Short Stories on Wednesdays #29 February 1, 2012

Welcome to the 2012 edition of Short Stories on Wednesdays!

Short Stories on Wednesdays is a weekly event intended to encourage folk to read short stories, a much neglected literary form. Every Wednesday you are encouraged to share what you’ve read with us in the comment section. You can even post links to any review of short stories you have made through the course of the week. Every second Wednesday we have a guest poster and/or a short story giveaway. Every fourth Wednesday we have a theme round which we try to choose a story to read. This, of course, is not compulsory.

Note: Next week we welcome Joel Allyn, Th3 Scribbl3r, as our guest poster.

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As I mentioned before, I’m in the midst of one of Willa Cather’s short story collections. In fact, I nearly done with it. However, I’m afraid, I won’t be able to finish it today as I had hoped. I’ve been feeling as sick as a dog, and all I’ve been wanting to do all day is sleep (which I shall do the moment I hit the publish button to this post.) I can say that I’ve really been enjoying my tryst with Cather, and am hoping to start on O Pioneers! sometime later this month.

But, please don’t mind my lack of a review this week. What have you guys been reading?

Looking back on January February 1, 2012

I started this new year having signed up for over a dozen challenges. Nearly a week into January I decided to scrap all of them and stick to reading whatever I wanted. As a result of this new found freedom, I rather rapidly completed six books in a week. After which I’ve been at a lull for about two weeks. It isn’t that I haven’t got any reading done…just that the reading has been slow with all the extra work I’ve taken upon myself at home. Most days I just want to lie around in a daze when I get a break!

Anyway, this is just to be a quick review.

No of books completed: 8

• No of non-fiction books: 3
  • Death by Petticoat by Mary Miley Theobald
  • Is Shakespeare Dead by Mark Twain
  • Answers to Tough Questions by Josh McDowell and Don Stewart
• No of fiction books: 2
  • The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C S Lewis
  • Candlewax by C Bailey Sims
• No of graphic books: 2
  • Crogan’s Loyalty by Chris Schweizer
  • Avalon Chronicles Vol 1: Once in a Blue Moon by Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir, Emma Vieceli
• No of plays: 1
  • A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

Of these 8 books 5 were ebooks, 4 of which were from Netgalley. Save for the Shakespeare and Twain, I have yet to write reviews for what I’ve read. I’m hoping I’ll be able to have them up some time next week.

I’ve also got a few books that I’ve been reading now and then through January and am continuing with into February:

• Les Miserables (I’m 13 chapters into this huge volume, and am hoping to play catch-up in Feb for the read-along.)
• Roots (I’m done with 19 chapters and am deliberately taking this slow.)
• Pride and Prejudice (A delicious re-read. I picked it up only a couple of days ago and am enjoying myself!)
• Tolstoy on Shakespeare (I had hoped to finish this by the end of Jan. But, half way through the book, I decided I wanted to take this slow as well. It might be a few months before I finish this book. I’m hoping to be able to read a few more Shakespearean plays before I get back to this, so that I can form an argument in my head, should I disagree with Tolstoy’s opinions. )

Apart from these I’ve been reading short stories as well.

1. “The Mirror” by Haruki Murakami
2. “The Birthday Girl” by Haruki Murakami
3. “The Brothers” by Louisa May Alcott
4. “A Wife’s Letter” by Rabindranath Tagore
5. short stories from Youth and the Bright Medusa by Willa Cather (I’ve just two more to go before I finish this collection)

That’s it for now. If some of you are wondering why my posting has come down, it’s just that I’ve much to do in the house, and am usually too tired to string more than two words together, leave alone write up an entire post. I’m hoping to get settled into the routine soon, though.