Interlude: Short Story Night

At the last Short Story Night to be held at my house for a while (sniff!), I was introduced to the following two stories:

Pig, by Roald Dahl - I love how, while the stories in this particular short story collection are intended "for grown ups", he still has that energetic, child-like storytelling ability that pulls you in from the hilarious first section of the story, in which the main character's parents are killed by police breaking into their own house. (and yes, it is funny) It is the story of Lexington, a life-long vegetarian who is raised by his aunt and develops a talent for cooking delicious vegetarian meals. However, everything goes topsy-turvy when he goes back to New York City, the city of his birth, and discovers the glorious taste of....MEAT! Trust me, it's not funny for the reasons you probably think it's funny....

Barn Burning, by William Faulkner - this tells the story of Sarty Snopes and his father, Abner, who has the bad habit of burning people's barns when he feels he's been wronged. Really, it's the story of how Sarty becomes an adult as he's forced to choose between defending his father's honor, and standing up for what's right. It was a powerful story, but Faulkner's prose is so dense that I couldn't really enjoy it as it was read aloud to me. Chunks of story eluded me. It's a story I'd love to read again and sink my teeth into on my own...

Pig - Good Times!
Barn Burning - Eh