The French city of Grenoble installed vending machines in public spaces that dispenses short stories. With 1-minute, 3-minute and 5 minute buttons, these short story vending machine allow citizens to take advantage of those few minutes free time to read a little.
The government believes that it can encourage people to bring back the habit of reading as a past-time instead of poking on their phones all day.
Iconic Short Stories since 1980
- Raymond Carver, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” (1981)
- Stephen King, “The Body” (1982)
- Amy Hempel, “In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried” (1983)
- Lorrie Moore, “How to Be an Other Woman” (1985)
- Mary Gaitskill, “Secretary” (1988)
- Amy Tan, “Rules of the Game” (1989)
- Tim O’Brien, “The Things They Carried” (1990)
- Denis Johnson, “Emergency” (1992)
- Annie Proulx, “Brokeback Mountain” (1997)
- Jhumpa Lahiri, “A Temporary Matter” (1998)
- Ted Chiang, “Story of Your Life” (1998)
- Alice Munro, “The Bear Came Over the Mountain” (2001)
- Kristen Roupenian, “Cat Person” (2017)
Interesting quotes on short stories
“In short stories it is better to say not enough than to say too much, because, because–I don’t know why.”
–Anton Chekhov
“A tale from which pieces have been raked out is like a fire that has been poked. One does not know the operation has been performed, but everyone feels the effect.”
–Rudyard Kipling
“The short story is a dream verbalized, arranged in space and presented to the world…the dream is said to be some kind of manifestation of desire, so the short story must also represent a desire, perhaps only partly expressed, but the most interesting thing about it is its mystery.”
–Joyce Carol Oates
Short Story Vending Machine in Hong Kong (Baptist University Library)
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