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Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Post category:Novellas

Breakfast at Tiffany's: Novella by Truman Capote Set in the early 1940s, this story by Truman Capote explores the relationship between a budding writer and his downstairs neighbour, mysterious New York café society girl Holly (Holiday) Golightly. Holly lives by socializing with, and seeking a husband from among, wealthy men who take her to clubs and restaurants and give her money and expensive gifts. Unfortunately, a side hustle with a jailed mob boss forces a hasty exit from the country, after which she is not seen again. Themes include freedom, independence and privacy, sexuality, manipulation, yearning for wealth, love and happiness.

A Christmas Memory

Post category:Short Stories

A Christmas Memory: Short story by Truman Capote This sentimental Christmas story from Truman Capote takes readers back to a time when children created their own fun and could safely explore the outdoors alone. The protagonist, a seven-year-old-boy, and his aged but child-like female cousin are best friends; two outsiders who help each other deal with being alone in the world. It is telling that their Christmas fruitcakes are not for neighbors and those who have power/know best (their pious carers), but strangers who either “strike their fancy” or have shown kindness towards them over the years. Themes: nostalgia, Christmas, friendship, innocence, isolation, poverty, coming of age.

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Approximate Reading Times

Quick Read: under 5 minutes
Short Story: 5 to 30 minutes
Novelette: 30 to 90 minutes
Novella: 1.5 to 2.5 hours

Other stories you may like:

Gorilla, My Love
Grade 7-8 Story by Toni Cade Bambara. A feisty African-American girl growing up in New York City is angry over two acts of deceit. The first (a misleading movie title) receives a ‘fiery’ response. The second (an offhand promise made to pacify her as a child) results in tears.
Tiny, Smiling Daddy
Short Story by Mary Gaitskill. A father reflects on the past after learning that his daughter has written a magazine article about their relationship following her “coming out” as lesbian. The disconnection caused by his cruel, homophobic reaction forces him to assess his performance as a father.
The Fence
Short Story by Hamsad Rangkuti. A poor family fence their house after an experience with vagrants who took shelter under their eaves during a rainstorm. Things don't go as expected when, thinking the fence had been put up to protect something of value, they later return to rob the house.
Anxiety
Quick Read by Grace Paley. An elderly woman sitting at her window worries about everything from the imminent destruction of the world to the well-being of two children being walked home from school. A father’s shortness with one of the children prompts her to call him out.
Oliver’s Evolution
Quick Read by John Updike. A troublesome toddler who had “come late in his parents’ little pack of offspring” is loved, but not enough to prevent him developing into a troubled teen. Fortunately, after marrying an equally troubled girl, he transforms into a responsible, loving husband and father.

The Return
Short Story by Roberto Bolaño. A man’s ghost seems happy to spend its time on earth with a famous French fashion designer. The two hadn’t known each other in real life, and only met because the fashion designer (a male) had paid to have sex with the man’s corpse!
All You Zombies
Short Story by Robert Heinlein. A cleverly constructed science fiction brainteaser that explores some of the potential problems and paradoxes of time-travel and often leaves first time readers with their heads spinning from trying to work out “who is who” and “who did what to whom”.
Disorder and Early Sorrow
Novelette by Thomas Mann. Set in the 1920s, the story follows a day in the life of a close, middle-class German family as it struggles to recover from the deprivations of World War I, cope with emerging hyperinflation, and (for the older members) tries to understand 1920s youth culture.
The Fisherman and His Wife
European Folktale. When a fisherman is granted a wish by an enchanted fish, his greedy wife sends him back several times asking for more. Her final wish is so outrageous that the fish either will not or cannot grant it. The fisherman is no doubt happy with what happens next.
The Treasure in the Forest
Short Story by H. G. Wells. Two men kill another to get their hands on a map that shows the location of a buried treasure. They find the treasure and, as they carry some of it away, learn why its owner was smiling as they killed him.