For many years, I assumed that the appeal of a short story was that it was, well, short. Instead of slowly reading a novel over weeks, the reader of these bite-size plots can experience character ...

But if you actually want to read and discuss some literature, try a short story club. Reading a typical book-club book takes hours. For most people, that requires multiple reading sessions.

The other day, a book arrived here called The Tiny Book Of Tiny Stories and I thought, "Oooh, how tiny will they be?" Very short stories can get very, very short and still be good. The most famous ...