Joe Hill's Twentieth Century Ghosts was the last collection (by one author) that I read, and it was fantastic. Some longer, some shorter, just wonderful.

Oh cool. I will add this to Crack List since I love his papa so much.

It's also not like the bookstores abound in short story collections anymore, and unless you're seeking out lit mags or reading online, short stories are generally in short supply anymore.

Every year I get the latest "Best Short Stories of [year]" for Christmas. I love them because I only get The New Yorker, so miss out on all of the contemporary short stories out there. These books are great for exposing me to awesome works.

In general, I read series, but that's because I like mysteries, and predictability. The last time I was at the library, I picked up a book by someone I don't remember reading much of, and I couldn't figure out why not, until I started this book, and had to stop after like 10 pages, because the set-up was so unbelievable.

I like novels. When well developed and maintained I like series. My reading tends to be character-driven, and if I like a character enough to follow him or her to the end of a novel, I'll generally be curious to see what s/he does next.

Give me a nice, big novel to get lost in. One of the things I like about Victorian novels is the way they can just kind of meander in a way that still keeps your attention.

Series can work if there's something to keep me interested. Mysteries seem to do it better, perhaps because so many are built around an interesting character, and a decent mystery (especially who-dun-its, which is my favorite type of mystery) almost has to be well plotted.

Flash can be fun once, but it's often tied to a gimmick. So it's less likely to hold up on re-reading unless you wait a long, long time between readings. (Come to think of it, the same is true of who-dun-its.)

I'm finding that even when writing short stories (all two of them), I want to make them into novels.

"Who Am I This Time?" by Vonnegut.

Wasn't that made into a movie with Susan Sarandon and Christopher Walker? They had that in the sell pile at Le Video.

Wasn't that made into a movie with Susan Sarandon and Christopher Walker?

Yes. Kathy A. gave me a copy that I have shown to some of my classes. It's pretty good.

Yes. Kathy A. gave me a copy that I have shown to some of my classes. It's pretty good.

I guess I should snap it up. It's only 99 cents.

It's good to still have a VCR.

I love that movie (btw, it was directed by Jonathan Demme), and urge everyone to see it if they haven't already. It's wonderful seeing a very young Walken playing a romantic comedy lead, albeit a very quirky one. I love all the plays that they manage to reference (Cyrano De Bergerac, Streetcar Named Desire, Romeo and Juliet, and Importance of Being Earnest).

One of the things I like about Victorian novels is the way they can just kind of meander in a way that still keeps your attention.

FredPete, have you read any Sarah Waters? Her books aren't Dickens-long, but they are substantial, and they are Victorian settings (except for her last 2), and focus on the lesbian culture then, with a great honking dose of gothic (Affinity, I think my fave) and crime (Fingersmith). Just really fabulous.

I also quite liked The Observations, which is more Gothic Victorian-settings, with quite a strong lesbian (quasi) subtext.

Also Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue was really good, although it was 18th c. rather than Victorian.

Mmm. Historical fiction.