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The snippet of "Harrison Bergeron" that alexs included in another thread made me think about short stories. There are so many short stories I have enjoyed, several by Poe and many others. I really liked "A Perfect Day for Bananafish". I am sure I have forgotten or missed many great short stories. What are your favorites?
Columbus Underground Messageboard » General Columbus Discussion » Books
Great Short Stories
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osulew
My house...in the middle of my street
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A very well-read friend recommended John Cheever. I was able to pick up a big compilation of his stories at half price books...highly recommended...
John CheeverPosted 1 year ago # -
Columbus Music Co-op
Columbus
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i love "Bayou Folk and A Night in Acadie" by Kate Chopin
Posted 1 year ago # -
groundrules
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I love short stories. Here are some collections I love:
Chris Offutt, Out of the Woods - dark Appalachian stories
Breece D'J Pancake, The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake - see Offutt :)
Jonathon Raymond, Livability
Rick Bass, Fiber
Adam Johnson, Parasites Like Us
Amy Hempel, The Collected StoriesPosted 1 year ago # -
jmak
Gahanna
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In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway has some fantastic short stories.
Any story by Flannery O'Connor (Man, she was twisted) but especially A Good Man is Hard to Find.
Current writer Michael Chabon (Wonder Boys, Adventures of Kavalier and Clay) has a great book of short stories called Werewolves of our Youth.
Perfect Day for Bananafish by Salinger (mentioned above) is one of my all time favorites.
Posted 1 year ago # -
nexttuesday
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Leslie Norris' The Wind, the Cold Wind, and Steinbeck's Junius Maltby.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Columbus Music Co-op
Columbus
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also, when i was teaching some classes for the literacy council, i re-dug out "scary stories to tell in the dark" for my students...super fun to re-visit those!
Posted 1 year ago # -
Rick Carraway
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Jhumpa Lahiri has two compilations of short stories that are outstanding.
All Aunt Hagar's Children by Edward Jones is superlative, as well.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Bear
The woods
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I'm very mood-driven when it comes to choosing short stories; I like the variety in the yearly America's Best Short Stories collections, though the overall quality varies a bit from year to year -- I remember not being thrilled with the selection that Jamaica Kincaid chose.
Posted 1 year ago # -
adam
Harrison West
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+1 on Flannery O'Connor - some of the tightest short-story writing of all time. not a word out of place. one of my favorites is "Revelation".
Raymond Carver, if you're into the whole brevity thing. "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love". "What's In Alaska?"; "Cathedral".
Hemingway - "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber"; "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place";
Gabriel Garcia Marquez - "Sleeping Beauty and the Airplane".
Russell Banks - "Plains of Abraham".
A.M. Homes - "The Safety of Objects."
Tom Perrotta - "The Smile on Happy Chang's Face"
* i like short stories. this was fun.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Manatee
The eternal present
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Columbus Music Co-op wrote >>
also, when i was teaching some classes for the literacy council, i re-dug out "scary stories to tell in the dark" for my students...super fun to re-visit those!That has such great illustrations by Stephen Gammell! Truly beautiful and soul-searingly scary at once. My other favorite illustrator is Rien Poortvliet who did the masterful watercolors for the Gnome book, remember that from the 70's? :D
Posted 1 year ago # -
chrisgillespie
Short North/Victorian Village
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I keep a variety of short stories collections in each of our 2 guest bedrooms for folks to read when they stay with us. Thanks, Bear, I think I'll have to look for the America's Best Short Stories collections to add to the variety.
Currently, we have Poe, Twain, O'Henry, and De Maupassant for the classics; a few annual best of Sci Fi collections from years in the 70's; and The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales. However, perhaps my favorite collections, because I'm a total sap, are some of the short stories by James Herriot ("Dog Stories", "All Creatures Great and Small", etc). I read these when I'm sick. They are as important to me for my healing as is chicken soup.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Rick Carraway
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My favorite Hemingway short story: "A Day's Wait."
Poe's classic "Tell-Tale Heart" usually outshines the superior, "Cask of Amontillado."
One author whose short stories were superlative were those of William Faulkner, arguably the greatest writer in U.S. history.
Posted 1 year ago # -
chrisgillespie
Short North/Victorian Village
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Rick Carraway wrote >>
My favorite Hemingway short story: "A Day's Wait."
Poe's classic "Tell-Tale Heart" usually outshines the superior, "Cask of Amontillado."
One author whose short stories were superlative were those of William Faulkner, arguably the greatest writer in U.S. history.I was very into Sherlock Holmes as a kid, so when I read Murders in the Rue Morgue in 5th grade, it was what turned me onto Poe. I didn't like that the killer wasn't human, but loved the part where he uses deductive reasoning to tell what his companion was thinking. Because of this, I read pretty much everything by Poe in 6th grade, but had a greater appreciation of some when I reread them again when I was older.
Posted 1 year ago # -
lisathewaitress
SoHud
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Can't believe no one has mentioned Thurber! I have always felt like Walter Mitty, even before I knew the story. To a large extent, I think every writer is like that. There's real life, and then there's the constant narrative in your head.
They are hit or miss, but there have been some amazing shorts stories in "The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror" collections (they were at their best 9-12 years ago).
I love Smoke & Mirrors by Neil Gaiman; all the stories are great.
Zoetrope is a great resource for modern short stories: http://www.all-story.com/
Posted 1 year ago #
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