Wednesday, April 09, 2008

What Short Stories Would You Recommend?

Observation #1: I am highly susceptible* to book pimping** from people***.

*But there is no guarantee that I will actually like and enjoy it.

**Provided I can somehow get a hold of it within reasonable costs (I'm currently trying out several book ordering alternatives).

***Usually from friends, people with good taste, authors, and editors.

Observation #2: I am currently in book-loaning mode.*

*The quirkiest response I've received so far is "I'm not yet done with the first batch of books you sent!"

Both observations however have caused me to ponder what short stories you would recommend under the following circumstances:

a) comforting someone (i.e. friends/relative just died)
b) courting someone (i.e. offering the story as a gift)
c) appeasing someone who's hungry

Recommended stories are great but what interests me more are the motivations for recommending such stories. For example, in comforting someone, do you offer a mournful story (to sympathize with their situation) or a comedic/joyous story (to take their mind off the circumstance)? When courting someone, do you offer a romance story, a story you think the other person will like, or a personal favorite (all three are not mutually exclusive)?

No comments: