There are some benefits to reading short stories instead of full length novels. Some of them are just as enticing as a full length novel (...a few of them are more so!), and they don't occupy a lot of your time. Even if they do suck (Which happens...too frequently.) at least you didn't waste a whole lot of time on them.
I've complied a list of five of my favorite short stories below.
1) Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe
(No good pictures of this one, Sorry.)
One-Liner Version of The Story: It's about a guy gets invited to his friend's house, and it's scary.
My Take On The Story: Obviously there's a lot more to the story then the one-liner would suggest. Roderick Usher is sick and scared and doesn't want to be alone so calls for his only best friend to come and stay with him. Touched by Roderick's plea, (...or suckered) The Nameless Narrator goes to Roderick's creepy house for an extended stay.
Most reviews I've read about it center around how Mr. Poe used words to create this really, really creepy place (The House). One reviewer commented that the character's should be considered the objects in the story while The House is the real character.
I disagree.
While that atmosphere was a really cool aspect of the story, I think the coolest part of it is how Roderick and Madeline develop throughout the story. They kind of unravel like a mystery (A mystery that is never fully solved, sadly.).
At the start of the story, the Narrator (and by extension, the reader) doesn't even know Madeline exists.
Roderick's BFF (AKA The Narrator): "Uh, there's this really creepy lady walking over there!"
Roderick: "Oh, yeah. That's my sister."
Roderick's BFF: "You never told me you had a sister!"
Roderick: "You can't talk to her, she's sick."
Roderick's BFF: "OK."
[Later]
Roderick: "My sister died, we need to take her body to the crypt RIGHT next to my house."
Roderick's BFF: "OK."
(Later, as Roderick and his BFF pay their respects)
Roderick's BFF: "I'm so sorry about your sister. I never got to talk to her but she looks like she was a...uh....Wowsa! She was a babe! She looks JUST like YOU...I mean...you only a Hot Chick and all."
Roderick: "Yes, we were very much alike. It's so sad to lose my twin."
Roderick's BFF: "WHAT?? You didn't tell me she was your twin! We grew up together all our school years and your TWIN SISTER never came up."
Roderick: "Hmmm...his crypt is really creeping me out, how bout we go upstairs and read ghost stories."
Roderick's BFF: "Seems legit."
Because we get a bunch of little hints that there is more going on then what Roderick is telling you, we get to draw our own conclusions about why *SPOILER ALERT* Madeline was buried alive and returned from the grave to take revenge on her murderous brother.*End spoiler*
So here are my conclusions: The Narrator is a dolt and Roderick is lying. The House is not haunted and it is not what's making the Ushers sick. Madeline, Roderick, and their ancestors poisoned the house, made it a horrible palace to be...made it cursed and haunted.
2) The Smith of Wootton Major by JRR Tolkien
(Picture source: http://browse.deviantart.com/art/The-Great-Cake-366624196)
(Yes, THAT JRR Tolkien. No, there are no Hobbits.)
One-Liner Version: Cake can change your life, ;) fairy-tales are sacred.
My Take On The Story:
I think it's pretty masterful how Tolkien crafted this story.
Tolkien is throwing you (the reader) into a plot, and then gives you the background info as the story progresses. (Kind of like The Fall of the House of Usher, only cooler because we don't get killed at the end.) We (The reader) don't understand the Baker, or his Apprentice at the start. And even though Baker disappears shortly afterward, we continue to learn about him and the kind of life he must have led throughout the story.
The overall message is that there is more to the world then what we see. That ordinary people can be inspired from the realm beyond. And that it is important to recognize the source of inspiration and not mock it.
My favorite character was Prentice. I liked the little hints about his character all throughout the story. He's a teenager at the start, he get's all offended and angsty about the fairy-figurine because *SPOILER ALERT*he feels like his wife is being mocked.*END SPOILER.*
My Conclusion/Recommendation:
If you're interested in finding out more about Professor Tolkien and how he saw the world, read this short story. It starts out feeling like a fairy-tale, but it's really a story about how important fairy-tales are in developing us as people. Smith recognizes how the gift of the fay-star has blessed him and his family, and *SPOILER ALERT*returns the favor by passing it along to another little kid. *End Spoiler*
On a side note, *SPOILER ALERT* Tolkien doesn't tell us the circumstances of Alf's banishment to Wootton, we don't know if it was by choice or because he needed to learn a lesson. However, because his first reaction to being re-instated as King of Fay was to say "Boy-ah!" to the guy who bullied him his whole life, I think it was probably a bit of both. Perhaps Prentice and the Queen of Fay were in a bad way, and he left to sort things out. *SPOILER ALERT*
On a side note, *SPOILER ALERT* Tolkien doesn't tell us the circumstances of Alf's banishment to Wootton, we don't know if it was by choice or because he needed to learn a lesson. However, because his first reaction to being re-instated as King of Fay was to say "Boy-ah!" to the guy who bullied him his whole life, I think it was probably a bit of both. Perhaps Prentice and the Queen of Fay were in a bad way, and he left to sort things out. *SPOILER ALERT*
3) Snow White and Rose Red
(WHY HAS NO ONE MADE A FILM OF THIS YET????????????????? It should totally look like this:
)
I keep reading in other people's reviews of this story (how else am I supposed to talk to people about these stories, no one I know has read them!) that say this is the most random fairy-tale ever.
UM. HAVE YOU READ The ORIGINAL GOLDEN GOOSE STORY? Because this seems WAY less random to me. And it has a cool point.
One-Liner Version: (For me) Two sisters try to help people and it doesn't always work out, but helping others is always the right thing to do.
My Take On The Story:
These two deserve to be Disney princesses!
"They often ran about the forest alone and gathered red berries, and no beasts did them any harm, but came close to them trustfully."
(Does this not sound familiar?)
Here's another interesting note about the nature of the two should-be-disney-princesses:
"Snow-white was more quiet and gentle than Rose-red. Rose-red liked better to run about in the meadows and fields seeking flowers and catching butterflies; but Snow-white sat at home with her mother, and helped her with her house-work, or read to her when there was nothing to do."
So, we have two princesses...two different types of women, who love and value each other. DISNEY ARE YOU LISTENING????
ANYWAY
....Two sisters repeatedly try to help an ungrateful, greedy Lizard Person...sorry...I mean dwarf and his adversary, a Gentlemanly-Bear (who actually turns out to be a prince...oh, and he has a brother too!)
*ahem*
Eventually it is revealed that the Dwarf is a sorcerer who has trapped a prince in bear-from, Snow White and Rose Red free the prince who is then re-united with his brother (Who is also a prince). Then Snow White and Rose Red each marry one of the princes.
My Conclusion:
OK so maybe it is a little random, it's a tale I think a lot of people who like sarcastic psudo-fairytales could actually appreciate this real one.
I mean, come on! It's about two sisters making their way in the world and still trying to be good people. Just make it a Disney movie already!
4) The Loathly Lady (Geoffrey Chaucer's The Wife of Bath's Tale)
This is my favorite of Chaucer's Tales!
One-Liner Version: A determined woman can have it all.
My Take On The Story: (Note: There area a bunch of different versions so this little review will probably be a composite of what I can remember about them.) In this story, King Arthur needs a woman's insight in order to defeat an evil-Knight. A very smart, but extremely ugly woman agrees to help but only if she can marry one of the knights of the Round Table. After some hesitation, he agrees and is triumphant over the evil-knight. The ugly woman returns to the court and is honored by the king, queen and the knights. They come to know her as a wise, intelligent, cunning and charismatic woman. One of the knights feels duty bound and agrees to marry her.
After their wedding, right before they are about to go to bed together, the knight starts crying (That's just sad right there.) The ugly woman explains that she doesn't want to be ugly...she is cursed, she can be beautiful, or she can be an intelligent and wise.
She gives him the choice. "Which would you want me to be?"
The Husband-knight thinks about it for some time, but can't decide what he wants. Ultimately, he defers to her judgement.
"I think you should choose." He says.
What does she choose????
(DRUMROLL!!!)
...........................................................................................................................................
(She chooses both, silly!)
She chooses the to be both beautiful and intelligent (...because that somehow is allowed by the curse...but only if he defers to her. Go figure.)
They live happily ever after...
My conclusion:
I think that Knight really, really wanted like...a normal looking wife. I mean, maybe he got to know her her personality and charisma a little bit before they got married but that's not what induces a guy to marriage (it may be what keeps a guy in marriage though). By giving him the choice, the ugly wife made him recognize that his judgement was not infallible. If he tried to control her for either end, he would regret it later.
(This next part is purely my opinion)>>>I don't care what the "Ugly Woman" professes in the story, she "cursed" herself. If you want a man to love you for your intellect, you have to prove to him how smart you are. She definitely proved that. Kudos, My Loathly Lady!
5) A Scandal in Bohemia by Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle
One-Liner Version: Irene gets what she wants.
My Take On The Story: Unfortunately, no film adaption I've seen quite captures the remarkable Irene Adler as well as the original short story. They focus on the fact that Sherlock becomes enamored with her (kind of) and invent a love story for the two.
Irene is not a villainess. She's been an "Adventuress", living life for the kicks (sing at the opera, travel the world, hang out as consort to a powerful political figure.) And now, she's finally met the right man and she's ready to settle down.
Blackmail is just the practical thing to do...
She doesn't got head-to-head with Sherlock in this story...she doesn't need to. She's too busy getting ready to be married!
My conclusion: Sherlock might have come to idealize her, but the feeling was not reciprocated. She "Found a better man than him." in her husband Godfrey.
Here are a few more good short stories that I like (But don't worry, I won't talk about them), here they are:
- Some Words With A Mummy by Edgar Allan Poe.
- I Am A Zombie Filled With Love by Isaac Marion.
- I Sing the Body Electric by Ray Bradbury (actually this is a collection of short stories, my favorite is the one where the woman gives birth to the baby who looks like a blue pyramid...I'm serious! It was really good!)
Enjoy!
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