Kate's Book Blog is hosting The Short Story Reading Challenge, to run through 2008. She's offering several options, including a "custom option" so "you can tailor your reading list to best meet your personal reading aspirations." That sounds perfect for me.In the past I always enjoyed reading short fiction, but in recent years I've shied away from it for some reason. I think possibly because the emotional impact of a short story can be so much more intense than that of a longer work. But I believe now I'm up for the challenge.
I haven't yet mapped out a plan or list, but I'm thinking of sticking to one genre, rather than specific authors or collections. I have a couple of collections of stories by M.R. James and Algernon Blackwood I've been wanting to look into, which would be perfect. And even Henry James and Edith Wharton wrote some very good stories with supernatural elements. So I'm thinking of using that as my overall theme - ghost stories!
You are correct about the emotional impact of a short story. I read "Victoria Line, Central Line" by Maeve Binchy which is a collection of stories all surrounding this one transport line in London. The stories were all very intense and I felt like I had been run over by the transport line by the time I finished. But, it was a good book and I would recommend it, It is marketed under a different title here in the US -- my copy came from across the great pond as a gift from Princess B.
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