MENAGE Day 4: Rounding it up.

Good morning!

Okay, you may, in fact, be getting a bit tired of these two books*, but there's one big question I have yet to ask:

What do you like (or not like) about both stories and essays? Which would you rather read at the end of the day?

Were the stories in Dangerous Laughter the types of stories you'd normally read? Do you feel the essays in The Braindead Megaphone were well-executed?

*Tomorrow we'll truly conclude with one last question, and a call for votes for the two books in the next Menage. Remember, if you've commented any time this week, you're in the drawing for free copies of the two books. So start thinking about books you'd like to read and vote for tomorrow!

Comments

[Citizen Reader]

I used to really love short stories, but I think that's because the books around my house were from decades earlier--one of my favorite little paperbacks ever was from the 1960s and had this great story called "Denton's Daughter" in it; I'm also a big Dorothy Parker fan--but then it started to feel like I didn't understand any of the stories I was reading. I think this was the problem I was having with DL. I know there's stuff going on in those stories, but I was literally too lazy to stop and figure it out.

Somebody mentioned earlier that they enjoyed the open-endedness of the stories in DL as well, which I'll admit is something I don't like. I do rather like my fiction and stories to have an ending, and an ending that makes some sort of sense to me. I don't really want to figure it out, or guess how things might turn out--that seems a little too much like real life to me.

On the other hand, I have come to love essays. For me, when they're done really well, they're lovely in their completeness. Beginning, middle, end. I like an essay that begins with the little gem "It began, like so many things in those days, with a nun." (In the essay "Thank you, Esther Forbes.") and ends with the beautiful sum-up "So thank you, Esther Forbes. I never knew you, it turned out your Boston never existed, but that nonexistent town, and that boy made out of words, changed things for me forever." Frankly, I think I have become such a lazy reader that I want authors to do all the work for me, and in essays they seem more to do that than in stories.

I wonder very much which is really harder to write.

[Tripp]

Essays vs. short fiction is a tough one. To be honest, I generally prefer long form works, but I quite like political and analytical essays and short stories that....I can't quite put my finger on. For example, I love Stephen King's short works, sometimes more than his longer books. Somerset Maugham's Ashenden short stories are incredible. There is a Katherine Mansfield short story called Miss Brill (http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/1349/) that is one of my favorite works of fiction. So many of them seem to lack a point though, that I tend to avoid them unless someone recommends them.

For essays, I tend to like the New Yorker style, short, informative, with a strong, but not overbearing point of view. I particularly like the sort that are a mix of reporting and reflection.

At the end of the day, I probably read more essays, but they their impact tends to be more transitory, while I still recall the best of the short stories.

[Rick Roche]

I agree that it is a difficult choice. I think some of the most charming works I've ever read were essays. Some memoirs that work well are really collections of essays. I am now reading Thames: A Biography and it is really well-connected essays. But I do truly enjoy short stories and I think I remember them better over time than I remember essays. I'll vote short stories.

[Citizen Reader]

Tripp, Rick,
You both raise excellent points. I never really thought of "memorable" as a strong indicator for preference, but that does make sense.

Tripp,
I will have to look into the Katherine Mansfield story--I always did like her. I'll disagree with you on the not like the overbearing point of view--I'm a huge fan of Matt Taibbi and that guy doesn't mince words (or swear words).

Rick,
I really liked "Thames" too. It was my first Peter Ackroyd and I'm going to get more. I think I'll have to come down on the side of essays though--especially modern essays. I have so much better luck finding great essays to read than I do short stories. Why is that, I wonder? And why aren't there as many essay collections listed on that NY Times Notable book list as there are story collections? Looking at the NYT lists for the past few years, I've been rather surprised at how many story collections there are there.

[Tripp]

CR,

I like Taibbi too, in small doses at least and the dose question gets to my frequent problem with essays. I have an unfortunate tendency of viewing unfinished books as unfinished business and put off reading other books until I am done. I think essay books are probably best read intermittently, but I have trouble with that. I recently received two library of America collections (one on film criticism and one on true crime) that will put this behavior to the test.

Tripp