With my forthcoming trip to Ireland, I felt it essential to delve into Joyce before my departure. Dubliners is fitting, considering I will be spending a week in... Dublin. 
 The last bit of Joyce I read was his monstrosity Ulysses, so this was a nice change of pace. The stories are personal and charming, like these are the types of people you'd run into every day. And that's the point. But beneath it all, they're harboring secrets. They have problems of all sorts, which makes them all the more real. 
 My favorite stories are... 
 The Encounter: Kids think they're taking an adventure, but learn more than they bargain for encountering a somewhat creepy old man; 
 A Little Cloud: Two old comrades meet who have chosen different life paths, but who's happier? If either of them are?; 
 A Painful Case: Affair, scandal, and death!; and 
 The Dead: The best story of the bunch is always found at the end of the collection. The title alone should give you an indication of what this beauty is about. 
 A new generation is growing up in our midst, a generation actuated by new ideas and new principles... But we are living in a sceptical and, if I may use the phrase, a thought-tormented age: and sometimes I fear that this new generation, educated or hypereducated as it is, will lack those qualities of humanity, of hospitality, of kindly humour which belonged to an older day. 
 (In fact, if you have a couple hours, the entire story is online here.) 
 I may have also taken some notes for my upcoming trip. (Temple Bar, her I come.)