I already have a mental note to check out Haruki Murakami, if only because I feel wretched to have brought (and dissected for the photography) a diary in the sales with quotes from his novels.
The only themed collections of short stories I've read have been more contemporary, fantasy tales, while I was in New Zealand. Hopelessly indulgent, and great for it. To wind-down I still read children's/young adult literature, and the Firebird book I had to leave in the country (I got about half-way through it on the last of my bus journeys) was comforting for this. I insisted on bringing Dark Alchemy home with me. Definitely obsessed with the figure of the wizard, I think.
On a more... sophisticated level, Daphne du Maurier and H.G. Wells are probably the two I've read most, the former more than the latter. Then there were all sorts while I was studying the Gothic. Oh, Susan Hill, too many times for comfort!
I'm friends with a woman - the mother of one of my littlest sister's friends - who studied English at Sussex as an older student, and she said in passing that the first term of Uni is all about teaching you methods and tactics to filter... useful information from the useless in your reading. So the first term is also spent beginning to work on wider-reading, as well. (She was camping with us, and talked a lot about Titus while she was letting me make a mess of her pots and pans discovering the best way to make popcorn on an open fire.) It's not like we're going to be able to get through all of it - at least, I won't; I read steadily but thoughtfully - but it'll be interesting picking and choosing.
Whee! Craftiness! I was late to shine in English because I thought - along with everyone else who knew me - I was going to go on to art school. I only remember how to make a crane and a simple box, though, when it comes to origami. (I've got photos I need to upload of some pottery I painted that's been glazed...!)
...I guess we'll be re-reading things as well.
@Laura - I surprised myself by finding critical essays interesting and enlightening enough to keep me hooked, even if I've had to read passages over several times in order to get my head around ideas expressed in an unfamiliar way. (I've read the word "penis" so many times today it's printed in indelible ink across my frontal lobe, accompanied by a crude doodle of the Roman phalloi~) Try reading it aloud, or else flip through the contents list and first read anything that grabs you interest immediately?
I know this post is getting long, but I'd also like to say I'm thrilled to bits how well this thread is going. xD