Suggestion on English readings
Christopher Ho
I want to spend some times to improve my English by reading. I think
reading short story can be fun and easy but I don't know much which
writer is good. I prefer the stories using modern settings since I
don't have much knowledge about the stuff in Victorian era. Can
anyone suggest any good writers / books for good short stories ?
Thanks.
Don Phillipson
news:1170348351....@v45g2000cwv.googlegroups.com...
Start with these authors:
W.Somerset Maugham
A. Conan Doyle
G.C. Chesterton
Graham Greene
William Trevor.
Just read two or three to begin with. If you do not
enjoy these, try a different author. There are so many
in so many genres (e.g. science fiction, crime and
detection, etc.)
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)
mUs1Ka
news:eptcih$f3b$2...@theodyn.ncf.ca...
> "Christopher Ho" <ho.chri...@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1170348351....@v45g2000cwv.googlegroups.com...
>
>> I want to spend some times to improve my English by reading. I think
>> reading short story can be fun and easy but I don't know much which
>> writer is good. I prefer the stories using modern settings since I
>> don't have much knowledge about the stuff in Victorian era. Can
>> anyone suggest any good writers / books for good short stories ?
>
> Start with these authors:
> W.Somerset Maugham
> A. Conan Doyle
> G.C. Chesterton
GK's brother?
--
Ray
UK
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jerry_f...@yahoo.com
wrote:
What's your definition of "modern"? Since 1945? Since 2000? And do
you have a preference for what country the stories are from?
You might want to start with collections. Each year, two collections
of the best North American short stories are published: /The O. Henry
Prize Stories/ and /'Best American Short Stories/. If you can get
hold of one of these, you might find authors you want to read more
of. I have no doubt there are similar collections available for other
parts of the English-speaking world.
If you really want recommendations from us, you might try describing
the kind of stories you like. You might also try asking in
rec.arts.books.
--
Jerry Friedman
Christopher Ho
- I prefer author's name rather then 200x collection because I want to
keep reading the work from one or two authors if I find comfortable to
read. It's not that pleasant to switch reading stories with different
style of writing / storytelling.
- Short Story, in my definition, is about 10-20 page length.
Something I can finish one story in a 15 mins subway travel.
- Genre...is not actually important since good story can be in any
genre. What's important is the insightfulness and depth of the story
itself.
e.g. I like Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men a lot. However it's not
something I'm looking for right now because it's too long, and I need
to understand the background (20's in US) in order to figure out why
and what they're doing. That's why I want "modern" short story, i.e.
the story itself is not difficult to visualize without the knowledge
of the historical or geographical background.
On Feb 1, 3:59 pm, "jerry_fried...@yahoo.com"
Donna Richoux
> Thanks for the reply. Here's what I looking for:
>
> - I prefer author's name rather then 200x collection because I want to
> keep reading the work from one or two authors if I find comfortable to
> read. It's not that pleasant to switch reading stories with different
> style of writing / storytelling.
> - Short Story, in my definition, is about 10-20 page length.
> Something I can finish one story in a 15 mins subway travel.
> - Genre...is not actually important since good story can be in any
> genre. What's important is the insightfulness and depth of the story
> itself.
>
> e.g. I like Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men a lot. However it's not
> something I'm looking for right now because it's too long, and I need
> to understand the background (20's in US) in order to figure out why
> and what they're doing. That's why I want "modern" short story, i.e.
> the story itself is not difficult to visualize without the knowledge
> of the historical or geographical background.
The problem is -- and I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong --
the short story as an English art form went out of fashion by the
mid-20th century. The last big push I can think of were the clever
science fiction stories of the 1940s and 1950s. After that I don't know
what you'll find. There were romantic short stories in women's
magazines, and probably in other specialized genres, and the New Yorker
has always had a fiction piece every week, although by the 1970s they
were avant-garde slice-of-life bits rather than stories constructed with
a beginning, middle, and end.
Some fashionable authors like Annie Proulx tend to link short story
episodes together with a common theme - maybe she's one you should look
into. One of her stories was "Breakback Mountain."
John Updike has done a lot of New Yorker fiction so maybe his stories
are collected... Yes, Wikipedia says twelve volumes of them!
--
Best -- Donna Richoux