Exceptional Books discussion

In our original discussion, we had wanted to break the idea of a "top 100" author down into specific genres, because we found that comparing authors with works that were vastly different was very difficult. I can't wait to hear your comments and suggestions!

Roald Dahl, Edgar Allan Poe, Flannery O'Connor, etc.

My favorite story by O'Connor is ''Revelation'' ... for all of us little kids and adults who have ever been talked about in the third person as if we werent even there ... I try to read at least one of her stories once a month ... exhilarating and exhausting .. another good one is ''A Good Man Is Hard To Find''

I haven't read "Revelation," but I have definitely read "A Good Man is Hard to Find"! I finished reading it, and was like, HOLY SMOKES THAT WAS DISTURBING!!!

Katherine Anne Porter

Hemingway, Ernest

william trevor ''the raising of elvira tremlett'' ...
denis johnson ''out on bail'' ...
margaret atwood ''death by landscape''...
alice munro ''DEEP-HOLES'' ...
robert stone ''helping'' .. and every story in that collection called BEAR AND HIS DAUGHTERS

I SHOOK HANDS WITH ROBERT STONE ... FUN WITH PROBLEMS, his collection has one of the funniest stories i've erer read but i cant find my copy

does a song count as s short story? ... ''madame george'' by Van Morrison is my all time favorite song and it tells a story and it's full of empathy that would rival Alice Munro at her best

J. S. wrote: "I haven't read "Revelation," but I have definitely read "A Good Man is Hard to Find"! I finished reading it, and was like, HOLY SMOKES THAT WAS DISTURBING!!!"

J.S., I read "A Good Man is Hard To Find" almost two years ago for the first time in class and I was SHOCKED! Do you have any other pieces by Flannery O'Conner that stand out in your mind?

These all sound amazing! Has anyone ever read the work of Caitlin Macy? I recently read "The Red Coat"... not sure what to think of it! Also, any thoughts on short stories by Steinbeck or Wharton?

1 Roald Dahl
2 Edgar Allen Poe
3 Flannery O'Connor
4 Katherine Anne Porter
5 Ernest Hemingway
6 William Trevor
7 Margaret Atwood
8 Denis Johnson
9 Alice Munro
10 Robert Stone
11 Van Morrison

Daphne Du Maurier. And Stephen King writes some great short stories.

i LIKE ALL 11 OF THESE WRITERS...
HEM; ''hILLS LIKE WHITE ELEPHANTS.''
TREVOR ''THE RAISING OF ELVIRA TREMLETT''
ATWOOD ''DEATH BY LANDSCAPE''
JOHNSON ''OUT ON BAIL''
MUNRO ''DEEP-HOLES''
STONE ''HELPING''
VAN MORRISON; ''MADAME GEORGE'' is as good as any piece of poetry ever written

KA PORTER; that story about the American living in Berlin i cant remember the name of it but it's a great story...

JS: I'll send you a whole list of F O'connor to read and in what sequence ... if you dont hear from me in ten days remind me ... ''Good Country People'' comes to mind ... There are many people out there who dont like her i guess because she's so abrasive

Whenever I hear or read the term "short story", I immediatly think John Cheever.

Chuck wrote: "JS: I'll send you a whole list of F O'connor to read and in what sequence ... if you dont hear from me in ten days remind me ... ''Good Country People'' comes to mind ... There are many people out ..."

Love her. Everything she wrote is good. I read "Artificial Nigger" and thought she couldn't have written anything more disturbing than that, but "The Violent Bear It Away" and everyting else is soooo good. Her biography is interesting. I can't imagine what else she could have written had she not died at 39. BTW, she loved peacocks and raised them and all other kind of fowl.