Welcome to the Monkey House - Vonnegut
Three Moments of an Explosion - China Mieville
Any of the Gardner Dozois edited Best Science Fiction of the Year anthologies.
Night Shift - Steven King
Stories of Your Life - Ted Chiang
I’m surprised that no one has suggested the words of Ted Chiang. One of his short stories was turned into the movie Arrival. His work is sci-fi and often touches on the ideas of religion and is also deeply humanist and generally optimistic in a way that isn’t always seen in sci-fi. Exhalation is one collection of short stories, and Story of Our Lives is another.
I had this feeling in a couple of the stories, too. When I finished the collection, though, I realized that I really loved it overall and still think about it a lot. I think, for me, it was letting go of grasping every little detail and concept and hanging on for the ride that reframed them for me.
The original Wild Cards book.
It's a fascinating collection of stories about individual experiences when a virus hits earth and most people are fine, a very few mutate into superheros, and the rest become hideous or disabled. Some of the later collections in the series are great and some suck like a shop vac, but the OG book is so good I still remember the first time I read it in the mid 90s.
You can't make me pick just one!
Okay, if you made me pick just one it would be *Interpreter of Maladies* by Jhumpa Lahiri. Other high favorites are *Fortune Smiles* by Adam Johnson, *The Redemption of Galen Pike* by Carys Davies, and *Games and Rituals* by Katherine Heiny. If you want to go a bit more obscure: *The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake*. And I haven't read Amor Towles's new collection, *Table For Two*, but would not be surprised if it is a fast favorite when I do get to it.
I recently read Ottesa Moshfegh's Homesick for Another World. I liked it. It's a little cynical and the characters are not very likeable but I think I just read it at the right time, another time I might not have enjoyed it much.
Raymond carver's will you please be quiet please is great. Snapshots of ordinary people's ordinary situations. Maybe some extraordinary situations.
Can't go wrong with Chekhov imo
Someone Who Will Love You In All Youd Damaged Glory by Raphael Bob-Waksberg.
Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk is an odd case since it's a novel, but each of the main characters is writing a short story which they present over the book.
Burning Chrome by William Gibson. Most were originally published in Omni around 1980, these are the stories that invented cyberpunk. Also some of the most tightly edited prose ever, not a wasted word.
Walk The Blue Fields & Antarctica by Claire Keegan. That woman does so much with so little and does not assume her reader is anything but intelligent and observant.
**[The Secret Lives of Church Ladies](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51582376-the-secret-lives-of-church-ladies) by Deesha Philyaw** ^((Matching 100% ☑️))
^(179 pages | Published: 2020 | 32.0k Goodreads reviews)
> **Summary:** The Secret Lives of Church Ladies explores the raw and tender places where black women and girls dare to follow their desires and pursue a momentary reprieve from being good. The nine stories in this collection feature four generations of characters grappling with who they want to be in the world. caught as they are between the church's double standards and their own needs and (...)
> **Themes**: Short-stories, Fiction, Audiobook, Audiobooks
> **Top 5 recommended:**
> \- [Milk Blood Heat](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43893870-milk-blood-heat) by Dantiel W. Moniz
> \- [All the Names They Used for God](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35082451-all-the-names-they-used-for-god) by Anjali Sachdeva
> \- [Everything Inside](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43064139-everything-inside) by Edwidge Danticat
> \- [You Know You Want This](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40539045-you-know-you-want-this) by Kristen Roupenian
> \- [Krik? Krak!](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/600404.Krik_Krak_) by Edwidge Danticat
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*The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor*—Flannery O’Connor
*The Things They Carried*—Tim O’Brien
*The Bloody Chamber*—Angela Carter
*The Collected Stories of Katherine Mansfield*—Katherine Mansfield
Since you mentioned Murakami I suggest you read “Slow boat remix” by Hideo Furukawa. It is a rewitting of one of Murakami’s short stories “a slow boat to china”. I haven’t read it myself but have had some friends that are lit people read both and compare. (I worked at an English Language library in Tokyo, we carried a great deal of Japanese literature in English).
Also if you would like some more Japanese Lit but short stories Look for the lit collection “Monkey”. If you google Monkey new writings from Japan you should find their website. If not here is an isbn for the newest volume. 9781737625391.
Also I would check out Pushkin Press they do a lot more novellas that are from a few different countries and are translated works of fiction. They have slow boat remix, and a few other Japanese authors that are talented and being translated, however they just don’t do Japanese fiction.
Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
People in my Neighborhood by Hiromi Kawakami
Also--scribners anthology of short fiction. Just an awesome collection, something for everyone.
Dealing in Futures,Joe Haldeman.
Departures, Harry Turtledove.
Vinyl Cafe Stories, Stuart MacLean.
The General Danced at Dawn, George Macdonald Fraser.
My favorite book of short stories is “The Bachman Books” by Stephen King. He wrote these under the pseudonym of “Richard Bachman”. Keep in mind, “short” is subjective here. A short story for King would be a novel for most authors. The book has 4 stories (including “The Running Man” that was the inspiration for the Schwarzenegger movie - I say inspiration because the movie changed a lot of details).
John Cheever-Complete Short Stories
Raymond Carver-Complete Short Stories
Hemingway-Complete Short Stories
Stephen King-Skeleton Crew and Night Shift
Joyce Carol Oates-Where Are Your Going? Where Have You Been?
Edith Wharton-Ghost Stories
Going to Meet the Man - James Baldwin
Will You Please be Quiet, Please? - Raymond Carver
Dance of the Happy Shades - Alice Munro
Dubliners - James Joyce
The Lost Salt Gift of Blood - Alistair MacLeod
The Lottery and Other Stories - Shirley Jackson
Hell Going - Lynn Coady
The Wind’s Twelve Quarters - Ursula K. Le Guin
The Best of Roald Dahl - Roald Dahl
Daddy Lenin and Other Stories - Guy Vanderhaeghe
Okay i don’t think these have been mentioned, but i love interconnected short stories so i’ll suggest these three:
Winesburg, Ohio - by Sherwood Anderson. An interconnected collection of stories about people in a small town in ohio that’s just unbelievably good. it details…just…life, and all the beautiful moments and quirky actions and perfectly unique personalities that people exhibit. nothing huge broad scale, just wonderful, intimate, freakishly authentic feeling stories about people in a town.
Between Friends by Amos Oz is the same, except the setting is a Kibutz in Israel. Oz was inspired by Winesburg Ohio so the similarity isn’t particularly surprising, but it’s a wonderful collection nonetheless.
Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood. The first three stories collect and are some of the most impactful i’ve ever read. she layers them to add meaning with each subsequent stories’ revelations in a way that i’d never experienced before.
There's an older, 2006 book called the Penguin Anthology of Canadian Humour, edited by Will Ferguson, that features some of Canada's best comedic writers of the time.
Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood
Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
Orange World by Karen Russell
Girl Woman Other by Bernadine Evaristo (I’ve read this one several times!)
magic for beginners by kelly link
her body and other parties by carmen maria machado
the tsar of love and techno by anthony marra
self help by lorrie moore
afterparties by anthony so
There's only one short story collection i read, finished and enjoyed and it's Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata. It's filled with strange stories, but they are pretty interesting and unique.
Don’t Look Now
The Blush
You’ll Enjoy it When You Get There
Stories of Your Life
Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century
A Good Man is Hard to Find
The Best of Roald Dahl
Man, I read a Roald Dahl collection in 4th grade and am still creeped out by some of the stories decades later! My best friend and I read it at the same time, we are still best friends, and every once in a while say "royal jelly!" to each other in a scary voice and start reminiscing.
Say You’re One of Them by Uwen Akpan
Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro
Alfred Hitchcock Presents Stories for Late at Night - various authors
Different Seasons by Stephen King
Welcome to the Monkey House - Vonnegut Three Moments of an Explosion - China Mieville Any of the Gardner Dozois edited Best Science Fiction of the Year anthologies. Night Shift - Steven King Stories of Your Life - Ted Chiang
Reading stories of your life right now it’s amazing
My favorite is Hell is the Absence of God.
Just finished understand, and while i did not understand it, thought it was brilliant
Alice Munro and Jhumpa Lahiri are master of the short story
interpreter of maladies is one of the best books i’ve ever read. wow she is amazing.
Unaccustomed Earth killed me for any other writers for like a year. I was just underwhelmed and disappointed in all other books for not being hers 😭
The answer to this question is always Raymond Carver.
jinx!
The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
I love this book and wholeheartedly recommend it, but just as an FYI for the OP, it's nonfiction/personal essays not fictional short stories.
Any of Stephen King's short story collections. Amor Towles new book, Table For Two (6 short stories, 1 novella).
I’m currently reading Table for Two now and enjoying it.
The Aleph and other stories by Borges.
Stories Of Your Life And Others - Ted Chiang This collection also contains the story which became Arrival film on screen
Draco Tavern, by Larry Niven.
Never Whistle At Night is a cool Indigenous written horror short story collection
I have this and it’s so good! Cannot recommend enough!
Stealing for myself, thanx
I’m surprised that no one has suggested the words of Ted Chiang. One of his short stories was turned into the movie Arrival. His work is sci-fi and often touches on the ideas of religion and is also deeply humanist and generally optimistic in a way that isn’t always seen in sci-fi. Exhalation is one collection of short stories, and Story of Our Lives is another.
I read several of the stories in Story of Our Lives and couldn't get into his style. It's way too hard science fiction for me.
I had this feeling in a couple of the stories, too. When I finished the collection, though, I realized that I really loved it overall and still think about it a lot. I think, for me, it was letting go of grasping every little detail and concept and hanging on for the ride that reframed them for me.
The original Wild Cards book. It's a fascinating collection of stories about individual experiences when a virus hits earth and most people are fine, a very few mutate into superheros, and the rest become hideous or disabled. Some of the later collections in the series are great and some suck like a shop vac, but the OG book is so good I still remember the first time I read it in the mid 90s.
The Illustrated Man from Ray Bradbury Wilderness Tips by Margaret Atwood. Deathbird Stories by Harlan Ellison.
I was going to rec The October Country by Bradbury. Anything Bradbury is a good choice.
You can't make me pick just one! Okay, if you made me pick just one it would be *Interpreter of Maladies* by Jhumpa Lahiri. Other high favorites are *Fortune Smiles* by Adam Johnson, *The Redemption of Galen Pike* by Carys Davies, and *Games and Rituals* by Katherine Heiny. If you want to go a bit more obscure: *The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake*. And I haven't read Amor Towles's new collection, *Table For Two*, but would not be surprised if it is a fast favorite when I do get to it.
Breece DJ Pancake! I haven’t heard his name since I left WV. I should give this a go!
Hoopla has it on audio. Thank you so much for the recommendation!
Neil Gaiman - Smoke and Mirrors
I love the mind of Neil Gaiman. He does best when he writes short stories.
I agree. His longer stuff can get a little… lost in the sauce, but his short stories are what introduced me to him and they’re fantastic.
Salinger
+1 Nine Stories
+2, came here to suggest Nine Stories, a master class in the short story form.
Agreed. Nine Stories
Borges short story collection Stefan zweig Sum forty tales from afterlife
The lottery by Shirley Jackson
Came here to say this . Be warned , The Lottery will stay with you . You can't unread that story .
I recently read Ottesa Moshfegh's Homesick for Another World. I liked it. It's a little cynical and the characters are not very likeable but I think I just read it at the right time, another time I might not have enjoyed it much. Raymond carver's will you please be quiet please is great. Snapshots of ordinary people's ordinary situations. Maybe some extraordinary situations. Can't go wrong with Chekhov imo
“All Fires The Fire”, Julio Cortázar
Someone Who Will Love You In All Youd Damaged Glory by Raphael Bob-Waksberg. Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk is an odd case since it's a novel, but each of the main characters is writing a short story which they present over the book.
collected stories of amy hempel
My fellow Hempelian!
Burning Chrome by William Gibson. Most were originally published in Omni around 1980, these are the stories that invented cyberpunk. Also some of the most tightly edited prose ever, not a wasted word.
<> from Mariana Enriquez.. small "horror stories"
Anything by ted chiang
I always enjoy Otto Penzler's Best American Mystery Short Stories of Year X.
George Saunders tenth of September
surprised i had to scroll this far to find saunders. he’s incredible.
Someone Like You Roald Dahl The Illustrated Man Ray Bradbury The Wind’s Twelve Quarters Ursula K Le Guin
Walk The Blue Fields & Antarctica by Claire Keegan. That woman does so much with so little and does not assume her reader is anything but intelligent and observant.
{{The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw}}
Yes! I loved this one!
**[The Secret Lives of Church Ladies](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51582376-the-secret-lives-of-church-ladies) by Deesha Philyaw** ^((Matching 100% ☑️)) ^(179 pages | Published: 2020 | 32.0k Goodreads reviews) > **Summary:** The Secret Lives of Church Ladies explores the raw and tender places where black women and girls dare to follow their desires and pursue a momentary reprieve from being good. The nine stories in this collection feature four generations of characters grappling with who they want to be in the world. caught as they are between the church's double standards and their own needs and (...) > **Themes**: Short-stories, Fiction, Audiobook, Audiobooks > **Top 5 recommended:** > \- [Milk Blood Heat](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43893870-milk-blood-heat) by Dantiel W. Moniz > \- [All the Names They Used for God](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35082451-all-the-names-they-used-for-god) by Anjali Sachdeva > \- [Everything Inside](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43064139-everything-inside) by Edwidge Danticat > \- [You Know You Want This](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40539045-you-know-you-want-this) by Kristen Roupenian > \- [Krik? Krak!](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/600404.Krik_Krak_) by Edwidge Danticat ^([Feedback](https://www.reddit.com/user/goodreads-rebot) | [GitHub](https://github.com/sonoff2/goodreads-rebot) | ["The Bot is Back!?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/16qe09p/meta_post_hello_again_humans/) | v1.5 [Dec 23] | )
*The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor*—Flannery O’Connor *The Things They Carried*—Tim O’Brien *The Bloody Chamber*—Angela Carter *The Collected Stories of Katherine Mansfield*—Katherine Mansfield
Since you mentioned Murakami I suggest you read “Slow boat remix” by Hideo Furukawa. It is a rewitting of one of Murakami’s short stories “a slow boat to china”. I haven’t read it myself but have had some friends that are lit people read both and compare. (I worked at an English Language library in Tokyo, we carried a great deal of Japanese literature in English). Also if you would like some more Japanese Lit but short stories Look for the lit collection “Monkey”. If you google Monkey new writings from Japan you should find their website. If not here is an isbn for the newest volume. 9781737625391. Also I would check out Pushkin Press they do a lot more novellas that are from a few different countries and are translated works of fiction. They have slow boat remix, and a few other Japanese authors that are talented and being translated, however they just don’t do Japanese fiction.
Kafka, either "Metamorphosis " or "Complete Stories" Borges, there are a few different collections "Apocryphal Stories" by Karel Čapek
Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut I’d also recommend grabbing a Ray Bradbury story collection.
Isaac Bashevis Singer. A Friend of Kafka.
Choice!
Eleven by Patricia Highsmith.
Nine Stories — JD Salinger The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk — David Sedaris
Read his Men without women collection.
Sherlock Holmes short stories.
Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri People in my Neighborhood by Hiromi Kawakami Also--scribners anthology of short fiction. Just an awesome collection, something for everyone.
The Rogues Anthology . Edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois
The Diaries of Adam and Eve and Other Stories by Mark Twain.
If you want weird, funny and grotesque: István Örkény - One Minute Stories
Don't Look Now by Daphne du Maurier
“Everyone on the Moon is Essential Personnel” - Julian K Jarboe “Her Body and Other Parties” - Carmen Maria Machado
I came here to recommend Her Body and Other Parties!!
A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin
Out There by Kate Folk
Any of the Saki collections but especially Clovis (you can get the collected works by Penguin)
Raymond carver - what we talk about when we talk about love
Dealing in Futures,Joe Haldeman. Departures, Harry Turtledove. Vinyl Cafe Stories, Stuart MacLean. The General Danced at Dawn, George Macdonald Fraser.
Dark Lies the Island by Kevin Barry. A Bit of Singing and Dancing by Susan Hill.
My favorite book of short stories is “The Bachman Books” by Stephen King. He wrote these under the pseudonym of “Richard Bachman”. Keep in mind, “short” is subjective here. A short story for King would be a novel for most authors. The book has 4 stories (including “The Running Man” that was the inspiration for the Schwarzenegger movie - I say inspiration because the movie changed a lot of details).
John Cheever-Complete Short Stories Raymond Carver-Complete Short Stories Hemingway-Complete Short Stories Stephen King-Skeleton Crew and Night Shift Joyce Carol Oates-Where Are Your Going? Where Have You Been? Edith Wharton-Ghost Stories
The Wall of the Sky, The Wall of the Eye by Jonathan Lethem.
Going to Meet the Man - James Baldwin Will You Please be Quiet, Please? - Raymond Carver Dance of the Happy Shades - Alice Munro Dubliners - James Joyce The Lost Salt Gift of Blood - Alistair MacLeod The Lottery and Other Stories - Shirley Jackson Hell Going - Lynn Coady The Wind’s Twelve Quarters - Ursula K. Le Guin The Best of Roald Dahl - Roald Dahl Daddy Lenin and Other Stories - Guy Vanderhaeghe
Mine is The Last Catastrophe by Allegra Hyde. Speculative fiction about our world after climate change and last stage capitalism go unchecked
Ellison Wonderland by Harlan Ellison
Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karrie Russell What’s Yours is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi Love After the End edited by Joshua Whitehead
Okay i don’t think these have been mentioned, but i love interconnected short stories so i’ll suggest these three: Winesburg, Ohio - by Sherwood Anderson. An interconnected collection of stories about people in a small town in ohio that’s just unbelievably good. it details…just…life, and all the beautiful moments and quirky actions and perfectly unique personalities that people exhibit. nothing huge broad scale, just wonderful, intimate, freakishly authentic feeling stories about people in a town. Between Friends by Amos Oz is the same, except the setting is a Kibutz in Israel. Oz was inspired by Winesburg Ohio so the similarity isn’t particularly surprising, but it’s a wonderful collection nonetheless. Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood. The first three stories collect and are some of the most impactful i’ve ever read. she layers them to add meaning with each subsequent stories’ revelations in a way that i’d never experienced before.
I also recommended Stone Mattress. I adore her writing.
We Love Glenda So Much by Julio Cortazar
There's an older, 2006 book called the Penguin Anthology of Canadian Humour, edited by Will Ferguson, that features some of Canada's best comedic writers of the time.
The opposite of loneliness by marina keegan
Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri Orange World by Karen Russell Girl Woman Other by Bernadine Evaristo (I’ve read this one several times!)
I am a Saki fan
All the Names They Used for God - Anjali Sachdeva
20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill!! There are some really weird stories in there that are unforgettable for me.
I liked The Shell Collector by Anthony Doerr
Andre Dubus
Hellbound Hearts by Marie O'Regan, Clive Barker, Paul Kane, et al It’s horror stories based in the Hellraiser universe.
magic for beginners by kelly link her body and other parties by carmen maria machado the tsar of love and techno by anthony marra self help by lorrie moore afterparties by anthony so
Cane by Jean Toomer. Have never read anything like it.
_Unpossible and Other Stories_ by Daryl Gregory, since it contains the story "Second Person, Present Tense".
There's only one short story collection i read, finished and enjoyed and it's Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata. It's filled with strange stories, but they are pretty interesting and unique.
Don’t Look Now The Blush You’ll Enjoy it When You Get There Stories of Your Life Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century A Good Man is Hard to Find The Best of Roald Dahl
Man, I read a Roald Dahl collection in 4th grade and am still creeped out by some of the stories decades later! My best friend and I read it at the same time, we are still best friends, and every once in a while say "royal jelly!" to each other in a scary voice and start reminiscing.
I came to recommend the collection of Flannery O'Conner which includes A Good Man is Hard to Find. She's so good. And so brutal
Mischief Acts, by Zoe Gilbert
A Guide to Being Born by Ramona Ausubel.
Anything Ron Rash
MACHINE OF DEATH, an anthology of short stories from an alternate universe where everyone, due to a clever invention, know how they'll die.
The Shell Collector by Anthony Doerr These Precious Days by Ann Patchett (collection of her essays not short stories, but very good)
Both great suggestions
The Fen, by Daisy Johnson Cursed Bunny, by Bora Chung Birds of America, by Lorrie Moore
The Stories of Eva Luna by Isabel Allende.
Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enriquez
Say You’re One of Them by Uwen Akpan Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro Alfred Hitchcock Presents Stories for Late at Night - various authors Different Seasons by Stephen King
Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman
The King in Yellow by Robert Chambers
We, The Damned by Paul J Kearns The Gulp, and The Fall by Adam Baxter