I know that a lot of people see them as kind of a waste of time, but I love, love, love a good short story collection. I think it’s great to be able to start and finish a full story in one sitting. I especially like to read short stories by people that I’ve already read novels by. It’s a totally different ball game, in my opinion, and I like to see how it’s handled, because while I love a good short story collection, a bad one can be really, really bad.
Just wanted to let you know about a few that I thought were pretty great.
Of course, Stephen King is a gimme. He has several collections of short stories and the short story is something that he’s kind of passionate about. A lot of times when people say that they haven’t read Stephen King because they’re just not sure about him, I recommend a short story collection so that they can get a taste of his writing without a commitment to a 1000 page book. Some of my favorites collections by him are Nightmares and Dreamscapes, Night Shift, Everything’s Eventual, and Four Past Midnight. All of his are good stuff though and if you are new to him or to short stories, this would probably be a good place to start.
Another classic is Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger. I read this several years ago and thought it was good but didn’t really realize how much it impacted me. There are stories here that come back to me over and over and over. They are kind of these perfect, model short stories. They give you a glimpse of a life while blurring some edges and telling a full story. The first one, Perfect Day for Banafish, really is one of the best short stories I’ve ever read. So, so good.
I was first introduced to Elliot Perlman though Seven Types of Ambiguity and it was pretty much love at first sight. I thought that mammoth of a book was great and when I found out that he also had a short story collection, I was totally sold. The Reasons I Won’t Be Coming is a collection of stories that from the descriptions just sound totally quirky, but end up having real heart behind them. They are normal people in semi-normal situations and he just takes these ordinary lives and writes about them in a beautiful, poignant way. For some of the stories, that really really works. Some of them, not so much. Worth reading the full collection though, mostly because I like what he’s trying to say.
I started The Whole Story and Other Stories by Ali Smith in the bookstore, and in a very uncharacteristic move, walked straight to the check-out and bought it. I liked it that much. It’s a skinny little book but it is kind of beautiful and I really loved the stories. The first one, The Universal Story, will stop you in your tracks. So frigging good. All of them are good, but for me, this one was worth buying the collection for. So, so good.
I thought that The Memory Keeper’s Daughter was only so-so, but I thought that The Secrets of a Fire King by Kim Edwards was pretty great. What struck me about this collection and what I remember most is how each story was its own deal, but that similar themes kept popping up in one story after the other. There was a little spark every time there was this feeling of “recognition” and I think that it made the collection so much more powerful as a whole. That flow took some mediocre stories and bumped them up a notch. There were a few great stories here, but not all of them. I still enjoyed it enough to include it on this little list, so that should say something, right? Right.
I just sat here and tried to brainstorm a couple more but came up with some stuff that’s good but not great, and I don’t want you to start off on the wrong foot if short stories are something new for you. Give one of these collections a go and let me know what you think. Anyone have any amazing recommendations that I’ve missed here? Let me know!









