Short Story lovers discussion
All-time favorites
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David
(last edited Aug 25, 2016 12:51PM)
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Sep 30, 2007 10:38AM

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William Trevor - concision, celtic irony and masterful dialogue
Scott Fitzgerald - everything he wrote was really a short story, he was a master of the art and his Ice Palace is a story that haunts me
Guy de Maupassant - to whom I return again and again, I always think I've exhausted his stories and come back to them to find some new aspect that I'd completely overlooked
Alice Munro - complex understated prose with human scale storylines and simple observations that lay bare the truth of relationships.

I'm with Kay in choosing William Trevor and Guy de Maupassant. In addition, William Maxwell and Mavis Gallant were great finds for me several years ago.
Garcia Marquez, Stephen King and Tim O'Brien are also at the top of my list.
I'll stop here. So many stories........ya'll know the rest!

How about O. Henry? And J. D Salinger, too, for me. Flannery O' Connor. Also, I worship Lorrie Moore. "People Like That Are The Only People Here"--holy shit, that's a story. I read the story several times after my daughter started having chronic health problems, and I think about it often. You can read it here (scroll down):
http://www.bioethics.gov/bookshelf/re...

Mary Robison (Tell Me)
Joy Williams (Honored Guest)
Ann Beattie (pretty much all of hers)
James Joyce (Dubliners--my favorite being "The Dead" which was the most beautiful final paragraph in all of storydom as far as I am concerned)
William Trevor
Alice Munro
Also, Richard Ford for Rock Springs
Charles Baxter for Through the Safety Net
Junot Diaz for Drown


Katherine Anne Porter
A.S. Byatt
Ambrose Bierce (Civil War Stories, especially)
Kate Chopin
Dorothy Parker
Annie Proulx
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Ernest Hemingway
Gerald Durrell (when I just need to laugh)

I second this.


The End of Firpo in the World - George Saunders
The Dead - James Joyce
Cavemen in the Hedges - Stacey Richter
Curly Red - Joyce Carol Oates
A Good Man is Hard to Find - Flannery O'Conner
Prints - Amanda Davis
Samuel Johnson is Indignant - Lydia Davis
Screenwriter & Her Real Name - Charles D'Ambrosio

On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning by Haruki Murakami
The Laurel and Hardy Love Affair by Ray Bradbury

Jim Shepard runs a very close second for me -- he writes in so many different voices and styles, and does all of them well. He just got a well-deserved National Book Award nomination for his latest collection, "Like You'd Understand Anyway."
Truman Capote also wrote a couple of amazing short stories, particularly "My Side of the Matter," which unfortunately isn't anthologized much anymore, probably because it makes free use of the word "nigger." Still, I don't think you'll see a more well-drawn portrayal of a person in so short a page-span.

I am with David on Ernest Hemingway, Stuart Dybek, haven't read much Raymond Carver but I intend to. Mark Costello (Murphy Stories) is a favorite, Dubliners is one of my all time favorite books and I completely wholeheartedly agree with Carol about the last paragraph of "The Dead", I swear I reread that like once a month. Katherine Anne Porter, "Pale Horse, Pale Rider" chokes me up just thinking about it...Andre Dubus (sr.), gosh, I'm sure there's many many more...


Anton Chekhov
Mikhail Lermontov
Yevgeny Zamyatin
Tatiana Tolstaia
and a few others, from various parts of the globe:
Alice Munro
Guy de Maupassant
Owen Marshall
In science fiction:
Gene Wolfe
Ursula Le Guin
Arthur C. Clarke (the early stories collected in "Expedition to Earth")
but the #1 for me, straddling nearly all genres, is:
Jorge Luis Borges



-- in fact, found not only the poem but some history, explanations of some of the vernacular, etc. Let me know if you find it fun to read and ponder. What a concept! And horrors, it uses rhyming words.


Tim wrote: "In literary fiction: some of the great Russian authors of short fiction -
Anton Chekhov
Mikhail Lermontov
Yevgeny Zamyatin
Tatiana Tolstaia
and a few others, from various parts of the globe:
Al..."
Borges, yeah. The last paragraph of the story in which the narrator is given Shakespeare's mind. Bach.
Anton Chekhov
Mikhail Lermontov
Yevgeny Zamyatin
Tatiana Tolstaia
and a few others, from various parts of the globe:
Al..."
Borges, yeah. The last paragraph of the story in which the narrator is given Shakespeare's mind. Bach.

However, I'm a big fan of others, including: Tobias Wolff, Rick Moody, Ann Beattie, Antonya Nelson, Thom Jones, Larry Brown, TC Boyle.

Others writers whose short stories I love/admire Lorrie Moore, Flannery O'Connor, T.C. Boyle and for the inocent silliness of his stories Patrick McManus!






Yeah St Lucy's Home For Girls Raised by Wolves! I loved it but had to order it online... I live in Canada (in a major city) and couldn't find it distributed anywhere. Her newer work (in Best American Stories) is amazing too.
Hannah wrote: "I am a passionate re-reader of "Some Rain Must Fall" by Michel Faber, and "St. Lucy's Home For Girls Raised By Wolves".
Others writers whose short stories I love/admire Lorrie Moore, Flannery O'..."
Hannah wrote: "I am a passionate re-reader of "Some Rain Must Fall" by Michel Faber, and "St. Lucy's Home For Girls Raised By Wolves".
Others writers whose short stories I love/admire Lorrie Moore, Flannery O'..."


Booing or cheering?


Hey, you should join The Hemingway Short Story group on Goodreads. We'll soon be discussing Nobody Ever Dies. Would love to have your impressions.






With a few exceptions, such as Alice Munro and William Trevor, I'm not fond of the direction in which the short story seems to be moving today. The upper class, ennui-ridden person, who just thinks he/she has problems. I find it boring. Perhaps I'm just reading the wrong stories! LOL I don't know. I just know I like my stories full and rich.
Books mentioned in this topic
If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home (other topics)The Essential Tales of Chekhov (other topics)
Authors mentioned in this topic
Carson McCullers (other topics)Louise Erdrich (other topics)
William Trevor (other topics)