The most recommended short story collections

I admit it: I'm a superfan of Mark Gatiss' brilliant interpretation of these stories—I can watch episodes of "Sherlock" an infinite number of times. (OK: I can also do this with "House MD," and for exactly the same reasons.) Part of that is the amazing chemistry between Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman (or Hugh Laurie and Robert Sean Leonard), but more of it is the obvious references to "deep cuts" buried in the source material, which until this year I had never read. My eldest uncle died not long ago and I became the curator of his utterly massive collection of books, which included several editions of Conan Doyle's fantasia on infinite deductive power coupled with kelvin-scale zero social skills. Sherlock Holmes is the most relatable, lovable sociopath of all time, and it was just pure fun to go right to the source for once.

T. C. Boyle’s characters become real-life people to you. You would think this is an author that believes in everything and everyone, whether good or bad. I laughed out loud a couple of times, and there were times I wanted to reach and hold the characters.

This was, for me, a journey through the façade of pop American lifestyle to the closets of secrets.

This book cannot be consumed quickly or immediately; it is a book like the desert. I am reading it for the third time, because what I do not yet understand of it I find I believe in anyway, maybe even know already.

I read it to go deeper and further, to clear, to still, to strengthen my mind with clues that it might be possible to reconcile and change the human condition through being intentional in nature and the stories we keep. It is infinitely more mysterious and beautiful than I can say. I am caught between a desire to return to this book endlessly and a fear of committing any part of it to memory.

Jocelyn Nicole Johnson’s My Monticello is a title to be treasured. Through a series of masterfully woven stories, Johnson brings forth and highlights the deep-rooted racial inequalities in our country. Having my debut novel published later in life, I feel a special connection because Johnson’s recent release is about resilience and passion for the arts – and it proves that ageism has no place in the art world. This is another fiction title I would highly recommend. There’s a lesson to be learned from every character and every story penned in My Monticello.  

I knew Richard Selzer (1928-2016) for the last twenty-five years of his life, and I have read all of his 15 books. With 27 selections, The Doctor Stories is a good introductory volume.

I believed him to be a gentle soul, so I was shocked by his admission in "Brute" about a time when he was a tired resident working in the ER. He stitched a drunken patient’s earlobes to a gurney to hold him still while sewing up a laceration in his forehead; he smiled cruelly.

I now see how Selzer’s confession has influenced other doctors to break the code of silence and change their dehumanizing ways. It ushered in patient-centered, compassionate care that we all benefit from. Sometimes called “Baroque,” Selzer’s poetic language is my cup of tea. 

This is a bit of a cheat selection because it’s a set of short stories and not all of them are speculative or future-focused. Still, sometimes cheating is worth it.

Okoije has a wonderfully warped imagination and a wide-ranging set of edgy interests that seed her stories with such invention and energy that she expands your idea of what a good story can do.

Fancy some fluorescent, scaly fish wriggling out of mouths? Try ‘Outtakes’. Want to hear from a girl with a long, furry grey tail? Have a read of  ‘Animal Parts’. Keen on psychopaths with a penchant for sending unsuspecting women poetry? Then ‘Fractures’ will float your boat.

Why Okoije is not a major literary star I have no idea. But I love her writing the way I love cream cakes.

Hannah Tinti’s debut collection is a darkly funny book of stories about how people coexist with animals. The stories are both harrowing and heartfelt. Her sense of humor is just the right level of disturbing for me.

Slim’s Last Ride, the bizarre tale of a little boy convinced his pet rabbit can fly, narrated by his equally unwell mother, realistically depicts mental illness and dysfunction.

How To Revitalize the Snake in Your Life is an icy revenge fable involving an ex-boyfriend’s abandoned snake, repurposed as dinner.

Unlike my other picks, many animals in this one are inconvenient, unwanted, or misunderstood by their human companions, leading to tension and danger. 

When your short stories inspire a Kurosawa movie, they must be something special. This collection includes Rashomon and In a Bamboo Grove, two stories set in medieval Japan that inspired the movie Rashomon. It also mixes stylistically vivid pieces that explore moral ambiguity, can be witty and cynical, and are deeply poignant. 

That’s especially true in stories where Akutagawa writes of his own personal struggles—he took his own life aged just 35 in 1927. As Haruki Murakami puts it, Akutagawa’s work is “spine-tingling brilliance.”

I vividly remember reading Native Son in high school, and to this day it remains one of my favorites (as well as one of the best novels of the 20th Century).

So, when I heard a few years ago that Richard Wright’s lost-lost novella was going to be published nearly thirty years after his death, I picked up a copy. Wow. It’s the story of a Black man, accused of a crime he didn’t commit, who evades capture by (yes, as the title says) living underground in the sewers.

The survival aspects, including his ingenuity and the break-ins into buildings and basements he plans to get supplies, are fascinating. But above all this is a story about injustice and what one person is forced to do to survive in an unequal society. A great read! 

All of these stories are superb but my favorite here is "The Last Garden," in which a woman with mother issues finds a surprising solution to them via hardware. Runnerup: "Arlington," with its brilliant use of time travel leavened by a nice dash of romance.

Jack Skillingstead is a cult writer who keeps a fine focus on the human condition, its pathos, comedy, kindness, and cruelty which he captures in surreal and satirical situations in the near and far future. I love his mordant humor, his playful imagination, and the crazy compounding situations he drops his characters into. Odd twists and unexpected endings. Very funny use of sentient hardware, 

Characters who are damaged and find healing in unexpected places, ways, and times. His notes on the background of these stories and generous essay about writing make this much more than a short story collection: the reader will gain insight into… show more.