Money, Meet Mouth

Saturday, January 12, 2008

It's been a while since I've taken any sort of reading challenge (I think the last one was my 50 book challenge in 2006, which I barely managed to pull off) so when I heard about the short story reading challenge, deciding whether to be involved or not was a no brainer. I write short stories; therefore I should read short stories. Plus, it's kind of on par with my decision to read more things that I should have read whist getting my MFA and studying fiction again. So I signed up.

My choice is Option #5, the "build your own" option. Of course, I'm borrowing from the other options and incorporating that I read more authors that I have not read before.

Books I am planning to read:

• The Woman in the Woods by Ann Joslin Williams
• Best American Short Stories 2005 edited by Lorrie Moore
• Collected Stories by William Trevor

And before you say it, yes, I know the fact that I haven't read any William Trevor is a sin. I am working to redeem myself.

That's a start. I'm not going to plan anything beyond that. Instead, I'll be following the short story challenge blog and looking to other lit blogs to find other new and noteworthy stories to read. Suggestions, of course, are always welcome.

If you're one of the two people reading this, then I want to challenge you to take the challenge as well. If you're hesitant, try Option #1: reading 10 short stories by 10 different authors over 2008. That's not even a story a month! If you're more daring, try one of the other options. Either way, let's help make 2008 the year of the short story.