Most employees have an hour or so during the day to take off and get something to eat. For book lovers, there is nothing better than grabbing a salad or sandwich and relaxing on a park bench with their favorite lunchtime short stories. Everyone has their favorite tales that can be read and enjoyed in one sitting. Some classic examples follow in no particular order of fame, subject matter, or significance.
Margaret Atwood's characters are always memorable, and Verna is no exception. In "Stone Mattress", she notices a man from her past at a pre-cruise reception. He was a one time suitor who got her pregnant and humiliated and abandoned her. Verna decides he deserves to die, like her other husbands did, at her own hand. She uses a billion year old fossil to accomplish it.
Ernest Hemingway readers have strong opinions about his work. One that most will agree succeeds is "The Snows of Kilimanjaro". This story is set in Africa. Harry and Helen are there to escape their life in Paris, and Harry, it turns out, has a fatal gangrene infection. Before he dies, Harry thinks back to his past loves and the decisions that lead to his current situation.
"Three Questions" is a parable Leo Tolstoy wrote between all those lengthy novels he is so well known for. This story is about a king who sets out to find the answer to the three most important questions in life. He is seeking a wise hermit and ends up tending a seriously wounded man. In the end the king finds out he already has the answers to his questions.
Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, became a household name with the publication of "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County". This is a cautionary story about Jim Smiley, a man ready to place a bet on anything, even how high a frog can jump. Jim met his match in a stranger who saw him coming, cheated him out of his money and took off.
F. Scott Fitzgerald is best known for his literary theme of great wealth destroying glittering but weak men and women during the Age of Jazz. John Unger is no exception when he meets Percy at prep school. Percy boasts of enormous family wealth obtained from the acquisition of "The Diamond As Big As the Ritz". Family secrets nearly destroy several lives.
James Joyce was a prolific short story writer. One of many examples is "Eveline". It's the tale of a young woman who has to choose between her brutal family life and picking up and taking off with her lover. She has to decide between what she knows and the unknown possibilities she is being offered.
Book lovers find it easy to get lost in the stories they read. These may be novels of a thousand pages or short stories of a thousand words. As long as a story is well told, it doesn't really matter.
Margaret Atwood's characters are always memorable, and Verna is no exception. In "Stone Mattress", she notices a man from her past at a pre-cruise reception. He was a one time suitor who got her pregnant and humiliated and abandoned her. Verna decides he deserves to die, like her other husbands did, at her own hand. She uses a billion year old fossil to accomplish it.
Ernest Hemingway readers have strong opinions about his work. One that most will agree succeeds is "The Snows of Kilimanjaro". This story is set in Africa. Harry and Helen are there to escape their life in Paris, and Harry, it turns out, has a fatal gangrene infection. Before he dies, Harry thinks back to his past loves and the decisions that lead to his current situation.
"Three Questions" is a parable Leo Tolstoy wrote between all those lengthy novels he is so well known for. This story is about a king who sets out to find the answer to the three most important questions in life. He is seeking a wise hermit and ends up tending a seriously wounded man. In the end the king finds out he already has the answers to his questions.
Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, became a household name with the publication of "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County". This is a cautionary story about Jim Smiley, a man ready to place a bet on anything, even how high a frog can jump. Jim met his match in a stranger who saw him coming, cheated him out of his money and took off.
F. Scott Fitzgerald is best known for his literary theme of great wealth destroying glittering but weak men and women during the Age of Jazz. John Unger is no exception when he meets Percy at prep school. Percy boasts of enormous family wealth obtained from the acquisition of "The Diamond As Big As the Ritz". Family secrets nearly destroy several lives.
James Joyce was a prolific short story writer. One of many examples is "Eveline". It's the tale of a young woman who has to choose between her brutal family life and picking up and taking off with her lover. She has to decide between what she knows and the unknown possibilities she is being offered.
Book lovers find it easy to get lost in the stories they read. These may be novels of a thousand pages or short stories of a thousand words. As long as a story is well told, it doesn't really matter.
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