Any short story recommendations?

[Gilgamesh37]

I have a friend for whom I always buy fiction, most usually short story collections, as a birthday gift. His birthday is coming up; usually there will be 1 or 2 collections everyone is raving about, but I haven't seen any this year. Anything to recommend?

[aggie94]

He may already have these, but if not, my DH is a huge fan of the Sudden Fiction collections (Sudden Fiction, Sudden Fiction International, and Sudden Fiction Continued). His favorite is the International collection.

[donnamp14]

The Complete Works of Flannery O'Connor Her short stories are the best in the world. Particularly "The Geranium".

-Donna

[Gilgamesh37]

Thanks Aggie & Donna---Aggie, I'll look into your suggestion.

Donna, I love Flannery O'Connor, but as my friend is both a) a Southerner and b) a graduate of Iowa Writer's Workshop, he's read those backwards and forwards. I agree, though--she (and Raymond Carver and James McPherson) are among the best!

[cniles]

Hi Gil! (Welcome back!:D )

I just picked up Children Paying Before a Statue of Hercules - Edited and Introduced by David Sedaris. The writers include: Tobias Wolff, Lorrie Moore, Akhil Sharma, Jhumpa Lahiri, Alice Munroe, Richard Yates, Charles Baxter..... Some are classics and some new. Sedaris published this "to support 826NYC, a nonprofit tutoring center in Brooklyn, NY, designed to help students ages 6-18 develop their writing skills thorugh free writing workshops, publishing projects, and one-on-one help with homework and English-language learning."

I just read the Richard Yates story "Oh, Joseph, I'm so tired" - very interesting. I find good short stories have me wanting more.. this one made me wonder what happened to the main character.

[bobmark226]

Originally posted by donnamp14
The Complete Works of Flannery O'Connor Her short stories are the best in the world. -Donna

Oh, come on, Donna, at least let the Complete Eudora Welty rest next to her on the bookshelf, if only for the hilarious "Why I Live at the PO."

I love A. S. Byatt's shorts, usually small collections of five or six, some midlength. I especially recommend Elementals, built around Fire and Ice, etc., and exotic The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye, also The Matisse Stories for an exploration of art and artists.

On a more classic note, the two pb collections (not sure if they're complete) are a terrific introduction to the great V.S. Pritchett.

I could go on endlessly about shorts...

Bob

[oskie]

Floating in My Mother's Palm by Ursula Hegi is a nice collection of intertwined short stories. It's not a lengthy book like a lot of anthologies, but you could maybe pack it with Stones From the River , another book by Hegi with related characters if you were looking for more "substance".

They deal mainly with life in a small town during WWII and post-war Germany and both are fabulous. I just love Hegi's style - you really feel immersed in the situation.

Then you can give your friend another sequel-type book next year, The Vision of Emma Blau , which follows one branch of the German family to America.

[KAG]

Does she have Bailey White's Sleeping at the Starlight Hotel - or - Mama Makes Up Her Mind? She's a Southerner too, from Georgia I think. They are both short stories or essays really about living in the South and the idiocentricies (sp?) that come with that. She's really good, her stories always make me smile with a touch of familiar tuggings. She's been featured on NPR a lot.

I'm not sure if there are other books by her or not. I've only read these two.

[donnamp14]

Bob- Eudora's "One Writer's Beginnings" is really and truly right next to Flannery! I just adore those southern writers!

[misskitty100]

What about High Tide in Tucson by Barbara Kingsolver?

[manetta]

I love anything by Ellen Gilchrist. In The Land of Dreamy Dreams and Victory Over Japan are wonderful. Your friend may already have these if he is a Southerner and a writer, though.

[KAG]

Here's another suggestion. I don't know why I didn't think about it before. Since he's southern....

www.oxfordamericanmag.com

it's all about southern writing by southern writers. The current one happens to be about southern foods. It's a very well done magazine. Take a look at the web site and see what you think. I know it isn't a book but I would think any writer would love this magazine.

I love it and read it from cover to cover.