Episode 309: Essays/Short Stories

 

Welcome back! We are so pleased you are joining us for our podcast book group: Reading with Libraries!

In our book group we have fun talking about books, and provide useful information for library people doing Reader’s Advisory work. There are so many books out there that it’s tough to be an expert on all of them. So we pick a new genre each week to chat about and hopefully provide you with some insight into what may be an unfamiliar genre!

Our book group is very inclusive; there are no “right” or “wrong” books here! We just like to read and chat about books, and want you to share what you are reading too! All of us will take away at least a title or two that we want to read at the end of our time together.

Who is joining us this week? We are excited to welcome returning Guest Host Emily Kissaine from State Library Services!

 

Beverages:

Each week we like to connect the theme of our books with our beverages, and we each came prepared with our own drink to enjoy while we talk about our books. You are an important part of this book group, so if you don’t have a beverage go ahead and get one now. Each of our beverages will have a recipe or a link on our episode page, so you can try them yourself!

This week we are celebrating our shorter reading formats with a shorter beverage format and drinking assorted shots! Check out the link in our shownotes page to find the photos and recipes for these cute little drinks.

Apocalypse Now Tequila Shooter The Apocalypse Now is not a shot for the faint of heart or people with sensitive taste buds. The mixture of Irish cream and tequila is an interesting combination in itself, and when you add dry vermouth to that it gets really interesting. If you are looking for a quick, potent novelty shooter, this would be one to try.

Ingredients

Steps to Make It

  1. Pour the dry vermouth and tequila into a cocktail shaker filled with ice.
  2. Shake well.
  3. Strain into a shot glass.
  4. Float the Irish cream liqueur on top.

 

Beam Me Up Scotty It’s an interesting mix of coffee, banana and Irish cream liqueurs that create a smooth, creamy shot. This shooter is also often layered directly in the shot glass. Coffee liqueur (e.g. Kahlua) on the bottom and Irish cream (e.g. Baileys) on the top.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 ounce coffee liqueur
  • 1/2 ounce​ crème de banane liqueur
  • 1/2 ounce​ Irish cream liqueur

Steps to Make It

  • Pour the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice.
  • Shake well.
  • Strain into a shot glass.

 

Big Fat Elvis  Bacon, whiskey, peanut butter, and maple syrup meet in one tasty little shooter called the big fat Elvis. It is fun, interesting, and a great excuse to create bacon-flavored whiskey at home.

For this recipe, you will need to create two infusions: bacon fat-washed whiskey and peanut butter-infused amaretto. Both are quite fun and delicious on their own. When paired with maple syrup and applewood-smoked sea salt, they create an unforgettable party shot.

 

Crouching Tiger  The Crouching Tiger is a simple shooter created by Soho Lychee Liqueur. But unlike many others, it tastes really, really good. Maybe too good, in fact.

It’s simply a shaken tequila and lychee liqueur shooter that is so sweet and perfect that everyone can enjoy it. However, it is so tasty that you may find you’ve had one too many.

 

Grasshopper Green Mint-Chocolate Shot  Whenever you hear the name grasshopper in the drink world, you’re sure to find a delicious combination of mint and chocolate. This grasshopper shot recipe follows suit and it is an irresistible little drink that is perfect for any party. ngredients

Steps to Make It

  1. Pour the crème de menthe, crème de cacao, and light cream into a cocktail shaker with ice.
  2. Shake well.
  3. Strain into a shot glass.

 

Genre Discussion:

These are fun genres to read when you know you have a short amount of time, are traveling, or have other reasons for just wanting to take a bit of reading – not a big commitment. These can be perfectly little jewels of stories, fiction or nonfiction; or they have been interesting but not enough content to be sustained for an entire book. They are short and just right for that length.

“Determining what exactly separates a short story from longer fictional formats is problematic. A classic definition of a short story is that one should be able to read it in one sitting, a point most notably made in Edgar Allan Poe‘s essay “The Philosophy of Composition” (1846).[12]

Interpreting this standard nowadays is problematic, because the expected length of “one sitting” may now be briefer than it was in Poe’s era.

Short stories have no set length. In terms of word count there is no official demarcation between an anecdote, a short story, and a novel. Rather, the form’s parameters are given by the rhetorical and practical context in which a given story is produced and considered, so that what constitutes a short story may differ between genres, countries, eras, and commentators.[13] Like the novel, the short story’s predominant shape reflects the demands of the available markets for publication, and the evolution of the form seems closely tied to the evolution of the publishing industry and the submission guidelines of its constituent houses.[14]

As a point of reference for the genre writer, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America define short story length in the Nebula Awards for science fiction submission guidelines as having a word count of fewer than 7,500 words.[15]

Longer stories that cannot be called novels are sometimes considered “novellas” or novelettes and, like short stories, may be collected into the more marketable form of “collections”, often containing previously unpublished stories. Sometimes, authors who do not have the time or money to write a novella or novel decide to write short stories instead, working out a deal with a popular website or magazine to publish them for profit.”

 

“An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author’s own argument — but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have traditionally been sub-classified as formal and informal. Formal essays are characterized by “serious purpose, dignity, logical organization, length,” whereas the informal essay is characterized by “the personal element (self-revelation, individual tastes and experiences, confidential manner), humor, graceful style, rambling structure, unconventionality or novelty of theme,” etc.[1]

Three types of essays outlined by Aldous Huxley are:

  • The personal and the autobiographical: The essayists that feel most comfortable in this pole “write fragments of reflective autobiography and look at the world through the keyhole of anecdote and description”.
  • The objective, the factual, and the concrete particular: The essayists that write from this pole “do not speak directly of themselves, but turn their attention outward to some literary or scientific or political theme. Their art consists of setting forth, passing judgment upon, and drawing general conclusions from the relevant data”.
  • The abstract-universal: In this pole “we find those essayists who do their work in the world of high abstractions”, who are never personal and who seldom mention the particular facts of experience.

Suggested Reading Resources:

 

Our Book Discussion

Now we are a little more familiar with this week’s genre, and we have enjoyed some of our special beverages, let’s get to the book discussion!

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  Dubliners, by James Joyce

“Dubliners is a collection of fifteen short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. They form a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century.

The stories were written when Irish nationalism was at its peak, and a search for a national identity and purpose was raging; at a crossroads of history and culture, Ireland was jolted by various converging ideas and influences. They centre on Joyce’s idea of an epiphany: a moment where a character experiences a life-changing self-understanding or illumination. Many of the characters in Dubliners later appear in minor roles in Joyce’s novel Ulysses. The initial stories in the collection are narrated by child protagonists, and as the stories continue, they deal with the lives and concerns of progressively older people. This is in line with Joyce’s tripartite division of the collection into childhood, adolescence and maturity.”

The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald: A New Collection, by F. Scott Fitzgerald

“Today F. Scott Fitzgerald is better known for his novels, but in his own time, his fame rested squarely on his prolific achievement as one of America’s most gifted writers of stories and novellas. Now, a half-century after the author’s death, the premier Fitzgerald scholar and biographer, Matthew J. Bruccoli, has assembled in one volume the full scope of Fitzgerald’s best short fiction: forty-three sparkling masterpieces, ranging from such classic novellas as “The Rich Boy,” “May Day,” and “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz” to his commercial work for the Saturday Evening Post and its sister “slicks.”
For the reader, these stories will underscore the depth and extraordinary range of Fitzgerald’s literary talents. Furthermore, Professor Bruccoli’s illuminating preface and introductory headnotes establish the literary and biographical settings in which these stories now shine anew with brighter luster than ever.”

 

 Best Short Stories of Anton Chekov, by Anton Chekov

“Considered by many as the greatest short story writer the world has seen, Anton Chekhov changed the genre itself with his spare, impressionistic depictions of Russian life and the human condition.

From characteristically brief, evocative early pieces such as The Huntsman and his masterpiece A Bet to his best-known stories such as The Lady with the Little Toy Dog and The Requiem, this collection of Chekhov’s remarkable short fiction possesses the unmatched power of art to awe and change the reader.

This endlessly pleasing edition, expertly translated, is especially faithful to the meaning of Chekhov’s prose and the unique rhythms of his writing, giving readers an authentic sense of his style and a true understanding of his greatness.”

 

When You are Engulfed in Flames, by David Sedaris

“Trying to make coffee when the water is shut off, David considers using the water in a vase of flowers and his chain of associations takes him from the French countryside to a hilariously uncomfortable memory of buying drugs in a mobile home in rural North Carolina. In essay after essay, Sedaris proceeds from bizarre conundrums of daily life-having a lozenge fall from your mouth into the lap of a fellow passenger on a plane or armoring the windows with LP covers to protect the house from neurotic songbirds-to the most deeply resonant human truths. Culminating in a brilliant account of his venture to Tokyo in order to quit smoking, David Sedaris’s sixth essay collection is a new masterpiece of comic writing from “a writer worth treasuring” “

 

 I See Life Through Rosé-Colored Glasses, by Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella

“In I See Life Through Rosé-Colored Glasses, the best-selling mother/daughter pair is back with another hilarious and heartfelt collection of essays about the possibilities and pitfalls of everyday life.

The New York Times best-selling mother-daughter duo presents more hilarious, witty, and true tales from their lives. Whether they are attempting to hike the Grand Canyon, setting up phone calls with their dogs, or learning what “adulting” means, Lisa and Francesca are guaranteed to make you laugh, cry, and appreciate the funniest moments in life. Like the perfect glass of rosé, they’re always here to help you escape from your own busy, modern life and instead, get lost in theirs. “

 We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy, by Ta-Nehisi Coates

““We were eight years in power” was the lament of Reconstruction-era black politicians as the American experiment in multiracial democracy ended with the return of white supremacist rule in the South. In this sweeping collection of new and selected essays, Ta-Nehisi Coates explores the tragic echoes of that history in our own time: the unprecedented election of a black president followed by a vicious backlash that fueled the election of the man Coates argues is America’s “first white president.”

But the story of these present-day eight years is not just about presidential politics. This book also examines the new voices, ideas, and movements for justice that emerged over this period—and the effects of the persistent, haunting shadow of our nation’s old and unreconciled history. Coates powerfully examines the events of the Obama era from his intimate and revealing perspective—the point of view of a young writer who begins the journey in an unemployment office in Harlem and ends it in the Oval Office, interviewing a president.

We Were Eight Years in Power features Coates’s iconic essays first published in The Atlantic, including “Fear of a Black President,” “The Case for Reparations,” and “The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration,” along with eight fresh essays that revisit each year of the Obama administration through Coates’s own experiences, observations, and intellectual development, capped by a bracingly original assessment of the election that fully illuminated the tragedy of the Obama era. We Were Eight Years in Power is a vital account of modern America, from one of the definitive voices of this historic moment.”

  We Should All Be Feminists, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

” In this personal, eloquently-argued essay—adapted from the much-admired TEDx talk of the same name—Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century, one rooted in inclusion and awareness. Drawing extensively on her own experiences and her deep understanding of the often masked realities of sexual politics, here is one remarkable author’s exploration of what it means to be a woman now—and an of-the-moment rallying cry for why we should all be feminists.”

 

 Stone Mattress: Nine Wicked Tales, by Margaret Atwood

“In this extraordinary collection, Margaret Atwood gives us nine unforgettable tales that reveal the grotesque, delightfully wicked facets of humanity. “Alphinland,” the first of three loosely linked tales, introduces us to a fantasy writer who is guided through a stormy winter evening by the voice of her late husband. In “Lusus Naturae,” a young woman, monstrously transformed by a genetic defect, is mistaken for a vampire. And in the title story, a woman who has killed four husbands discovers an opportunity to exact vengeance on the first man who ever wronged her.

By turns thrilling, funny, and thought-provoking, Stone Mattress affirms Atwood as our greatest creator of worlds—and as an incisive chronicler of our darkest impulses. “

 

  The Thing Around Your Neck, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

“In these twelve riveting stories, the award-winning Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie explores the ties that bind men and women, parents and children, Africa and the United States. Searing and profound, suffused with beauty, sorrow, and longing, these stories map, with Adichie’s signature emotional wisdom, the collision of two cultures and the deeply human struggle to reconcile them.”

 

Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances, by Neil Gaiman

“In this new anthology, Neil Gaiman pierces the veil of reality to reveal the enigmatic, shadowy world that lies beneath. Trigger Warning includes previously published pieces of short fiction—stories, verse, and a very special Doctor Who story that was written for the fiftieth anniversary of the beloved series in 2013—as well “Black Dog,” a new tale that revisits the world of American Gods, exclusive to this collection.

Trigger Warning explores the masks we all wear and the people we are beneath them to reveal our vulnerabilities and our truest selves. Here is a rich cornucopia of horror and ghosts stories, science fiction and fairy tales, fabulism and poetry that explore the realm of experience and emotion. In Adventure Story—a thematic companion to The Ocean at the End of the Lane—Gaiman ponders death and the way people take their stories with them when they die. His social media experience A Calendar of Tales are short takes inspired by replies to fan tweets about the months of the year—stories of pirates and the March winds, an igloo made of books, and a Mother’s Day card that portends disturbances in the universe. Gaiman offers his own ingenious spin on Sherlock Holmes in his award-nominated mystery tale The Case of Death and Honey. And Click-Clack the Rattlebag explains the creaks and clatter we hear when we’re all alone in the darkness.

A sophisticated writer whose creative genius is unparalleled, Gaiman entrances with his literary alchemy, transporting us deep into the realm of imagination, where the fantastical becomes real and the everyday incandescent. Full of wonder and terror, surprises and amusements, Trigger Warning is a treasury of delights that engage the mind, stir the heart, and shake the soul from one of the most unique and popular literary artists of our day.”

 

 

Conclusion

Thank you so much for joining us for this discussion with our Reading with Libraries podcast book group! A special thank you to our Guest Host Emily!

Join us next Thursday with another genre, more guest hosts for our book group, and more books to share and discuss. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast so you don’t miss a single episode! And if you want to hear more about the work we do in libraries – which is always interesting! – subscribe to our podcast Linking Our Libraries.

Bring your book ideas, bring your beverages, and join us back here on Thursday!