| Title | : | Hudson Book of Fiction: 30 Stories Worth Reading |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 336 |
| Publication | : | First published June 15, 2001 |
Hudson Book of Fiction: 30 Stories Worth Reading Reviews
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I use this book for teaching Introduction to Literature. It has a wide variety of new and old stories. I like the Hudson Poetry book better, but this is a cheap and worthwhile collection.
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Definitely worth reading. It was a mix of authors and styles. I especially liked the Joyce Carol Oates contribution.
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Picked at semi-random from my shelves of mostly rescued books. A quick check of the table of contents finds that I've already read more than half of these! The classics ...
1 - Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Read for about the third time last night. Well enough written, but I still have no clues what it's about. Typical Hawthorne ...
2 - The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe - read before a couple of times. Very dark humor there.
3 - The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman - second read of this creepy and very political story.
4 - The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky by Stephen Crane - second or third read of this amusing tale.
5 - The Storm by Kate Chopin - not sure that I've read this before. It's about SEX(of course).
6 - Paul's Case by Willa Cather - first time read. The short happy/unhappy life of a misfit.
- WC drops Dreiser word-turds from Sister Carrie - "he bethought himself," and "for the nonce" - UGH!
- Reference is made twice(at least) to some "horrid yellow wallpaper) - curious eh?
7 - Araby by James Joyce- second/third read of this bitter tale of disillusionment in love. I could identify.
8 - The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka - first time read for this famous tale. I assume it's meant as dark comedy.
9 - Winter Dreams by F. Scott Fitzgerald - third(?) time read. A precursor to "Gatsby." Also, a close cousin to "Goon Squad" in it's portrayal of passing time and the losses that entails.
10- The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield - second time read. Contains a scene reminiscent of one in "Bleak House."
- so far I'm 7 for 10 in the "already read" category.
11 - Sweat by Zora Neal Hurston - Not read before. A bit like Sredni Vashtar come to think of it.
12 - The Rocking-Horse Winner by D. H. Lawrence - read before: 8 for 12 now.
13 - Hills Like White Elephants by Hemingway - 9 for 13 ... The operation in question is likely an abortion. Or ... maybe an episiotomy?
14 - The Jilting of Granny Weatherall by Katherine Anne Porter. Now 10 for 14 ... KAP was is great writer.
15 - A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner. Read for the third time(?) and I'm now 11 for 15 ... Still a fun read.
- Almost all of these are pretty short stories, making this whole book an easy read.
16- A Worn Path by Eudora Welty. I'm pretty sure I read this before, making me now 12 for 16 in the "stories already read" category.
- Ms. Welty uses a sentence("She walked on.") that reminds of Cormac McCarthy in "All the Pretty Horses" -
17 - King of the Bingo Game by Ralph Ellison - Yup ... read before at least once. My score in this regard is 13 for 17. DUDE! Let go of that button!
18 - Gimpel the Fool by Isaac Bashevis Singer - Another "already read"(probably) story. A parable? About what I have no idea. 14 for 18
19 - A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor - And now my score is 15 for 19. This is one of my all-time favorites. Black comedy at its finest. Watch out for "The Misfit"!
20 - A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - If I read this before I don't recall doing so. If I did and forgot I can see why. Give me Raymond Carver and Alice Munro any day rather than these folk tales/parables or whatever they are.
21 - A & P by John Updike - Another one read before at least once(so now I'm 16 for 21). A young lad learns a hard lesson.
22 - The Swimmer by John Cheever. Read once before and ... I've seen the pretty good movie as well. Cheever = great writer. 17 for 22
23 - Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates. Read before and ... I've seen the PBS movie(Smooth Talk) too. Typical JCO insanity. She loves this stuff. RAPE! MURDER! etc.
18 for 23
24 - Everyday Use by Alice Walker - Read before(or was this a part of "The Color Purple"?) so now I'm 19 for 24.
25 - How I Met My Husband by Alice Munro. Even though I've read a lot of Alice Munro, I don't recall this one. More Munro perfection. Best story so far IMHO. Now 19 for 25
26 - Cathedral by Raymond Carver. Read at least twice before. I Love Ray Carver. Why/how he's so good is a mystery. 20 for 26 now.
27 - The Red Convertible by Louise Erdrich. Only at the end did this seem familiar, even though I must have read it already, as I did read "Love Medicine," which this story was a part of. Oh well, that WAS a while ago. 21 for 27 ...
28 - The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. Read at least once as part of the novel. 22 for 28.
29 - In the American Society by Gish Jen. Funniest story in the collection. 22 for 29
30 - Fiesta, 1980 by junot Diaz. A good writer who writes about crap too much. 22 for 30
And so... a worthy collection, most of which I'd already read elsewhere. However, it's easier(and worthwhile) to re-read short stories than whole novels - right? -
This book had so many great works in it and I am glad I now have a compilation of short stories instead of having to buy individual copies of each one. It makes it very convenient to just flip to the next story instead. I am definitely grateful that I bought this book for my Literary Criticism class instead of rented it. With all the notes I made in it, I think it will come in handy in my future classes.
