Hilariuos/lighthearted short stories/novellas you'd recommend

Обсуждение книг на английском языке, домашнее чтение, правила чтения на английском языке. Развитие письменной речи. Эссе, деловое письмо и другие виды письменных работ.

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VictorB
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#1

Сообщение VictorB »

Besides being my feeble attempt at enlivening this board, this post is also supposed to be an invite to sharing modern American fun pieces of writing, shorter than novels.
And let them be those that you, despite what may be currently going on with the globe, do keep enjoying the reading of, or have just read through and felt like sharing with someone who, rain or shine, is into this kid of literary stuff.

To set the ball rolling, here's the one I'm half through with at the moment.

Let's Play King, a novella by Lewis Sinclair (written around 1930)
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#2

Сообщение Juliemiracle »

I think a lot of short stories by O. Henry (The Ransom of Red Chief etc) will qualify. Some are not light-hearted but quite life-affirming (The Gift of the Magi or The Last Leaf).
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#3

Сообщение VictorB »

Juliemiracle пишет: 26 мар 2022, 15:07 I think a lot of short stories by O. Henry (The Ransom of Red Chief etc) will qualify. Some are not light-hearted but quite life-affirming (The Gift of the Magi or The Last Leaf).
Oh, I'd prefer those known to nearly every second ESL learner advanced at reading skill learner to be excluded.
I should have written so. Thanks for the comment, though :)
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#4

Сообщение VictorB »

Juliemiracle, oh, how about Fitzgerald's The Ice Palace you mentioned you'd read before?
Do you recommend it? I'm asking because it's going to be the next one for me to give it a go:)
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#5

Сообщение Juliemiracle »

VictorB,
it's fine if you like Fitzgerald's style and are interested the after-effects of the war between the North & the South.
P.S. It's neither hilarious not light-hearted at all.
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#6

Сообщение Chaika »

The author is Sinclair Lewis. It’s an extremely rare first name.

Also I would like to know whether y’all can download the free kindle books from Amazon, many of which can be called light-hearted.
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#7

Сообщение VictorB »

Juliemiracle пишет: 26 мар 2022, 18:00 if you like Fitzgerald's style and are interested the after-effects of the war between the North & the South.
Juliemiracle, thanks so much. I'll definitely give it a try despite that I can't say I very much like his writing style.
Juliemiracle пишет: 26 мар 2022, 18:00 It's neither hilarious not light-hearted at all.
It doesn't matter since Easy Breezy called it "a fun story, too" in a parallel thread, which means that she did enjoy the read, which means a lot to me. Besides, it's a novelette, isn't it? So, reading it through isn't going to take weeks :-)
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#8

Сообщение VictorB »

Chaika пишет: 26 мар 2022, 18:07 Also I would like to know whether y’all can download the free kindle books from Amazon, many of which can be called light-hearted.
LOL! Chaika, you just list some of those,will ya?
Kindle, Amazone... Dear friend, let the questions of where, how, and either for free or for money we get them
be the least of your worries :)))
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#9

Сообщение VictorB »

VictorB пишет: 26 мар 2022, 19:15 where, how, and either for free or for money we get them
Chaika, do you think it was easy for me to find here anything written by William Saroyan?
And I mean both on paper and online, booktrackers included.
But having failed to find it myself on Monday, on Friday I had it delivered to my door step neither for money not for free, but in exchange for something I happened to have which the other guy hadn't had but waned it even more than I wanted a Saroyan :)
Here it is
Изображение
So, please, don't hesitate to share with us what books you have in mind that you think are worth reading :)
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#10

Сообщение Juliemiracle »

VictorB пишет: 26 мар 2022, 19:03 Besides, it's a novelette, isn't it? So, reading it through isn't going to take weeks
It is, it's only 9 chapters, I think. Besides, it has some really nice metaphors: the ice palace itself, cat-people & dog-people and a perfect description of a southern belle (which isn't surprising, given the fact that his wife had been one before she went bonkers) and the bitter feeling of the by-gone era of the south.
Come to think of it, I also like his short story 'Bernice Bobs her Hair' from 'Flappers & Philosophers'. Again, it's rather cruel in the way girls treat each other and not light-hearted at all.
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#11

Сообщение VictorB »

Juliemiracle,
You've been so kind guiding me to what might be my perfect cup of tea in reading. Highly appreciated, indeed:)
I wonder if you have also read anything by the author (not an American, though) of the book I'm about to order?
I vaguely remember meeting with a couple of his flash fiction pieces in old (published back in the USSR times) texbooks, so the name does ring a bell, yet rather distanty to be sure.
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Saki (H.H. Munro) stands alongside Anton Chekhov and O Henry as a master of the short story. His extraordinary stories are a mixture of humorous satire, irony and the macabre, in which the stupidities and hypocrisy of conventional society are viciously pilloried. This collection includes Sredni Vastor and The Unrest Cure.
I'f you're familiar with some of his work, do you think it may comply with my current request for something lighthearted/humorous?
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#12

Сообщение Juliemiracle »

VictorB пишет: 26 мар 2022, 21:52 I wonder if you have also read anything by the author (not an American, though) of the book I'm about to order?
No. But I really like the book cover. Reminds me of some cubist paintings I love looking at.
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#13

Сообщение Easy-Breezy English »

I've recently tried Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris - moderately amusing, and One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories by B.J. Novak - somewhat vulgar and not that exciting, but I'm still bearing with it.
Victor, knowing your affinity for interesting vocabulary items and style, maybe try John Cheever?

Me, I'm on Tennessee Williams at the moment. Not particularly cheery. :-)
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#14

Сообщение VictorB »

Easy-Breezy English пишет: 27 мар 2022, 13:23 Victor, knowing your affinity for interesting vocabulary items and style, maybe try John Cheever?
Oh, thank you very much for mentioning the name.
I remember reading a couple of his short stories.
They were somewhat abridged (without any adaptation) versions chosen by the author of the series of cousebooks "Read and Speak", L. Golovchinskaya - if my memory still serves me right :)
Or was it her "Совершенсткуй свой английский" course? - I can't recollect distinctly ...
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#15

Сообщение VictorB »

VictorB пишет: 26 мар 2022, 14:38 Let's Play King, a novella by Lewis Sinclair (written around 1930)
That was the piece of writing with which I embarked upon my journey through the body of his work.
The Willow Walk being the second, I'm going on with my exploration into the literary heritage he had left.
Indeed, being the first American writer awarded (1930) the Noble Prize in Literature "for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humor, new types of characters" does mean something, does it not?
Thank God there's still quite a lot of his work that can be found on the net:)
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#16

Сообщение VictorB »

Juliemiracle пишет: 26 мар 2022, 23:30 VictorB пишет: ↑26 мар 2022, 21:52
I wonder if you have also read anything by the author (not an American, though) of the book I'm about to order?
Juliemiracle пишет: 26 мар 2022, 23:30 No. But I really like the book cover
Juliemiracle,
And I really like its contents.
As it is, H. H. Munro (Saki) wrote quite a few hilarious shorts.
The punch line in Laura , for one, has nearly killed me))
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#17

Сообщение VictorB »

Once Saki's short stories were mentioned, here's the link to the audio versions of some of them,
really very short pieces of writing:
https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/regi ... des/recent
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