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A review by vivi_papis
40 Short Stories: A Portable Anthology by Beverly Lawn
5.0
As someone with minor familiarity with English language literature, this book was a full dive into new and exciting stories that I have never even imagined existed out there.
However, I wanted more contextualization and interpretation of some tales, information on why the editors chose these short stories, and how they became some of the most renowned classics. This, I quickly gathered with a 5-minute google search; after all, these stories are classics and taught to all English-speaking students in the world. But what the book lacked (and I think the blame is to consider it as a part of literature classes and not as a whole book), I could compensate with my own thoughts about the story, how it impacted me, how it resonated with other stories read before. And I think I enjoyed it even more than I would if it was required reading for an English literature class.
However, I wanted more contextualization and interpretation of some tales, information on why the editors chose these short stories, and how they became some of the most renowned classics. This, I quickly gathered with a 5-minute google search; after all, these stories are classics and taught to all English-speaking students in the world. But what the book lacked (and I think the blame is to consider it as a part of literature classes and not as a whole book), I could compensate with my own thoughts about the story, how it impacted me, how it resonated with other stories read before. And I think I enjoyed it even more than I would if it was required reading for an English literature class.