Ah, I love this. Short stories kept me going in the first months of the pandemic when I couldn't stay loyal to anything longer, and I've always used them as palate cleansers between longer novels. Looking forward to browsing through the recommendations.
The TOB GR group had a short story contest last year, to keep us going between March and the summer tourney. The winner was Ken Liu's The Paper Menagerie, which is beautiful and heartrending...It went up against Ted Chiang's Story of Your Life, which was equally brilliant.
I hadn't read either of these authors before, but after reading these stories I immediately bought Chiang's Exhalation, and Liu's The Hidden Girl and Other Stories. Both collections swept me away.
I tend not to like short stories, probably for the reasons given, but I loved For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, by Nathan Englander, and Florida, by Lauren Groff.
I am a middle school librarian, and there are some great collections for that age out right now, but my favorite is Ancestor Approved : Intertribal Stories for Kids edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith. All of the Native writers tell stories that are connected by a central intertribal powwow.
We Need Diverse Books also publishes some awesome short story collections every year or so.
My goal is to push short stories to my students this year more. They do love scary ones already though 😊
Wallace Stegner's Collected Stories and Collected Stories of Richard Yates. In regard to having the thrill/pleasure of the story being diminished by schools, I cannot agree more wholeheartedly. I remember having grades lowered when arguing that very fact in exams and papers.
Some of my favorites - Fly All Ready by Etgar Keret, A Lucky Man by Jamel Brinkley, Natasha by David Bezmozgis, Between Friends by Amos Oz and Look How Happy You Make Me by Polly Rosenwaike
Thank you so much for the column about short stories. Thank you also for recommending Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout, my favorite living American author. May I recommend Lara Vapnyar's collections: Broccoli and Other Tales of Food and Love and There Are Jews in My House.
Andre Dubus wrote "Killings," which was the wonderful short story that formed the plot for the equally-wonderful film "In the Bedroom." I teach Lit & Film classes, and it is one of the best examples of how you can change source material to create another equally valid art form even when the plot changes significantly. The first line in the short story is not revealed until almost a half hour into the film, but each method is stunning and powerful. I'll have to read the rest of the collection -- happy for the recommendation! (If you are familiar with neither, see the film first to watch how the plot unravels.)
Great collections! Delighted to see some of my favorites mentioned, especially George Saunders , Ted Chiang, and Jamal Brinkley. I also love Battleborn by Claire Vaye Watkins, All the Names They Used for God by Anjali Sachdeva, and Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson.
What is Not Yours is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi has become my favorite short story collection of all time.
Kevin Barry's DARK LIES THE ISLAND introduced me to one of my all-time favorite writers and it's one of the few collections I frequently go back to
Ah, I love this. Short stories kept me going in the first months of the pandemic when I couldn't stay loyal to anything longer, and I've always used them as palate cleansers between longer novels. Looking forward to browsing through the recommendations.
The TOB GR group had a short story contest last year, to keep us going between March and the summer tourney. The winner was Ken Liu's The Paper Menagerie, which is beautiful and heartrending...It went up against Ted Chiang's Story of Your Life, which was equally brilliant.
I hadn't read either of these authors before, but after reading these stories I immediately bought Chiang's Exhalation, and Liu's The Hidden Girl and Other Stories. Both collections swept me away.
I tend not to like short stories, probably for the reasons given, but I loved For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, by Nathan Englander, and Florida, by Lauren Groff.
Fidelity: Five Stories by Wendell Berry
Runaway by Alice Munro
Edward P. Jones' "Lost in the City". The city is Washington, D.C. but the stories are about ordinary folks.
Etgar Keret's "The bus driver who wanted to be God & other stories".
Billy Lombardo's "The Logic of a Rose: Chicago Stories".
Colm Tóibín's "The Empty Family".
I am a middle school librarian, and there are some great collections for that age out right now, but my favorite is Ancestor Approved : Intertribal Stories for Kids edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith. All of the Native writers tell stories that are connected by a central intertribal powwow.
We Need Diverse Books also publishes some awesome short story collections every year or so.
My goal is to push short stories to my students this year more. They do love scary ones already though 😊
I have shamefully neglected short stories. Your list is exciting and it will be a great way to spend the summer! Thank you!
Wallace Stegner's Collected Stories and Collected Stories of Richard Yates. In regard to having the thrill/pleasure of the story being diminished by schools, I cannot agree more wholeheartedly. I remember having grades lowered when arguing that very fact in exams and papers.
Some of my favorites - Fly All Ready by Etgar Keret, A Lucky Man by Jamel Brinkley, Natasha by David Bezmozgis, Between Friends by Amos Oz and Look How Happy You Make Me by Polly Rosenwaike
I Sailed With Magellan by Stuart Dybek
Thank you so much for the column about short stories. Thank you also for recommending Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout, my favorite living American author. May I recommend Lara Vapnyar's collections: Broccoli and Other Tales of Food and Love and There Are Jews in My House.
Andre Dubus wrote "Killings," which was the wonderful short story that formed the plot for the equally-wonderful film "In the Bedroom." I teach Lit & Film classes, and it is one of the best examples of how you can change source material to create another equally valid art form even when the plot changes significantly. The first line in the short story is not revealed until almost a half hour into the film, but each method is stunning and powerful. I'll have to read the rest of the collection -- happy for the recommendation! (If you are familiar with neither, see the film first to watch how the plot unravels.)
Great collections! Delighted to see some of my favorites mentioned, especially George Saunders , Ted Chiang, and Jamal Brinkley. I also love Battleborn by Claire Vaye Watkins, All the Names They Used for God by Anjali Sachdeva, and Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson.
You Think It I’ll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld was an excellent collection.