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Original poster

Good short story collections

28 replies

2021booklover · 11/01/2021 20:57

Am finding it so hard to concentrate on anything at the moment so thinking about getting a few collections of short stories.
I’m not fussed on genre - happy to read anything just short really!

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grannyjacob · 22/01/2021 02:44

Arthur C.Clarke - "The Nine Billion Names of God" is my favourite short story ever (I'm 66, have always been an avid reader, so have read countless short stories).
Irvine Welsh - "Reheated Cabbage", dark, dark humour, and I'm (almost) embarrassed to admit it, is my second favourite ever.
O.Henry. William Trevor. Edgar Allan Poe. Edna O'Brien. Roald Dahl. Ali Smith.

Grumpyoldpersonwithcats · 22/01/2021 02:14

Another vote for Saki.

Daphne du Maurier's short stories are excellent.
I also like Philip K Dick. (5 volumes)

skrobbin · 21/01/2021 14:38

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Alltheprettyseahorses · 20/01/2021 09:29

Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow are great editors and I'd highly recommend any and all of their anthologies.

Hawkins001 · 20/01/2021 01:06

For a mix of stories, literotica is quite a mix of story styles and types

bitheby · 20/01/2021 00:56

I like Ali Smith's short stories. A bit surrealist sometimes but beautifully written.

Bailegangaire · 20/01/2021 00:53

Anything by Mavis Gallant, Elizabeth Bowen, Frank O’Connor, or Alice Munro.

PomBearWithoutHerOFRS · 20/01/2021 00:42

Neil Gaiman's "Smoke and Mirrors" is good.

Readingandrighting · 19/01/2021 00:02

Short story collection: What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver (& anything by Raymond Carver!)

Time40 · 13/01/2021 19:23

*"October Country"

19 short stories by the late, great Ray Bradbury.
Highly recommended*

Oooh yes, I'd forgotten about that one. It's brilliant!

Childrenofthestones · 13/01/2021 11:53

"October Country"

19 short stories by the late, great Ray Bradbury.
Highly recommended 👍🙂

timetobackout · 12/01/2021 20:30

O Henry is out of fashion, but was a master of the genre.

MakemineaGandT · 12/01/2021 20:23

Helen Dunmore’s “Girl Balancing & Other Stories” is fantastic

Aftertheharvest · 12/01/2021 19:14

Zadie Smith 'Intimations' if you want short essays. A very short collection overall with backdrop of pandemic.

Original poster
2021booklover · 12/01/2021 18:48

Oh wow so many great suggestions thank you.

OP posts:
Robbybobtail · 12/01/2021 15:52

If you like murder mysteries, P.D.James has two (that i know of) short story collections: 'Sleep No More' and the 'Mistletoe Murders and other short stories' that i couldnt put down! Im only sorry she didnt write more. I always give books to family willy-nilly and dont ask for them back but these two i do ask to be returned!

LunaNorth · 12/01/2021 15:48

Alice Munro - Runaway, or any of her other collections. She’s the queen of the genre.

Shirley Jackson’s Dark Tales.

Carys Davies.
Jane Gardem.
Guy de Maupassant.
Katherine Mansfield.
Stephen King has done some great short story collections, too.

I love short stories.

DustinTheTurkey · 12/01/2021 15:46

Maggie O'Farrell's "I am I am I am" is absolutely brilliant. A memoirs of sorts, it's a collection of (short) stories about various times in her life when she's had a narrow escape. Definitely worth a read.

Time40 · 12/01/2021 15:42

I'd second The Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter, and Not the End of the World by Kate Atkinson - three really great short story collections.

If you think you would enjoy something a tiny bit more old-fashioned (mid-twentieth century), try Elizabeth Taylor and Angus Wilson - two fabulous short-story writers: both of them very clever, brilliant social observers and at times extremely funny.

ThomasHardyPerennial · 12/01/2021 15:24

The British Library have several tales of the weird compilations, I'm currently ready one called 'Evil Roots'.

CoisFarraige · 11/01/2021 22:42

Yiyun Li - A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
Set in mostly modern China, I found these short stories were amazing, a window into a really different culture - really well written

ElizabethinherGermanGarden · 11/01/2021 22:37

Angela Carter is amazing - The Bloody Chamber is full of dark, adult rewrites of fairy tales, but my favourite collection is American Ghosts and Old World Wonders.

Another great collection, but autobiographical snippets rather than fiction, is Maggie O'Farrell's I Am I Am I Am - her collection of accounts of all her brushes with death. That's gorgeous.

Littlefiendsusan · 11/01/2021 22:28

MR James and Saki- second those.
I enjoyed Kate Atkinson's Not the End of the World.

Aahotep · 11/01/2021 22:21

I love ghost stories I would recommend
The Travelling Bag by Susan Hill (she of Woman in Black fame)
Three Winter Ghosts by Gary Sergeant
Fireside Gothic by Andrew Taylor
Also pretty much any M R James

AliceLutherNeeMorgan · 11/01/2021 22:15

Also I would recommend some of the Roald Dahl collections - the adult ones like Kiss Kiss and Henry Sugar