Book Meme - Day 17

Day 17 - Favorite story or collection of stories (short stories, novellas, novelettes, etc.)


I don't really have a favorite one of these.  In general I find short stories a rather frustrating literary form.  You are just getting into the characters, plot, whatever, and then it finishes.  Even the best ones, the ones that do encapsulate memorable character and plot and a satisfactory conclusion in the short space of time, leave me feeling that I want more.


But two memorable ones that I have enjoyed over the last ten years, and hold pride of place on one of my many, many bookshelves, would be:


Dreaming Down Under, a 1998 anthology of speculative Australian fiction, edited by Jack Dann and Janeen Webb, and Dreaming Again, another similar anthology edited by Jack Dann and published in 2008.  


There are lots of interesting, weird, satisfactory (ish) and unsatisfactory stories in these books, plenty to make one think, and the ten years between them allows one to have interesting thoughts about the state of the speculative fiction output in Australia over time.   (Healthy and productive, in general).


When I was a child the only short stories I ever really liked were collections of myths and legends.  I devoured them.  Norse and Greek/Roman were my favorites, but any culture would do!  I haven't read any of them for a great many years, but just thinking about them makes me want to find some and reread them.


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Finding time to blog has been proving difficult recently!  There has always been someone else queuing up for the computer.  Two adults and two teenagers and one computer makes for log-jams.


While sorting through my late father's books I have actually come across a collection of myths written for children that belonged to me a long time ago.  I had thought that I had got all of my old books but obviously this one slipped through somehow.  It brought back good memories, something that is sadly lacking when I think about my father.  I have decided to set up an online shop, probably on Ebay, to sell off a lot of what he left Baby Bear.  She doesn't want them, but the money, if there is any, could go towards a car or something in the next couple of years.  And I have long wanted to try my hand at second-hand bookselling, and doing it this way costs me very little upfront.  So watch this space.  I am spending time most days sorting and valueing books.  The house is full of boxes, which is depressing.  But it is also fun in a way.


The kids are sick again.  I think it might be time we got everyone taking multi vitamins.  Monday was one of those days - called to the school at 12.45 to pick up one of them, and 1.45 to pick up the other.  It's a good thing we are a 5 minute walk away!


George is in Sydney, and, probably, in Cairns later today, coming back tomorrow.  We haven't planned anything much for Father's Day because he refuses to say what he wants, which usually means, quite genuinely, that he doesn't really want anything.


I am supposed to be taking Baby Bear to see West Side Story on Saturday, so she had better recover from whatever flu-like virus she has at the moment!  It is her birthday present (two months late, but it wasn't on in July and it;s what she wanted).