This content contains affiliate links. When you make a purchase through these links, we may receive an affiliate commission.
Ours Zero Literacy the blank “Bartleby, the Scrivener” by Herman Melville got me thinking about the form and how fun it could be in a book club setting. If you haven’t reviewed short stories with your book club, now might be the time to. In addition to not requiring the commitment of a typical book period, they can be excellent examples of cohesive and effective storytelling.
There are short stories that you and the other members of your book group can read during a book group meeting to discuss afterwards, if you’re feeling up to it.
“Fun” by Toni Morrison, quoted in God Help The Child (published in The New Yorker)
Although this is an excerpt from the book, it works well on its own. In just a few lines, it shines a light on the beginning of the daughter of a strong mother whose colors look great, with prose that could only come out. you Toni Morrison.
In the Club
Subscribe to In The Club for tips and tricks to keep your book club well-connected, well-read, and well-fed.
“The Girl” By Jamaica Kincaid by Under the River
I read this in my writing workshop and I remember feeling like I was taking a deep breath and holding it for a very long time. It cuts so cleanly what it means to be a girl-turned-woman-survivor that it will leave you breathless.
“Exhalation” by Ted Chiang
My introduction to Ted Chiang came through a famous movie The arrivalwhich had one of the strangest ideas I have ever seen. And it seems that Chiang’s unique and simple way of seeing the universe is on full display, both in this short story – which focuses on a message from a scientist from an advanced group of creatures – and the larger collection that the story is based on.
“The Secret Life of George Washington’s Nine Negro Teeth” by P. Djeli Clark
Yes, in case you didn’t know, George Washington’s teeth came from enslaved people. Clark takes this fact and creates an entire world around it with his usual magic.
“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson
If you want to read a classic short story, this is one of the most popular in the canon of American literature. It rocked people when it was released! They were sending letters and everything.
In it, a small town is about to hold the lottery. It’s an annual tradition that the whole town enjoys, but no one wants to win.
“Mr. Reward” by Sally Rooney
Rooney is one of the best-known contemporary writers from Ireland, and here he turns his perceptive eye to relationships with Sukie, who moved in with Nathan due to a difficult family situation.
Other collections you can read in full or download:
Interpretation of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
The characters in this Pulitzer Prize-winning collection come from both Indian and New World cultures.
Wednesday’s Child by Yiyun Li
Life is strange, and Li’s stories show just how strange it is, even at the center.
Ages of Glass and Iron: Stories by Amal El-Mohtar
This collection is from the co-author of This is How You Lose the Time War– another short read, if you’re in the market for a book of poetry and a time-skipping sapphic sci-fi novella. It’s full of award-winning stories, which are themselves made up of biting fairy tales and magical worlds.
And, as always, if you need some starting points for the interview, we’ve got our book club quiz. Another great benefit of reading short stories for book groups is that they lend themselves to this time. You can get people’s immediate reactions to the article, and the wide range of opinions can be even more visible, making for a lively conversation.
If your book group loves short texts, here are some short stories you can read online for free.
#Short #Stories #Read #Fly #Book #Club