O. Henry - The Gift of the Magi

O. Henry has always been one of my favorite short story writers. His stories always have a twist at the end. This one is a classic and is often raised as a Christmas story. I'm not religious, but this story does get across what the spirit of Christmas is all about.

I will post on a few more from O. Henry.

Poe - The Angel of the Odd

This one took me by surprise. I found it online in a public domain book of humorous short stories. Like most folks, I hadn't really considered Poe as a humor writer, so was interested to see how he did. It was good. It was a little tough reading because he uses phonetic spelling to give the title character an accent, however once I got a handle on that, it was good.

Read it. Learn a side of Poe you haven't known. (I will scare up - pun intended - some other stories of Poe at a later point.)

Twain - The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calevaras County

Mark Twain. What can I say? Obviously, one of the most well known writers of his time. Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, and many others. I had to dig up a short story from Twain to read. This short story is really quite a classic in its own right. Twain has such a way of capturing a sense of the "Americana" of his era. As usual, he has a unique way of interjecting humor into most of his works.
Read this story if you have some time and enjoy.

Irving - The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Well, it had been a long time since I had the pleasure of reading this story. Another American classic based in the Hudson Valley where I grew up. This story has been made into movies and animated cartoons.

Really, really good and worth the read. A must have for any short list of American short stories.

King - 1408

3 July 2007
Stephen King
1408

Read this second King flying from Newburgh to Sarasota via Atlanta. This story is the one which the movie of the same name is based on. A friend in New York had seen the movie, and the comings/trailer looked good. Very nice little story. I can see why it was selected for the movie is clear. There are a lot of things that could be done with this story in that format.

Personally, I haven't seen the movie yet, but I would imagine that if you haven't seen it yet, I can't imagine why the usual maxim of 'read it before you see it' wouldn't hold.

Worth the read.

King - Autopsy Room 4

3 July 2007
Stephen King
Autopsy Room 4

First King I had read since probably Carrie in the 70's. Great writer. This was a really interesting story. Scary in the old TV show sense, i.e. Twilight Zone, Hitchcock, etc. Read on the plane from Newburgh to Sarasota via Atlanta.

Irving - Rip Van Winkle

12 July 2007
Rip Van Winkle
Washington Irving

What a great story! This one really is a classic of true early American Literature. Irving's writing is clearly one of the best of his time and genera. I personally appreciate Irving's writings, having grown up in the "Katskills" which is the setting for the story.

Definitely put this one on your "short" list!