Dennis Zeedyk-The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway

Author of Book: Ernest Hemingway
Date Read: January 26, 2025

Book Report

Title: The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway
Author: Ernest Hemingway
Pages: 650
Date: 1/26/25

I chose this book because we visited Key West in March of 2024, where we toured the Ernest Hemingway House. We spent about 1.5 hours there getting a tour & learning about his life. He lived in this house for about ten years, writing stories in his specialized writing room in the morning & early afternoon – heading to the bar in late afternoon/evening. He also lived in Cuba, Spain & had multiple visits to Africa. I always wanted to read some of his stories and prison gave me the time to do that.

What I learned what that most of the short stories in this book took place in Spain, Italy, Michigan or Cuba. Much of what he wrote about pertained to WWI in Italy in 1917, the Spanish Civil and WWII in France, but there were some hunting stories from Africa and stories about living in rural Michigan. I noticed that his writing style has many long run-on sentences. Quite often, the lines and sentences may repeat each other. They are all nice, simple stories that usually take place outdoors and mostly the main character will die or face some serious issue at the end of the story – often as the result of a struggle with something like a bull, mountain or something emotional that only the main character knows about.

Unfortunately this book did not help me increase my prospect for success after prison. It was just a collection of 73 short stories. I did not like his writing style and doubt I will read any more of his books.

Vocabulary words learned:
Spile – a post used as a foundation. A wooden plug, a bung.
Chimney – the top of a syrup bottle (like Log Cabin syrup) that you open & close.