In response to my noting with a bit of surprise how many short story collections were included on my list (8/1/11) of "Highly Recommended" recent books, my friend Sonja e-mailed me as follows (I post her e-mail here with her permission):
"Stephanie, thanks for your interesting reviews and blog. I do prefer novels to short stories, which is strange because I have written short stories (unpublished) myself and enjoy the form as a writer. I just wanted to say however that I have gotten a new appreciation for reading short stories through the New Yorker's podcasts of stories read by various writers. I have discovered some writers I want to read through listening to these fabulous stories (some of the writers are on your list). You can get the podcasts for free from itunes. I found the listening and the discussion afterwards to be excellent experiences."
(This is Stephanie writing again): You can also get the podcasts directly from The New Yorker, and either listen to them online or download them; either way they are free. Each month a contributor chooses a story from the New Yorker archives and reads it. For example, to tie these podcasts in with this blog's two recent posts on John Cheever: you can listen to one of my favorite contemporary writers, Anne Enright, reading Cheever's "The Swimmer." The Guardian UK has a similar collection of podcasts of short stories. The two web addresses are below. These are wonderful resources, and it is a pleasure to hear the stories read aloud. Thanks, Sonja, for drawing our attention to this great way of experiencing terrific fiction!)
http://www.newyorker.com/online/podcasts/fiction
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/series/short-stories-podcast
Friday, August 5, 2011
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