The majority of employees are allowed an hour in the middle of the day to get something to eat and relax. Some shop at the mall or hit the gym for a short workout. Still others like nothing more than to sit somewhere quiet and read one of their favorite lunchtime short stories. Sometimes it is easier to read something through to completion rather than try to read a few pages that are part of a larger work. There are many classics that can be absorbed in less than an hour.
Margaret Atwood is known for her quirky characters and fantastical plots. "Stone Mattress" is the title story in a collection of nine. Verna, the protagonist, is about to embark on a cruise to the Arctic when she catches sight of a fellow passenger she recognizes. It turns out to be an old flame who did her wrong years earlier. Verna has already killed four husbands, and she is not adverse to adding an old lover to her collection.
Readers either love Hemingway or hate him. There doesn't seem to be any in between. A good story for those unfamiliar with it is "The Snows of Kilimanjaro". Harry, a writer, and his socialite wife, Helen, are in Africa. It turns out Harry is dying of gangrene because he neglected to take care of a thorn prick. During Harry's last hours, he muses about his wasted life and loves.
Leo Tolstoy is known for his lengthy Russian novels, but he wrote shorter works as well. "Three Questions" is a simple parable about a king on a quest for answers to the most important questions in life. He visits a hermit and nurses a wounded traitor. Eventually the king realizes the answers were lying within him all along.
"The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" was Mark Twain's first success. This is a cynical tale of a man who would bet on anything. Jim Smiley went in search of the best jumping frog and found Dan'l Webster. He met a stranger who easily tricked him and took off with Jim's money. Twain wrote the story in an attempt to win a bet of his own against a group of fellow story tellers.
F. Scott Fitzgerald is best known for his literary theme of great wealth destroying glittering but weak men and women during the Age of Jazz. John Unger is no exception when he meets Percy at prep school. Percy boasts of enormous family wealth obtained from the acquisition of "The Diamond As Big As the Ritz". Family secrets nearly destroy several lives.
James Joyce was an Irishman who wrote about Ireland and the dynamics of Irish family life. "Eveline" is a fine example of that. Eveline finds herself having to choose between a brutish father and the life she knows and a lover who wants her to run away with him to another country. Her final decision is sad, but realistic.
Book lovers find it easy to get lost in the stories they read. These may be novels of a thousand pages or short stories of a thousand words. As long as a story is well told, it doesn't really matter.
Margaret Atwood is known for her quirky characters and fantastical plots. "Stone Mattress" is the title story in a collection of nine. Verna, the protagonist, is about to embark on a cruise to the Arctic when she catches sight of a fellow passenger she recognizes. It turns out to be an old flame who did her wrong years earlier. Verna has already killed four husbands, and she is not adverse to adding an old lover to her collection.
Readers either love Hemingway or hate him. There doesn't seem to be any in between. A good story for those unfamiliar with it is "The Snows of Kilimanjaro". Harry, a writer, and his socialite wife, Helen, are in Africa. It turns out Harry is dying of gangrene because he neglected to take care of a thorn prick. During Harry's last hours, he muses about his wasted life and loves.
Leo Tolstoy is known for his lengthy Russian novels, but he wrote shorter works as well. "Three Questions" is a simple parable about a king on a quest for answers to the most important questions in life. He visits a hermit and nurses a wounded traitor. Eventually the king realizes the answers were lying within him all along.
"The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" was Mark Twain's first success. This is a cynical tale of a man who would bet on anything. Jim Smiley went in search of the best jumping frog and found Dan'l Webster. He met a stranger who easily tricked him and took off with Jim's money. Twain wrote the story in an attempt to win a bet of his own against a group of fellow story tellers.
F. Scott Fitzgerald is best known for his literary theme of great wealth destroying glittering but weak men and women during the Age of Jazz. John Unger is no exception when he meets Percy at prep school. Percy boasts of enormous family wealth obtained from the acquisition of "The Diamond As Big As the Ritz". Family secrets nearly destroy several lives.
James Joyce was an Irishman who wrote about Ireland and the dynamics of Irish family life. "Eveline" is a fine example of that. Eveline finds herself having to choose between a brutish father and the life she knows and a lover who wants her to run away with him to another country. Her final decision is sad, but realistic.
Book lovers find it easy to get lost in the stories they read. These may be novels of a thousand pages or short stories of a thousand words. As long as a story is well told, it doesn't really matter.
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