Bob’s
Comments
(group member since Jun 22, 2011)
Bob’s
comments
from the Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) group.
Showing 661-680 of 4,651
September 2019-August 2020 our fifth full year of short stories. These are the nominations that have not yet won a spot or bookshelfMaster List 230-271
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J_BlueFlower wrote: "Re May19: We read The Last Question in Nov 2021."Thanks
September 2018-August 2019 our fourth full year of short stories. These are the nominations that have not yet won a spot or bookshelfMaster List 204-229
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These are the first 14 titles randomly selected titles from our new Master Short Story List. Please vote for the one that interests you the most. You can cast your vote by using the list number or the titles name. The top 7 will move forward to the poll on the 15th. Feel free to change your vote, as there maybe be ties. A maximum of 7 titles will move to the poll. If there is a tie for 7th place only 6 titles will go to the poll. Example: I vote for #78 -or- I vote for the Snow Goose
29. Liza of Lambeth by W. Somerset Maugham
126. The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen
150, The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares, 103pp, 1940
63. The Escaped Cock by D.H. Lawrence
21. Who Goes There in Who Goes There? and Other Stories by John W. Campbell Jr., 90+-pp, 1948
78. The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico
156. A Party Down at the Square by Ralph Ellison, 10pp, 1997
124. The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick
133. How Much Land Does a Man Need? by Leo Tolstoy
104. Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen
109. An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving by Louisa May Alcott
174. Stirrings Still by Samuel Beckett, 28pp, 1988
196. The Grey Woman by Elizabeth Gaskell
182. The Blue Cross, First story in The Innocence of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton, 7-10pp. 1911
Congrats on your completions.
I rated Strange Fruit a little higher. I found it to be extremely powerful. Ms. Smith writing was influential and emotionally moving, I 'm glad you liked it.
Jillian, welcome back. I am glad you have returned.
Children of the Corn by Stephen King is our June 2023 Short Story/Novella Read.This discussion will open on June 1
Beware Short Story Discussions will have Spoilers
September 2017-August 2018 our third full year of short stories. These are the nominations that have not yet won a spot or bookshelfMaster List 175-202
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Lynn wrote: "Bob, I am trying to help again:122. The Mark on the Wall by Virginia Woolf is already on the Short Story Bookshelf"
Thank you, thank you, this is confusing and what I know about computers and spreadsheets would fill a thimble. I am checking our bookshelf when in doubt.
September 2016-August 2017 our second full year of short stories. These are the nominations that have not yet won a spot or bookshelfMaster List 102-143
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Sam wrote: "Bob, is there a preferred minimum number of pages for a story? For example, Hemingway's A Clean Well-Lighted Place is only 4-6 pages at best despite the edition above listing 30 pages..."Sam, I have read A Clean Well-Lighted Place and know it is only a few pages in length. It is amazing how many stories that I know are shorter than the number of pages Goodreads default editions indicate. As long as I can comfortably verify that the story is close to the 130 page limit I am OK. 1 to 130 pages is fine.
Yes, poems, plays, and essays are all good as long as they fit the age and page requirements.
Lynn wrote: "Bob wrote: "Master List.1. Youth by Joseph Conrad, 30pp, 1898
2. The Boarded Window by Ambrose Bierce, 48pp, 1891
3. [book:A Very Old Ma..."
Thank you for finding the error. It maybe a problem as the list gets bigger
J_BlueFlower wrote: "1 The Bet by Anton Chekhov2 An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish: A Hilarious Catalogue of Organized and Individual Stupidity
3 [book:The Symposium|8..."
J_BlueFlower wrote: "Bob, you only added three of mine
86. The Symposium by Plato
87. Paris Spleen by Charles Baudelaire, 118pp, 1869
88. Nightfall Title story by Isaac Asimov, 36+-pp, 1941
What is wrong with the rest?"
Patience, I took a break to fix my wife breakfast, did the dishes, a little housework and made a few phone calls.
The Bet is already on the list #50. An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish, defaults with only two editions. It took a little time, which I would like the nominator to do, to establish that this seems to be eligible page limit wise. The Nine Billion Names of God, defaults to more than 200 pages, I discovered it is a collection of short stories and haven’t had time to add it to the list. Check message #2, part7 and message #3 about adding from anthologies. How to Become a Writer, appears to have been published in 2015. Your selections #7, 8, & 9 for me again have sourcing issues.
Kimberly wrote: "Fruits of the Earth by André GideSo Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ
The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark
Life ..."</i>
Kimberly, it looks to me that, [book:Fruits of the Earth and Foe exceed the maximum page requirements. While The Body Artist was published in 2001.
Darren wrote: "Youth (Conrad)Babylon Revisited (Fitzgerald)
Rock Crystal (Adalbert Stifter)
Death in Venice (Mann)
[book:How the Two Ivans Quarrelled|398..."
Darren I have added you selections to the list. However, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is already on our bookshelf.
J_BlueFlower wrote: "Is there a deadline?
No
What happens to the 7 that did not get to the poll and the 6 that did not win? Do they go back into the list?
Only the winner will be removed from the list. The other 13 will be returned. If randomly picked the next month, just luck of the draw.
Is it correct that a list of 400 means that you want 40 members to supply 10 each? We are normally not that many during the nomination process.
Yes, based on the last seven and a half years 400 titles will last us 28+ years. Each year we can replace the 12 lost the prior year. The number 400 is not carved in stone. You are right we don't usually have a lot of nominators, but since this has no time line it may take a while to complete a good list.
“published before 1999“: Including 1999?
1999 is included, it should read: "published before the year 2000"
Our first group short story/novella nominations were polled back in September 2015. Of these first 13 titles, six have not yet succeeded in making it to our bookshelf. Most of these have been renominated several times since.The spoiler hides the losers for the first complete year of our short story nominations, Sept '15-Aug '16.
List 23-68
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WINNERS2025
January 2025 - 468. The Angel at the Grave by Edith Wharton
February 2025 - 147. The Seagull by Anton Chekhov
March 2025 - 36. The Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin
April 2025 - 499. A Lost Opportunity by Leo Tolstoy
May 2025 - 68. The Machine Stops E.M. Forster
June 2025 - 477. Zero Hour by Ray Bradbury
July 2025 - 143. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard
August 2025 - 347. Lois the Witch by Elizabeth Gaskell
September 2025 - 451. Regret by Kate Chopin
October 2025 - 186. The Invisible Girl by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
2024
January 2024 - 398. Behind a Mask, Or, a Woman's Power by Louisa May Alcott
February 2024 - 394. The Gentle Spirit by Fyodor Dostoevsky
March 2024 - 197. The Beauties by Anton Chekhov
April 2024 - 41. To Build a Fire by Jack London
May 2024 - 266. The Garden of Forking Paths by Jorge Luis Borges
June 2024 - 37. The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol
July 2024 - 385. The Immortal by Jorge Luis Borges
August 2024 - 186. The Eyes by Edith Wharton
September 2024 - 231. A Hunger Artist by Franz Kafka
October 2024 - 169. What the Shepherd Saw by Thomas Hardy
November 2024 - 165. Big Two-Hearted River by Ernest Hemingway
December 2024 - 480. The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe
2023
July 2023 - 133. How Much Land Does a Man Need? by Leo Tolstoy
August 2023 - 240. The Bear by William Faulkner
September 2023 - 158. The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
October 2023 - 347. The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh
November 2023 - 208.The Night Before Christmas by Nikolai Gogol
December 2023 - 378. A Very Easy Death by Simone de Beauvoir
