Better Than Starbucks discussion

Stealing this thread from our Shelfari group. I expect to get a different crowd here and hopefully the discussions will bleed over but not just be a duplicate.

mef wrote, on another thread:

For a long time, I've been puzzled by the short stories that appear in The New Yorker. A good many of them leave me wondering either why the author thought the ending made sense, or why TNY published them at all.

Would anybody else here who reads the New Yorker be interested in discussing them as they come out?

Case in point: "The Judge's Will" by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, in the issue of March 25 (I'm a little behind in my reading -- understatement). I was eager to read it; Jhabvala has written a zillion scripts for Merchant Ivory films, and those are wonderful. But I have bones to pick with her about the story, though I can't say more without spoiling it for anybody out there who's reading it.

Anybody want to follow short fiction in the NYer with me?


The New Yorker has made a bunch of RPJ's short stories, including "The Judge's Will", which is the one I was hoping to discuss, available free, without subscription.

The links can be found embedded in the text of this obituary: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs...

So I thought it would be fun if we would start with these free short stories. When we run out of no cost stories at the NYer, maybe we will find other stories.

as mef is in a very busy stretch, if anyone else would like to lead this discussion, let me know. and leading a discussion can be as formal and structured or not as the leader wishes.

Hiya, Up (and others)! I finally at least made it over here to GoodReads. Is the (Shelfari) gang all here? Hope to get something posted re The Judge's Will tomorrow on Shelfari -- is it your idea that we just post everything on both sites?

Well there are three levels of all the BTSers, the 3000+ members who never contribute and may or may not even still be there. The few hundred that monitor occasionally. And then there is the few dozen that are active. About half of this latter group is here...

I've just put a longish piece on The Judge's Will up on the Shelfari BTS. I don't know that I want to try to follow the discussion at both sites. Here I am cutting other activities out of my life to try to regain some lost time (that's a nod to Riddley, if he's reading)in the day, and I don't want to fill that time with a duplicate BTS, really... Am I crazy?

I think I shortened post a out having a longer post at the other location is sufficient. I don't think we want to create identical sites