Stories that stay with you

Soccer Mom · Jul 26, 2007

Recently, I got a wonderful PM from someone who told me that a story of mine really stayed with them and they had thought about it several times since reading it.

:snoopy:

To me this is the highest compliment and it was very timely since this has been a brutal week rejection-wise.

It made me think about stories that have really stayed with me.

Recently, I read Neil Gaiman's new collection of shorts, M is for Magic.
There is a story in there that has haunted me and I was thrilled to see that it's part of something he is expanding into a novel. I loved every second of that story and was disappointed when it was over. The Witch's Headstone is the name of it. It's BRILLIANT.

That's just a recent example. I can think of more, especially from Ray Bradbury, but that was a while ago.

What story or stories have stayed with you?

misslissy · Jul 26, 2007

There are two short stories I have read that will probably stay with me my whole life. One, I read three or four years ago and the other, only a few months ago, but both had big enough of an impact on me to stay in my mind. One was All Summer In a Day by Ray Bradbury or at least I think that's the title and the other is The Lottery, but I don't remember who that one is by.

Bo Sullivan · Jul 26, 2007

Thomas Hardy - Short Stories

I just wish that Thomas Hardy had expanded his short stories into novels. His work is magnificent in every way and each time I finished a short story I wished I could have been reading on and on. I was so sad when I finished the book which is called 'Life's Little Ironies.' In fact I cried! I can always re-read the book I suppose.

Barbara

Shwebb · Jul 26, 2007

Shirley Jackson wrote "The Lottery." Yeah, that was a great story. They made it into a tv movie, though, which was really, really bad.

"Flowers for Algernon" is another good one.

jennifer75 · Jul 26, 2007

Well, I'm still a rookie reader, so most of the things I remember are things I was forced to read in school. But, 14 years out of school I still remember enjoying and enjoy remembering Sidhartha. I remember the mental images I had while reading. I remember finding myself sitting under a tree or in love with the girl and I remember how he felt to encounter all of the changes in his life. This was the next best thing to meditation for me, reading this story. I bought the book some time ago to re-read, but haven't yet. I think I just might start tonight.

TheIT · Jul 26, 2007

"Absent Thee from Felicity Awhile"

I think I read it in Analog magazine, and I believe the author is Somtow Sucharatkil. The story tells about aliens who come to Earth to study humans. The aliens throw the entire planet into a time loop so they can get a truly in-depth study done, oh, and by the way, this will go on for about a million years. To everyone on Earth, they're repeating the same events of the same day over and over and over...

Every time I have a really bad day I think to myself, "At least I only have to do this once."

RLB · Jul 26, 2007

If we're talking shorts, I once read through those by Roald Dahl, and many of them have stayed with me, notably the one about the tattoo, the one about the leg of lamb (or was it mutton?), and the one about the birth of Hitler.

Perhaps it was because I was so surprised at how dark and twisted they were, coming from the author of Matila and BFG. Good reading though.

Soccer Mom · Jul 26, 2007

Oh, I love the Dahl story about the wife and the leg of mutton. The perfect murder!

There are two Ray Bradbury's that have always stayed with me, even though I read them about twenty-five years ago. One is The Small Assassin and the other is the one where people have brief lifespans, like only seven days. I can't remember the name.

TheIT · Jul 26, 2007

Soccer Mom said:
Oh, I love the Dahl story about the wife and the leg of mutton. The perfect murder!

Is that "Lamb to the Slaughter"? I remember seeing an Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode with the same storyline and hadn't realized it was originally a short story.

RLB · Jul 26, 2007

TheIT said:
Is that "Lamb to the Slaughter"? I remember seeing an Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode with the same storyline and hadn't realized it was originally a short story.

SPOILER ALERT for Lamb to the Slaughter

I'm not familiar with the adaptation you're referring to, but is it about a woman who bludgeons her husband to death with a lamb chomp and then cooks it up and serves it to the police investigating the murder?

TheIT · Jul 26, 2007

RLB said:
SPOILER ALERT for Lamb to the Slaughter

I'm not familiar with the adaptation you're referring to, but is it about a woman who bludgeons her husband to death with a lamb chomp and then cooks it up and serves it to the police investigating the murder?

Yep, that's it. Great episode. The last scene is an image of her sitting quietly in the living room while the police officers chow down on the leg of lamb.

sunna · Jul 26, 2007

Novels -
Andre Dubus III House of Sand and Fog (which I will now shut up about, as I think I've mentioned it 10 times on this board since I joined...)
Clive Barker's The Great and Secret Show
Anita Diamant's The Red Tent
CJ Cherryh's Voyager in Night - what a mind-f**k that was!
Wally Lamb's She's Come Undone

Shorts -
Carver's Cathedral
an absolutely brilliant short story of Barker's called The Body Politic

Well. I'll just stop there.

Silver King · Jul 26, 2007

I was thinking of shorts I hadn't read in a long time, perhaps twenty years or so, as a test to see which have stayed with me the longest. I came up with these, listed in no particular order:

The Rocking Horse Winner, by D.H. Lawrence

The Girls in Their Summer Dresses, by Irwin Shaw

Haircut, by Ring Lardner

[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Geneva]The Hairpin, by Guy de Maupassant

Hunters in the Snow, by Tobias Wolff

The Pit and the Pendulum, by Edgar Allen Poe

A Telephone Call, by Dorothy Parker

To Build a Fire, by Jack London

Regret, by Kate Chopin

The Open Boat, by Stephen Crane

The Legend of Sleepy Hallow, by Washington Irving

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, by Ambrose Bierce

On the Gulls' Road, by Willa Cather

The Snows of Kilimanjaro, by Ernest Hemingway.

As I wrote the list, I thought of about a hundred others. Should I list them all?

[/FONT]

Alvah · Jul 26, 2007

Stories That Stay With You

Stories that stick with me:
All That You Love Will be Carried Away--Stephen King in the book
Everything's Eventual.

Bartelby the Scrivener -- by Melville

Among children's books, that I read to my daughter:

Miss Rumphius--by Barbara Cooney

Merle the High Flying Squirrel -- by Bill Peet

Mandy-Jane · Jul 26, 2007

I don't really read short stories all that much and I occasionally dip into a novel. But 13 years ago I saw a play called "Someone Who'll Watch Over Me", a brilliant piece about three men taken hostage and held captive in Beirut. I have to say, that's a story that's stayed with me. I don't know whether that's because of the story or the dramatic production of it, but I have never been able to get it out of my mind.

Now our own theatre group is doing a production of it, and I'm directing. I so hope I can do it justice so that in years from now, someone else will say "oh that play "Someone Who'll Watch Over Me" was just fantastic. I just can't get it out of my head!"

Mom'sWrite · Jul 26, 2007

Soccer Mom said:
What story or stories have stayed with you?

I'm so glad that you had your day brightened in this manner. You deserve it.

There are two stories that for reasons that I don't completely understand have stuck with me for many, many years. The first is D. H. Lawrence's The Rocking Horse Winner and the other is Susan Glaspell's A Jury of Her Peers. Both are stark and bleak, I can't think why they made such an imprint.

Mom'sWrite · Jul 26, 2007

In HS I had to write a term paper on James Thurber. It was the most enjoyable project I ever worked on (and I even got a sweet note from his widow.)

James Thurber's The Catbird Seat is my all-time favorite. But I can also never forget that "the ring of freedom is far better in your ears than through your nose." From Fables for Our Time

CoriSCapnSkip · Jul 27, 2007

Soccer Mom said:
There are two Ray Bradbury's that have always stayed with me, even though I read them about twenty-five years ago. One is The Small Assassin and the other is the one where people have brief lifespans, like only seven days. I can't remember the name.

"Frost and Fire," rumored to be an upcoming movie!

Kate Thornton · Jul 27, 2007

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Soccer Mom · Jul 27, 2007

CoriSCapnSkip said:
"Frost and Fire," rumored to be an upcoming movie!

Yes! That's it! Now I can look for it and re-read it. Thanks!. :snoopy:

Stories that stay with you

Soccer Mom

Crypto-fascist

misslissy

Only a sassbucket sometimes.

Bo Sullivan

Shwebb

She's the creepy-looking dude

jennifer75

SupahStah!

TheIT

Infuriatingly Theoretical

RLB

bundled

Soccer Mom

Crypto-fascist

TheIT

Infuriatingly Theoretical

RLB

bundled

TheIT

Infuriatingly Theoretical

sunna

Silver King

Megalops Erectus

Alvah

Life is what you make of it.

Mandy-Jane

venturing ever further into the unknown

Mom'sWrite

Service with a smile

Mom'sWrite

Service with a smile

CoriSCapnSkip

New kid, be gentle!

Kate Thornton

Still Happy to be Here. Or Anywhere

Soccer Mom

Crypto-fascist