sentence to figure what the metaphors were that took for ever for me.

the Irony in this is that my wife who’s a genius and aced all her classes in college doesn’t remember any of these stories that, albeit took me for ever to figure out are still stuck in my head.

the lottery is another one that still just nags at me because it’s still so prevalent in todays society. The candle I hated so much at the time but now looking back, what a great piece of literature.

i’ve got another 10-15 years till I retire but to me the ultimate luxury is just the freedom of distraction free reading. I’d love to get back to that one day. At 39 with a business and two kids every time some one recommends a book to me, I kind of want to punch them in the face. Not saying I’m mario crystoball but i am just as busy as him and truly believe I work just as hard. Imagine if you told mario to read a book on your recommendation the look you would get.

 

[ddimaggio]

Since retiring, I read a lot , not as much serious literature as I probably should
My favorite professor when I attended the U was Lester Goran , a novelist. He was brilliant and very funny. A big proponent of Saul Bellows, a big Critic of Kurt Vonnegut.
I’m going back to see if any of Lester’s books are still in print !!

 

[cortez55403]

It can be a poem too. The road not taken always messes with my head. It’s funny that I’m typing this because I always struggled in American lit in college. Funny because I feel like what took me forever to figure out stuck the most with me. Would infuriate me that other kids in the class could read something from some deviate beatniks poem and decipher it by the time they were reading it where as it would take me a day to figure out and still wonder if i had it figured out. All those short stories and poems that I hated having to read and figure out that made me feel so stupid at the time are still so stuck in my head like twenty years later.

i just remember thinking, “just get to the point! I have other tests I have to be studying for, this is bull shit!” Kinda crazy and wishing I could relive those American lit classes. I’m a big fan of Imagery and love stuff like old man and the sea and the hustler.

btw, “short story” is bull shit. Some of these “short stories” were over a hundred pages which wouldn’t be that big of a deal if I didn’t have to keep coming back to every sentence to figure what the metaphors were that took for ever for me.

the Irony in this is that my wife who’s a genius and aced all her classes in college doesn’t remember any of these stories that, albeit took me for ever to figure out are still stuck in my head.

the lottery is another one that still just nags at me because it’s still so prevalent in todays society. The candle I hated so much at the time but now looking back, what a great piece of literature.

i’ve got another 10-15 years till I retire but to me the ultimate luxury is just the freedom of distraction free reading. I’d love to get back to that one day. At 39 with a business and two kids every time some one recommends a book to me, I kind of want to punch them in the face. Not saying I’m mario crystoball but i am just as busy as him and truly believe I work just as hard. Imagine if you told mario to read a book on your recommendation the look you would get.

6882,

I am retired and do read a lot, but mostly non fiction. Over the last several years, I’ve adopted audio books and podcasts for my daily fix of “reading.”

When I do my early morning 30 minute walk/run, I listen to podcasts of currents events. When a little later I do an hour walk and lift weights, I listen to audible books. My kids say that I now have a PhD in World War II due to all the histories I’ve read.

For short stories, I read The New Yorker and listen to a podcast named “Selected Shorts.” Its a weekly reading of newer short stories read by professional actors. Check it out!

 

[NO.SHORECANE]

Snows of Kilimanjaro- Ernest Hemingway

 

[miamimike]

Snows of Kilimanjaro- Ernest Hemingway

The Old Man and the Sea also by Hemingway

 

[krvanness]

It can be a poem too. The road not taken always messes with my head. It’s funny that I’m typing this because I always struggled in American lit in college. Funny because I feel like what took me forever to figure out stuck the most with me. Would infuriate me that other kids in the class could read something from some deviate beatniks poem and decipher it by the time they were reading it where as it would take me a day to figure out and still wonder if i had it figured out. All those short stories and poems that I hated having to read and figure out that made me feel so stupid at the time are still so stuck in my head like twenty years later.

i just remember thinking, “just get to the point! I have other tests I have to be studying for, this is bull shit!” Kinda crazy and wishing I could relive those American lit classes. I’m a big fan of Imagery and love stuff like old man and the sea and the hustler.

btw, “short story” is bull shit. Some of these “short stories” were over a hundred pages which wouldn’t be that big of a deal if I didn’t have to keep coming back to every sentence to figure what the metaphors were that took for ever for me.

the Irony in this is that my wife who’s a genius and aced all her classes in college doesn’t remember any of these stories that, albeit took me for ever to figure out are still stuck in my head.

the lottery is another one that still just nags at me because it’s still so prevalent in todays society. The candle I hated so much at the time but now looking back, what a great piece of literature.

i’ve got another 10-15 years till I retire but to me the ultimate luxury is just the freedom of distraction free reading. I’d love to get back to that one day. At 39 with a business and two kids every time some one recommends a book to me, I kind of want to punch them in the face. Not saying I’m mario crystoball but i am just as busy as him and truly believe I work just as hard. Imagine if you told mario to read a book on your recommendation the look you would get.

Yeah, you and I are on the same "page" with our experiences in American Lit, even though I'm 24 years older than you. It always bored me to tears. If a book doesn't grab me in the first chapter, I'm putting it down and never picking it back up. I have no patience for it.

 

[NO.SHORECANE]

The Old Man and the Sea also by Hemingway

I think Old Man is considered a novel.

 

[6882]

I think Old Man is considered a novel.

I think hemmingway only did short stories right? Again, the term in Am lit is miss leading. A lot of “short stories” are over a hundred pages. On a side note if you’re into cigars. Aurtero fuente (spelling?) makes a little cigar that is really really good called the short story. It’s a little nubby smoke that goes for around $12 and worth every penny. EH use to smoke these things all the time when he’d write his short stories, hence the name. Usually when a cigar shop gets them in they sell out with in the week. Pretty much have to go to a high end cigar shop to get or order on line.

 

[NO.SHORECANE]

I read For Whom The Bell Tolls- incredible novel 480 pages and worth it.

 

[cortez55403]

Lots of Hemingway fans on here. Including me.

If interested, check out the Ken Burns documentary, Hemingway. It’s a 3 part (6 hour total) look at his entire life and career. Great photos and stories about his incredible, tumultuous life. From WWI injury, to bullfighting in Spain, fishing in Cuba, big game hunting in Africa, lots of wives…that guy got around.

His early career as a journalist contributed to his minimalist, descriptive “just the facts” storytelling. Short sentences with limited adjectives. He invented the spare, direct “American Style” of writing. A literary legend.

 

[NO.SHORECANE]

Lots of Hemingway fans on here. Including me.

If interested, check out the Ken Burns documentary, Hemingway. It’s a 3 part (6 hour total) look at his entire life and career. Great photos and stories about his incredible, tumultuous life. From WWI injury, to bullfighting in Spain, fishing in Cuba, big game hunting in Africa, lots of wives…that guy got around.

His early career as a journalist contributed to his minimalist, descriptive “just the facts” storytelling. Short sentences with limited adjectives. He invented the spare, direct “American Style” of writing. A literary legend.

This

 

[miamimike]

I think Old Man is considered a novel.

The book is considered a novella, at only 127 pages long. Novella is defined as a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than that of most novels.