Donna Posted November 23, 2010 Share Posted November 23, 2010 I don't tend to read many short story collections for some reason But those I have read and enjoyed are collections by Daphne du Maurier, Roald Dahl (especially his ghost stories), and Jeffrey Archer. Also, very seasonal, The Christmas Books by Charles Dickens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted November 26, 2010 Share Posted November 26, 2010 I've started reading short stories over the last few years, and some of my favourite collection have been People I Wanted To Be by Gina Oscher, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by Yiyun Li, but my absolute favourites have to be Love Begins In Winter and The Secret Lives of People In Love by Simon Van Booy, who writes exquisitely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SueK Posted November 30, 2010 Share Posted November 30, 2010 and of course there is nothing like picking up some short ghost stories, especially around Christmas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Books do furnish a room Posted December 6, 2010 Share Posted December 6, 2010 I've just read a collection by Pauline Melville; The Migration of Ghosts. Some excellent short stories. Anyone else know her work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Himself Posted December 25, 2010 Share Posted December 25, 2010 I thoroughly enjoyed Haruki Murakami's collection The Elephant Vanishes. It is certainly an interesting take on the, I suppose, banalities of existence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToniLianne Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 The only one I've read is "The Signalman" by Charles Dickens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wickedvoodoo Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 I LOVE short stories. I enjoy them just as much as novels, sometimes maybe more. Some of my fav's from the top of my head. The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel (The queen of short stories, hands down) No One Belongs Here More Than You - Miranda July Drown - Junot Diaz Haunted - Chuck Palahniuk Slut Lullabies - Gina Frangello The Informers - Bret Ellis The Acid House - Irvine Welsh Tales of the White Hart - Arthur Clarke Of Time and Stars - Arthur Clarke The Complete Robot - Asimov Minority Report - Phillip Dick Everythings Eventual - Stephen King Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Martin, I love Tales from the White Hart too. In fact, I'm a big fan of all of Clarke's short stories. Have you ever read anything by JG Ballard? Going by your favourite authors, he might be an author you'd like. He wrote a huge number of short stories and I have a beautiful volume containing them all but haven't managed to start reading it yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wickedvoodoo Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 (edited) Ballard? That the guy that wrote Crash? I've heard plenty but he's one I am yet to check out as of yet. Y'now how it is, sometimes you keep meaning to check out a guy but never get chance, Too many books on the TBR shelf you see. Several people have recommended him to me now though. I must get round to it. And yes, The White Hart is a wonderful little book. I have it signed by the big man Clarke himself. Probably the most valuable book in my collection. Edited July 8, 2011 by wickedvoodoo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Melling Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Anything by Ray Bradbury. Also... Clive Barker's books of Blood.................Jaqueline Ess Salinger's For Esme, with Love and Squalor....Title story Anything by H.G Wells.........................Time Machine Anything by Ramsey Campbell...................The Companion Stephen King's Night Shift....................Night Surf Anything by Hemingway Anything by Roald Dahl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleW Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 I don't read short stories that often. But recently I've read those from Jeffrey Archer and I loved them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emelee Posted August 10, 2011 Share Posted August 10, 2011 Two shortstories that are so filled with tragedy and emotion are these; Stig Dagerman - "To kill a child": Read it here August Strindberg - "Half a Sheet of Foolscap": Read it here Of Dagerman's shortstory: The most famous of Dagerman’s short stories, “Att döda ett barn” (“To Kill A Child”), exemplified the strong influence of film on his writing. In image after image, it portrayed in riveting detail how a series of perfectly ordinary events can be a prologue to horror. (Wikipedia) Strindberg's story is about a widdower remembering a whole life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 Some good collections of short stories that stick in my mind are any by Stephen King, but especially Different Seasons. Ian Rankin did a collection of Inspector Rebus stories called A Good Hanging. This was my first Rebus book, and I devoured it! Also the Annie Proulx collection Close Range have some very good stories. Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isandriena Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 I have to say I have never been interested in reading a story Thayer wasn't at least 150 pages long. I just don't see how you can even get a decent story in such few pages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinay87 Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 I love The Storyteller by "Saki" aka Hector Hugh Munro and Nicholas was... by Niel Gaiman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bimblebee Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 'The Stories of Tobias Wolff' is a brilliant collection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Echo Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Some of the best I've read lately are: Tokyo Stories: A Literary Stroll edited by Lawrence Rogers Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories by Ryunoskue Akutagawa Still Life and Other Stories by Junzo Shono Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edogawa Rampo And right now I'm reading The Collected Stories of Colette. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsmeagain Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Thanks for your replies everyone. Some good stories/collections I've not heard of, will definitely be trying to get hold of some of them, especially Arthur C Clarke; always meant to get a hold of his stuff, even if I'm not a huge sci-fi fan. Thanks Essiotrot for the Truman Capote suggestion; I haven't read anything by him, but saw the film with Phillip Seymour Hoffman and am certainly interested. It is a shame though that so many people nowadays (particularly in the UK; less so in North America and Europe) don't like short stories. I can understand why some people want to sink their teeth into something more expansive, but I think short stories are so much fun purely because in their brevity they still manage to conjure up worlds and ideas just as important or enlightening as those in bigger books, but without all the extra padding that comes with novels. Even if they don't last as long, I find them just as memorable and effective. But then, admittedly, I have quite a short attention span, so that probably plays a large part in my enjoyment of them too. Jim Anyone wanting an action packed short story, do check out William Trevor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kushy Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 I am having a 5 years old boy.For him I daily collect the stories from my daily newspapers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Andrea~ Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 I've recently been listening to Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes short stories and they are turning into my favourite short stories ever. They're really good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kushy Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 I like Sherlock Holmes stories as there is some suspense and other detective stories I like most .Now I am looking for moral stories for my kid I have take G.K publishers book they are nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brook Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 (edited) These are some of my favourite short stories. It’s quite a long list but I love short stories – I think the form is a unique art, different from the novel, not just shorter. To me the following are all beautiful, full of pathos and emotional resonance. They are unforgettable, and I will return to them again and again throughout my life: Miss Brill, by Katherine Mansfield; American Horse, by Louise Erdritch; If you Sing Like that for Me, by Akhil Harma; A White Heron by Sarah Orne Jewett; To Room Nineteen by Doris Lessing; House Opposite, by R K Narayan;I Stand Here Ironing, by Tillie Olsen; The Chrysanthemums, by John Steinbeck; The Death of Ivan Ilyich, by Leo Tolstoy; Everyday Use, by Alice Walker; Disappearing, by Monica Wood; The Rocking Horse by D.H. Lawrence; About Love, and The Lady with the Little Dog by Anton Chekhov; The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman; The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogal; He’s at the Office, by Allan Gurganus; Everything Stuck to Him, by Raymond Carver. I have many more favourites by the above authors. I also enjoy Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King. Edited May 6, 2013 by Brook Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verna Posted July 13, 2013 Share Posted July 13, 2013 (edited) These are some of my favourite short stories. It’s quite a long list but I love short stories – I think the form is a unique art, different from the novel, not just shorter. To me the following are all beautiful, full of pathos and emotional resonance. They are unforgettable, and I will return to them again and again throughout my life: Miss Brill, by Katherine Mansfield; American Horse, by Louise Erdritch; If you Sing Like that for Me, by Akhil Harma; A White Heron by Sarah Orne Jewett; To Room Nineteen by Doris Lessing; House Opposite, by R K Narayan; I Stand Here Ironing, by Tillie Olsen; The Chrysanthemums, by John Steinbeck; The Death of Ivan Ilyich, by Leo Tolstoy; Everyday Use, by Alice Walker; Disappearing, by Monica Wood; The Rocking Horse by D.H. Lawrence; About Love, and The Lady with the Little Dog by Anton Chekhov; The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman; The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogal; He’s at the Office, by Allan Gurganus; Everything Stuck to Him, by Raymond Carver. I have many more favourites by the above authors. I also enjoy Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King. I've read several of these stories. One of my favourite stories by Katherine Mansfield is The Tiredness of Rosabel. I also like O. Henry with his surprise endings. The Rocking Horse by D. H. Lawrence is amazing. I haven't read American Horse by Louise Erdrich, but I like her writing and would like to read more of her work, including her short stories. Currently, I'm reading a collection of stories by Yiyun Li (A Thousand Years of Good Prayers). Edited July 13, 2013 by Verna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BSchultz19 Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 So! I looked back several pages in this forum but couldn't find any threads about short stories. Just wondered if anyone here had any favourite short stories or favourite short story collections? Some of my favourites: The Library of Babel - Jorge Luis Borges Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius - Jorge Luis Borges Axolotl - Julio Cortazar The Tell-Tale Heart - Edgar Allen Poe The Masque of the Red Death - Edgar Allen Poe A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia - Viktor Pelevin Memoirs of a Yellow Dog - O. Henry Voice - Margaret Atwood Jim I love these two. Poe is a great short story writer in my opinion. I also liked Damon and Pythias (I think that's what it's called) not sure who it's by. There are some others I've read and enjoyed, but I can't remember the names. Sherlock Holmes is definitely in my TBR pile and I have a book of the first 49 short stories of Hemingway that I'm hoping I'll read sometime this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wipples Posted August 14, 2013 Share Posted August 14, 2013 I cannot express why I love short stories but just the thought of them makes me smile, I am constantly on the look out for interesting collections to read and it is not because I do not like reading long stories because I read and enjoy both equally. Many short stories even consisting of only 3 pages can be more magical and memorable than a 1000 page book, that's depending on the author's talent ofcourse. I agree and one of those stories for me was A Good Man is Hard to Find-Flannery O' Connor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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