5 Great Collections of Short Stories

 
 

Short stories are one of the most popular forms of literature, and there are a lot of great short story collections out there. These collections often contain a variety of different stories by a single author, and they are generally written in a specific genre or theme. They can also be a great way to try a new author without making a commitment to reading a full-length book of their work.

 

Lucia Berlin’s brilliantly crafted short stories combine humor, grit and wit with melancholy to explore the lives of a group of women who struggle to find their place in the world. They range from a woman who cleans houses to an ER nurse, all struggling to survive in a society where it can be difficult to make ends meet. This website has a full article on this stories.

 

Flannery O'Connor is best known for her classic novellas like The House on Mango Street, but she wrote many shorter works as well, and this collection, published posthumously in 1972, is one of her most celebrated. Her stories deal with a variety of social issues, such as racism, religion, and gender roles, and this collection contains 31 tales that have never been included in her other collections.

 

A dazzling debut by a writer who deftly mixes mythic and gothic, these stories are a thrill to read. In each, a woman is forced to confront the strange, the uncanny, the absurd. Her experiences of isolation, obsession, and love are depicted in ways that shock and delight.

 

In this dazzling collection of short stories, a series of characters travel through uncanny worlds where a woman becomes an insect, a man turns to stone, and a city becomes insomniac. They are challenged by the uncomfortable ambiguity of their bodies, and Arndt masterfully captures their reactions with a combination of imagery and metaphor.

 

Whether a story is about body image, an alien invasion, or the power of friendship, Machada is fearless in her explorations of body and sexuality. She lays bare the nuances of sex and relationships and the ways they affect us in both positive and negative ways.

 

The sultry, sensual and melancholic yearnings of women animate these eleven short stories. The book spans the life cycle from early adulthood to middle age, and is characterized by powerful observation and mordant humour. Click here to discover more about short stories.

 

A brilliant debut from the author of the bestselling short story collection The Good Son, this collection is full of dark and chilling stories. From a woman waiting for her ex partner to appear at the dinner table to a man who is obsessed with the ghost of a past lover, these are stories that will keep you up at night.

 

Mary Gaitskill’s Bad Behaviour is a sardonic and prescient collection of stories that dissects the power dynamics between men and women. Her sardonic tone is sometimes harsh, but it is always evocative and a fascinating insight into how sex and relationship dynamics can be so complicated.

 

From a family dealing with grief and depression to an immigrant trying to make sense of a new life in the United States, these stories explore the challenges that can be encountered when trying to build a new life in a new country. The underlying themes of these stories are a powerful reminder that no matter what you think you may be going through, there is hope in this world. Visit this alternative page for more information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Short_Stories.