A Not So Short List of Short Stories
My favorite short story collections
I love short story collections. In my opinion, a great short story is one that creates an entire world in a limited amount of pages. A common critique that I hear against the short story is that it is, predictably, too short, and that just as you are getting settled in, it’s over. I believe that the best short story is one that you wish would keep going not because you feel like you are missing some crucial component to tie it together, but because it is so immersive that you don’t want it to end.
When I read short stories, I typically read them within a larger collection written by a single author. This is the type of collection that I recommend below. Oftentimes, authors publish short story collections as their debut work because it is a chance for them to showcase the range of their writing. It is also a chance for more established writers to experiment with different forms, genres, or structures.
However, if you don’t want to commit to reading a whole collection by a single author, there are a number of literary reviews and compilations that provide readers with access to stories from a range of writers. My best recommendations are:
The Best American Short Stories - I have the 2022 edition sitting on my shelf. It includes stories from heavy hitters like Lauren Groff, Elizabeth McCracken, Bryan Washington, Alice McDermott and more.
The O’Henry Prize Stories - this collection has prize winning stories from authors around the world, including Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Lorrie Moore, Olga Tokarczuk, Joseph O'Neill, and Samanta Schweblin.
The beauty of short stories, and why I continue to recommend them to others, is that on top of their potential literary quality, they provide bite-sized opportunities to get into reading. Reading a story is far less of a commitment than reading an entire novel. You have the ability to drop yourself into worlds and situations unknown and come out the other side in one sitting, one story at a time.
Below are some of my favorite short story collections around (and non-fiction essays if you read to the end). They are listed alphabetically by author and were chosen because of their cumulative depth and quality. These aren’t collections with one good story hidden within another ten. With very few exceptions, each story contained within these books is worth reading. Collections marked with an asterisk (*) are my personal all-time favorites, but don’t let that dissuade you from taking a chance on the others.
Homesickness - Colin Barrett
Homesickness is the second short story collection written by Colin Barrett, an Irish author. Ireland is on full display, both in dialectic choices as well as the setting, given that most of the stories take place in County Mayo. The characters at the heart of the eight stories have problems that they are each struggling with - addiction, family trouble, mental health issues - and yet also experience communities rich in personality where money lacks. Ironically, the homesickness alluded to in the collection’s title does not refer to those who have left home, but rather those who have stayed and no longer feel satisfied. A few of the stories stay focused on one specific scene rather than jumping around in time, creating a detailed portrait of ordinary life in all its exceptionality. I was massively impressed by this collection and felt engaged with all that Barrett wrote. I will certainly read anything that he writes in the future.
*Seeking Fortune Elsewhere - Sindya Bhanoo
Often in short story collections, one story stands out as my clear favorite. On the flip side, I can usually easily tell which story or two I enjoyed less than the others. It is rare that each story grabs me in the same way, but Seeking Fortune Elsewhere has achieved this with dazzling effect. In this collection, Sindya Bhanhoo tells the story of South Indian immigrants and their families, stretching across Pittsburgh, California, Georgia, and India. At its core, each story is about finding personal meaning, self, and power amidst shifting cultures and societal expectations. In one story, "A Life in America," a professor who opens his home to homesick Indian graduate students is later accused of exploiting them. In "Malliga Homes," a grandmother placed in a retirement home waits for her family to visit. In "Nature Exchange," a mother mourning the loss of her child continues going to a local nature center to try to win him a prize he had long sought. Each story is written with a strong and purposeful voice, full of fully developed and complicated characters, and ends at the exact right moment before moving on to the next. Read this collection. You will not be disappointed.
* indicates a personal all-time favorite
The Faraway World - Patricia Engel
Patricia Engel is the author of Infinite Country, which was one of my favorite books of 2021. Like Infinite Country, which was set in Colombia and followed one family’s splintered immigration journey to the United States, the stories in The Faraway World all center around community, identity, and, in many, the complex motivations behind immigration. Each story is set in either Colombia, Cuba, or New York. In one story, a taxi driver finds salvation by driving a woman to a different church every day for a year to support her quest to receive a divine blessing to move to the United States. In another, a girlfriend unknowingly shepherds kilos of cocaine for her boyfriend between drop sites in Miami until they are caught and her boyfriend flees to Colombia. In one of my favorites, a woman works as a maid in New York for a family from her hometown, and struggles with the distinction the now affluent family has placed between their two situations. Every story in the collection is written with compassion and clarity, bringing to life forgotten corners of the world and the people that inhabit them. I think that Patricia Engel is an excellent storyteller, which is highlighted by her ability to create so many different complex characters who all share common hopes, values, and struggles.
*The Office of Historical Corrections - Danielle Evans
After finishing Danielle Evans’ The Office of Historical Corrections, all I could think was “wow, this book was good.” This book, a collection of short stories and a novella for which the book is named, was incredible. Each story contains dynamic and complex characters grappling with poignant questions of race, womanhood, nationalism, and grief. I learned so much about identity, its interactions with society at large, and American history within these subtle stories driven by the nuances of the daily lives of its characters. Unlike other collections in which the stories quietly end, every story in this collection had a subtle twist. The beauty of these twists was that while they were each shocking, Evans wove them in so naturally that they felt like an inevitable element born out of the way things sometimes sadly are. I want to read everything Evans has written and can not wait for her to write more.
* indicates a personal all-time favorite
*Games and Rituals - Katherine Heiny
I’m a goal-oriented person, which means that even when I’m enjoying a book I’m always looking forward to the next one. I rarely find myself approaching the end of a book and wishing that it would keep going. Katherine Heiny’s latest wonderful collection of short stories, Games and Rituals, made me do just that. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you’ll know that Katherine Heiny is one of my absolute favorite authors (and now she knows it too, because she read my review of this book!). Early Morning Riser, released last year, was my favorite book of 2021 and probably the book I recommend most often to other people.
When I saw that her next publication would be a collection of short stories I was simultaneously excited and nervous - what if the brevity of a story meant that I wouldn’t have time to fall in love with her characters? I shouldn’t have been worried. Games and Rituals is a remarkable collection where every one of the eleven stories is as captivating and enjoyable as the next. While they are not necessarily connected, each story contains themes of love, friendship, the follies of youth, and reflection on past choices. In one story, a mother considers her behavior in her adolescence while simultaneously trying to figure out if her sweet seventeen-year-old son is doing drugs after work. In another, a woman reflects on her complicated relationship with her father after he mistook his hearing aid for a cashew and eats it. In one of my favorites, a woman’s life unravels over the course of an evening after she discovers a series of clues about her actor husband’s suspicious behavior. I was sad as I came to the close of the book, because I knew that soon there would be no more of Heiny’s complex and fulsome protagonists to discover.
* indicates a personal all-time favorite
*Single, Carefree, Mellow - Katherine Heiny
Single, Carefree, Mellow is made up of eleven stories. The protagonist of each story is a young woman living out a normal life, full of relatable routines, humorous anecdotes, and daily challenges. What I love about Katherine Heiny is her ability to write about mundane and quotidian details in an engaging and wonderful way. Heiny does not rely on dramatic tropes, needless drama, or fast-moving plots, and never features protagonists who are anything but regular people, yet I am invested in every story and character that she creates.
* indicates a personal all-time favorite
The Islands - Dionne Irving
Dionne Irving’s The Islands is a short story collection centering around the lives of women in the Jamaican diaspora - both immigrants and the descendants of immigrants - struggling with issues of identity, the legacy of colonialism, and retaining connection. In one story, a newly supplanted suburban mother finds herself cooking Jamaican food for a white woman on the PTA, despite her own mother always lambasting her for not knowing how to cook. In another, a middle-aged woman returns to Panama to deal with the burial of her family’s housekeeper and is confronted with the memory of clashes between Americans and locals that ended in the death of her brother. And, in one of my favorite stories, also the first, a couple moves from San Francisco to Florida only to discover that their marriage, and identity in this new place, is not as strong as they once thought. I’m a bit surprised that this book doesn’t seem to have gotten more attention because it was incredibly well-written. Every story was vibrant and nuanced, exploring complicated themes through ordinary people, and was never written in an obvious way.
Thank You, Mr. Nixon - Gish Jen
Thank You, Mr. Nixon is a short story collection that takes place over the 50 years since Nixon visited Beijing and China established official diplomatic relations with the United States. The stories move chronologically, beginning with a letter from a girl who saw Nixon when he visited China in 1972 and ending with a story of a Chinese immigrant struggling to educate her child during COVID in New York. Each of the stories stretch from China to the United States, and are often filled with enigmatic characters rediscovering the home they left behind or experiencing a new one entirely. While these are separate stories, they are often connected by characters who took center stage in one story and then are mentioned in the ones that follow. By connecting the stories and their characters, readers watch the relationship between the United States and China develop on an intimate level, while also experiencing the broad scope of the issues at hand, including assimilation, economic growth, and the maintenance of cultural identity. I enjoyed and learned from every story in the book and was impressed by the depth of the writing and topics covered.
Bliss Montage - Ling Ma
Back in 2018, Ling Ma published her debut novel, Severance, a dystopian novel about a young woman’s life as a deadly pandemic virus takes over the world. Using not my best judgment, I decided to read Severance in January of 2021, and it quickly became one of the few books that I started but could not finish. Although I remember thinking that the writing and pacing of the book was very well done, the incredibly realistic and relatable descriptions of the beginning stages of a pandemic hit way too close to home. So when I saw that Ling Ma was publishing a short story collection, I was initially skeptical. After reading a few great reviews and reassuring myself that it wasn’t going to be about global contagion, I decided to give it a chance. Bliss Montage is a fabulous and slightly weird collection of eight stories about people yearning for love, connection, and understanding. Setting the tone for the rest of the book, in the first story a woman lives in a large house with her husband and her 100 ex-boyfriends. Another story is about a woman who follows her husband to his native Eastern European homeland to take part in an ancient ritual ceremony where all your ailments can be healed if you agree to be buried alive for the night. While the premises may seem weird, Ling’s writing is accessible and precise and I was drawn into each story despite this not being my typical genre.
Nobody Gets Out Alive - Leigh Newman
Nobody Gets Out Alive is a short story collection set in Alaska. Each story follows a different protagonist, usually women, as they navigate survival within both the harsh terrain of the Alaskan wilderness as well as their relationships with partners and families. In one story a single mom drives her two kids through Canada to get to Alaska in search of better opportunities. In another, a fortune teller handles a client who runs opioid distribution clinics. In another, a pair of fathers take their daughters on a weeklong rafting and camping trip where they must fish to survive. I was drawn immediately to this collection because of the Alaskan setting, and particularly enjoyed getting to experience Alaska from a myriad of perspectives and locations. Each story is separate from the last, but includes connecting themes of survival, adventure, and individuality. I was impressed by Newman’s ability to create so many distinct and vivid characters, and enjoyed nearly every story as much as the last.
You Have a Friend in 10A - Maggie Shipstead
You Have a Friend in 10A is a short story collection by Booker short-list author Maggie Shipstead. Each story is as astonishing as the last, but what for me was truly impressive was the range of subject matter that these stories covered. One story is about a couple’s honeymoon gone wrong in Romania, another about a love triangle at a dude ranch in Montana, while another is about an actress breaking from a cult. Her characters are varied and diverse, each fully formed and discovered. Read this collection to sample an author working at her very best.
*Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout
Although I have enjoyed practically every Pulitzer winner that I have read to date, Olive Kitteridge, the 2009 winner, felt particularly exceptional. I was blown away by the world of Olive Kitteridge, who might just be one of my favorite literary characters ever. Olive, a retired schoolteacher, is married to a retired pharmacist named Henry, who is kind to a fault until a traumatic event exposes their marriage’s flaws. A cast of characters who live in the Kitteridge’s Maine hometown exist on the periphery of Olive’s life, and readers are introduced to them through a series of interlocking stories. Although most, if not all, of the stories deal with the tragedies of aging, Strout is able to insert wit and depth into each interaction. Olive is brash, opinionated, and not afraid to let others know it. I fell in love with her from the minute she appeared on the page. Strout’s ability to craft people in such intimate detail, shedding light on the most basic of human conditions, is truly a feat to be admired and appreciated.
* indicates a personal all-time favorite
Bonus: My favorite non-fiction essay collections
Non-fiction essay collections are similar to short story collections in their brevity and ability to pull together many ideas into a shortened page count. My favorite non-fiction essay collections tend to be somewhat autobiographical, allowing the author to draw on their life experiences to fuel their writing. Below are two of my favorites.
These Precious Days - Ann Patchett
These Precious Days is Patchett's most recent non-fiction essay collection, with stories centered around different elements of her life. In These Precious Days, Patchett looks at her life with new wisdom, writing essays full of heart and humor on topics ranging from her three fathers to her husband's love of flying to her induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The title essay, "These Precious Days" about Ann's friendship with Tom Hanks' former assistant, her battle with cancer, and her accidental living arrangement with the Patchetts during COVID moved me to tears. If that is not a sign of powerful writing, I do not know what is.
I Am I Am I Am - Maggie O’Farrell
Using her seventeen brushes with death, I Am I Am I Am is the story of O’Farrell’s life. When O’Farrell was a young child she became ill with a mysterious illness that left her paralyzed for a year and close to death. At age 18, while working at a holiday resort, O’Farrell escaped a predatory man on a hike who later was arrested for strangling and murdering a woman a few days later. After giving birth to her first child, O’Farrell experienced extreme bleeding that made the doctors believe she was going to die. Although each incident is its own chapter, they are not in chronological order, slowly revealing O’Farrell’s life and providing context for her experiences. Do not think that these incidents make this a depressing book. It is the opposite. Each close encounter with death seems to give O’Farrell more perspective and appreciation for life, which becomes critical after her daughter is born with serious, life-threatening allergies and all of the survivalist lessons that she has learned must be used to keep her daughter alive. This is a wholly unique and singular book, possibly O’Farrell’s best.
All of books written about above are available on my Short Story Collection Bookshop page, or you can click on the title of the book itself to be routed to the shop. All of the books I’ve ever recommended, sorted by post, are also available on the general shop page.
If you like what I’ve written or want to see more reviews, recommendations, and round-ups about a wide range of novels, non-fiction, and more, consider subscribing now by entering your email.
And, if you’re still not convinced about the power of short stories, I encourage you to read the following article by Rebecca Makkai, author of The Great Believers, I Have Some Questions for You, and a few short story collections of her own.
