I work in an assisted living and we have a short story book club every Friday morning. I print out enough copies for residents to follow along while I read aloud, then we discuss.
This has been going on for about 5 months now, and I’m nearing the end of stories I already knew of, recommendations from staff and residents, and the more generally well known.
A few of our favorites so far have been:
•The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
•Perchance to Dream by Charles Beaumont
•The Boarded Window by Ambrose Bierce
•The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber
We’ve also read many works by Edgar Allen Poe, tales of Greek Mythology, many famous poems, and a compilation book. My group is small, but they’re intelligent and open minded.
Any recommendations would be much appreciated!
by liciaaaaa
2 Comments
Anton Chekhov’s short stories. O’Henry’s short stories. Margaret Atwood’s short stories. There are lots of short story collections by various authors.
What a lovely idea!
Dive into the short stories by Roald Dahl. ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’, ‘Galloping Foxley’, ‘Beware of the Dog’, ‘Man from the South’, ‘The Landlady’, ‘Parson’s Pleasure’, ‘A Dip in the Pool’, ‘Mrs Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat’ are just a few of very many that are not only interesting, but that would offer up a lot for group discussion. You won’t have to look hard to find others that are interesting.
You could also look at short stories by Peter Carey. They’re maybe a bit more bizarre and further removed from reality than even ‘Walter Mitty’, but there’s a lot of fun in them and plenty to discuss. ‘Crabs’, ‘Report on the Shadow Industry’, ‘The Fat Man in History’, ‘The Puzzling Nature of Blue’, ‘War Crimes’, ‘Exotic Pleasures’ and ‘American Dreams’ might work. More challenging with a touch of fun weirdness.
I’ll recommend taking a look at the short-story collection *Common Type* by Tom Hanks (the actor). He has a few stories that focus on a group of friends. They’re more mundane than the other stories/authors I’ve suggested, but not as mundane as, for example, Raymond Carver. Perhaps my favourite of these stories is where the group of friends go bowling. So simple, but just so beautiful. A lot of the stories come with strong dose of nostalgia.
There’s a delightful compilation of early short stories by Terry Pratchett that I’ve just read. *A Stroke of the Pen* seems to have been written before the whole *Discworld* series, which, in this case, may be a benefit. The first story, ‘How it All Began’, is just a sheer delight. Almost all the others, but particularly ‘The Fossil Beach’ and ‘The Great Blackbury Pie’, are wonderful fun.
One last one – ‘Quantum of Solace’ by Ian Fleming (the author behind James Bond). The story has nothing to do with the movie and doesn’t actually include Bond from memory, but it is a lot of fun, especially if they enjoy Dahl’s ‘Mrs Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat’. It’s collected in *For Your Eyes Only*.
Good luck!