Connie's 2020 Challenge

[Connie]

I had wanted to do a short story challenge this year so I'll start with #6 on the Challenge Buffet.

SHORT STORY CHALLENGE 2020

1 "Aspic" by Tatyana Tolstaya
2 "20/20" by Tatyana Tolstaya
3 The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
4 Why I Live at the P.O by Eudora Welty
5 Janus by Ann Beattie
6 The Man in Asbestos: An Allegory of the Future by Stephen Leacock
7 The Storyteller by Saki
8 The Embassy of Cambodia by Zadie Smith
9 The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson
10 To Build a Fire by Jack London
11 Extricating Young Gussie by P.G. Wodehouse
12 Tower of Babylon by Ted Chiang
13 Understand by Ted Chiang
14 Division by Zero by Ted Chiang
15 Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang
16 Seventy-Two Letters by Ted Chiang
17 The Evolution of Human Science by Ted Chiang
18 Hell is the Absence of God by Ted Chiang
19 Liking What You See: A Documentary by Ted Chiang
20 The Open Boat by Stephen Crane
21 ufo in kushiro by Haruki Murakami
22 landscape with flatiron by Haruki Murakami
23 all god's children can dance by Haruki Murakami
24 thailand by Haruki Murakami

ROUND 2

1 super-frog saves tokyo by Haruki Murakami
2 honey pie by Haruki Murakami
3 The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
4 Who Killed the Widow by Mario Benedetti
5 The Old Nurse's Story by Elizabeth Gaskell
6 The Sisters by James Joyce
7 An Encounter by James Joyce
8 Araby by James Joyce
9 Eveline by James Joyce
10 After the Race by James Joyce
11 Two Gallants by James Joyce
12 The Boarding House by James Joyce
13 A Little Cloud by James Joyce
14 Counterparts by James Joyce
15 Clay by James Joyce
16 A Painful Case by James Joyce
17 Ivy Day in the Committee Room by James Joyce
18 A Mother by James Joyce
19 Grace by James Joyce
20 The Dead by James Joyce
21 The Jockey by Carson McCullers
22 Hard Times by Ron Rash
23 Back of Beyond by Ron Rash
24 Dead Confederates by Ron Rash

ROUND 3

1 The Ascent by Ron Rash
2 The Woman Who Believed in Jaguars by Ron Rash
3 Burning Bright by Ron Rash
4 Return by Ron Rash
5 Into the Gorge by Ron Rash
6 Falling Star by Ron Rash
7 The Corpse Bird by Ron Rash
8 Waiting for the End of the World by Ron Rash
9 Lincolnites by Ron Rash
10 House Taken Over by Julio Cortázar
11 The Country of the Blind by H.G. Wells
12 2BR02B by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
13 A Whimsy of the World by Amor Towles
14 Bernice Bobs Her Hair by F. Scott Fitzgerald
15 There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury
16 Girls, At Play by Celeste Ng
17 Neighbours by Anton Chekhov
18 To Be Read at Dusk by Charles Dickens
19 The Lady's Maid's Bell by Edith Wharton
20 The Eyes by Edith Wharton
21 Afterward by Edith Wharton
22 Kerfol by Edith Wharton
23 The Triumph of Night by Edith Wharton
24 Miss Mary Pask by Edith Wharton

ROUND 4

1 Bewitched by Edith Wharton
2 Mr. Jones by Edith Wharton
3 Pomegranate Seed by Edith Wharton
4 The Looking Glass by Edith Wharton
5 All Souls' by Edith Wharton
6 Hunted Down by Charles Dickens
7 How Beautiful With Shoes by Wilbur Daniel Steele
8 Doctor Marigold by Charles Dickens
9 A Wagner Matinee by Willa Cather
10 The Nose by Nikolai Gogol
11 Haircut by Ring Lardner
12 The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade by Edgar Allan Poe
13 Lieutenant Gustl by Arthur Schnitzler
14 The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin
15 My Kinsman Major Molineux by Nathaniel Hawthorne
16 "A Manual for Cleaning Women" by Lucia Berlin
17 Death Constant Beyond Love by Gabriel García Márquez
18 A Simple Heart by Gustave Flaubert
19 The Red Crown by Mikhail Bulgakov
20 "What Joseph Felt (A Christmas Story)" by Jo Walton
21 Reginald's Christmas Revel by Saki
22 Papa Panov's Special Christmas by Leo Tolstoy
23 The Star by Arthur C. Clarke
24 A Christmas Tree: by Charles Dickens

ROUND 5

1 "One Christmas Eve" by Langston Hughes
2 "Enemy Territory" by William Melvin Kelley
3 The Story of the Other Wise Man by Henry Van Dyke
4 Sarah's Sister by John Scalzi

[Connie]

"Aspic" by Tatyana Tolstaya is set on New Year's Eve. It's about the preparation of aspic for her guests, and the narrator's frame of mind.

"20/20" is a story about how her literary grandfather and she became writers.

Both stories can be read for free online on Literary Hub.
https://lithub.com/two-stories/
They are from Tolstaya's collection Aetherial Worlds: Stories
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Connie]

I reread The Gift of the Magi, one of my favorite Christmas stories.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

I spent most of the day yesterday reading short stories. They are my favorite reading. Enjoy!

[Connie]

Bob wrote: "I spent most of the day yesterday reading short stories. They are my favorite reading. Enjoy!"

Thanks, Bob. I spent a wonderful lazy day reading yesterday too, a good way to wind down after the holiday season.

[Milena]

My mom also made aspic for New Year's Day lunch. I guess it's a Russian/Ukrainian tradition.

[Connie]

Milena wrote: "My mom also made aspic for New Year's Day lunch. I guess it's a Russian/Ukrainian tradition."

I have never eaten aspic, but felt like I could probably make it by the end of the short story. I've got to admire people that put so much time into making their special dishes.

[Milena]

Connie wrote: "Milena wrote: "My mom also made aspic for New Year's Day lunch. I guess it's a Russian/Ukrainian tradition."

I have never eaten aspic, but felt like I could probably make it by the end of the shor..."

People who didn't grow up on it find it weird. As my husband says, it's congealed chicken soup.

[Connie]

I would probably prefer it warmed up too!

[Milena]

How appropriate that we're talking about aspic in the buffet thread.

[Connie]

Milena wrote: "How appropriate that we're talking about aspic in the buffet thread."

LOL :-)

[Connie]

Why I Live at the P.O by Eudora Welty

[Connie]

Janus by Ann Beattie

Short review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Online story: https://www.academia.edu/36497625/Ann...

[Connie]

The Man in Asbestos: An Allegory of the Future by Stephen Leacock

This story can be found in Project Gutenberg Australia.

Short review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Connie]

The Storyteller by Saki

Humorous!

Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Connie]

The Embassy of Cambodia by Zadie Smith

This tells the plight of an African immigrant in England.

Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Connie]

The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson

A gothic horror story partly based on some actual crimes in Edinburgh. Interesting, but ghastly.

Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Connie]

To Build a Fire by Jack London

One of Jack London's best stories set in the frigid Yukon.

Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Connie]

Extricating Young Gussie by P.G. Wodehouse

Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Connie]

A collection of 8 science fiction short stories Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

Tower of Babylon
Understand
Division by Zero
Story of Your Life
Seventy-Two Letters
The Evolution of Human Science
Hell is the Absence of God
Liking What You See: A Documentary

[Lotte]

Wow, you're making fast progress! What did you think of The Embassy of Cambodia?

[Connie]

I enjoyed "The Embassy of Cambodia". If you would like to read it, it's a free story online.

Last year I read poetry in addition to the novels I always read. This year I have a goal of reading more short stories.

[Connie]

The Open Boat by Stephen Crane

Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

I have read a good many short stories this year and The Open Boat is one of them. I haven't finished a review, but it was 4 stars for me also.

[Connie]

Bob wrote: "I have read a good many short stories this year and The Open Boat is one of them. I haven't finished a review, but it was 4 stars for me also."

It's amazing how much Stephen Crane wrote since he died at age 28. I've read The Red Badge of Courage, and should look into some of his other works.

[Connie]

I read 6 short stories in After the Quake by Haruki Murakami:

ufo in kushiro (lower case titles per author)
landscape with flatiron
all god's children can dance
thailand
super-frog saves tokyo
honey pie

[Connie]

Adding The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin which was very enjoyable.

Adding "Who Killed the Widow" by Mario Benedetti, a short short by a South American author.

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

I'm also doing more than one short story challenge. Pulling stories off your list has helped, thanks. I agree with you on The Story of an Hour, I've read it multiple times.

[Connie]

Bob wrote: "I'm also doing more than one short story challenge. Pulling stories off your list has helped, thanks. I agree with you on The Story of an Hour, I've read it multiple times."

We have lots of time to read with the coronavirus distancing, but I'm having trouble concentrating. Short stories are an ideal read at this time. Good luck on your challenges, Bob.

[Connie]

Adding The Old Nurse's Story by Elizabeth Gaskell which was wonderfully Gothic.
(Available online on Project Gutenberg.)

[Sara, Old School Classics]

Making great progress, Connie. Congrats.

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

Connie wrote: "Adding The Old Nurse's Story by Elizabeth Gaskell which was wonderfully Gothic.
(Available online on Project Gutenberg.)"

Another for my list, will read it soon.

[Connie]

Sara wrote: "Making great progress, Connie. Congrats."

Thanks, Sara.

[Connie]

Bob wrote: "Connie wrote: "Adding The Old Nurse's Story by Elizabeth Gaskell which was wonderfully Gothic.
(Available online on Project Gutenberg.)"

Another for my list, will ..."

I hope you enjoy it too.

[Connie]

I enjoyed the fifteen short stories in Dubliners by James Joyce. While each can be read as a stand alone story, they are best read in order. The longest story, The Dead, was my favorite.

[Kathleen]

You're reading some wonderful stories, Connie! I plan to read Dubliners this year--good to know to read the stories in order.

Thanks for the link above for the Tolstaya stories--I'm going to check them out. :-)

[Connie]

Kathleen wrote: "You're reading some wonderful stories, Connie! I plan to read Dubliners this year--good to know to read the stories in order.

Thanks for the link above for the Tolstaya stories--I'm going to check..."

The writing in "Dubliners" is excellent, but they are not happy stories. Some people might want to read something lighter until this COVID crisis is over.

[Connie]

Adding The Jockey by Carson McCullers. Excellent story.

[Sara, Old School Classics]

You and Bob are really tearing through the short stories.

[Connie]

Sara wrote: "You and Bob are really tearing through the short stories."

The long novels you are reading take much more time, Sara. I've got a whole shelf of short story collections in a bookcase at home that are just begging to be read. Have to make room before the next library used book sale ;-)

[Connie]

Adding the twelve stories from Burning Bright, an impressive collection from Ron Rash set in Appalachia.

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

Connie wrote: "Adding The Jockey by Carson McCullers. Excellent story."

Another one I will be reading soon, thanks!

[Connie]

Bob wrote: "Connie wrote: "Adding The Jockey by Carson McCullers. Excellent story."

Another one I will be reading soon, thanks!"

Great! I think you will enjoy it.

[Connie]

Adding House Taken Over by Julio Cortázar

[Connie]

Adding The Country of the Blind by H.G. Wells

[Connie]

Adding 2BR02B by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

I read Country of the Blind last month and just reread 2BR02B today, both are excellent.

[Connie]

Bob wrote: "I read Country of the Blind last month and just reread 2BR02B today, both are excellent."

I enjoyed them both too. They both have lots of food for thought for a discussion.

[Connie]

Adding A Whimsy of the World by Amor Towles

[Connie]

Adding Bernice Bobs Her Hair by F. Scott Fitzgerald