And why you shouldn’t underestimate the power of precise prose.
I fell in love with short stories in my ninth-grade English class when we would get assigned to read these photocopied, stapled pages of literary perfection. I would flip through and finish them all before sports practice. That intense jolt from a well-crafted short story still delights me decades later. And when it’s compiled into a collection, it’s even better.
If you think a short story is too brief to captivate you or too abrupt to satiate you, or if you believe a short story collection is too disjointed to captivate you, you haven’t read the right ones.
I believe the true mark of a literary master is being able to pen a satisfying story in just a few thousand words. These authors hit the mark, multiple times, in their short story collections.
Jean Chen Ho, Fiona and Jane
A teenage daughter kisses her female grad student piano teacher just as her father comes out of the closet in the first story of this alternating narrative. Fiona and Jane is a collection of stories centered around two best friends from childhood into their 40s.
Ladee Hubbard, The Last Suspicious Holdout: Stories
The author of The Rib King tackles race, relationships, families, and identity in this strong series of stories that begin with a Kool-Aid-filled, cringe-worthy moment and goes from there.
Listen to my podcast with Ladee Hubbard.
Lily King, Five Tuesdays in Winter
Lily King’s prose absolutely sings. Her most recent novel, Writers and Lovers, was sensational. Her latest collection of essays leverages her incisive style as she examines a young boy and the college-aged kid who watches him, a man pining for a woman working in a bookstore, and more in this sensational literary work.
Listen to my podcast with Lily King.
Nicole Krauss, To Be a Man
Three boarding school girls have their bonds fractured by a new man who visits. An elderly gentleman in Tel Aviv must escape home when a stranger comes to visit. Nicole Krauss’s stories illuminate the interior lives of her characters as the settings span the globe.
Listen to my podcast with Nicole Krauss.
Laura Lippman, Seasonal Work
This is a suspenseful series featuring fierce females. In one story, a woman steps in to solve the mystery of a local independent bookstore with a shoplifting problem. It begs the questions: Where do stories live? What does it mean to live on the page!? Can the pages live elsewhere? Bestselling crime writer Laura Lippman spins stories into literary gold in this collection.
Listen to my podcast with Laura Lippman.
Leigh Newman, Nobody Gets Out Alive
Co-founder of new publishing venture Zibby Books and former books editor of Oprah.com, Leigh Newman knows a good story when she sees one. In this collection centered around women in male-dominated Alaska, Newman doesn’t just write about their ability to survive in the wild, but their courage in navigating the most intimate relationships.
Simon Rich, New Teeth
A new dad and frequent New Yorker contributor Simon Rich turns his sense of humor and keen wit on the absurdity of family life, fatherhood, and more in this unique, hilarious fresh set of stories that involve pirates, naptime, and a woman raised by wolves. Natch.
Listen to my podcast with Simon Rich.
Hilma Wolitzer, Today A Woman Went Mad at the Supermarket
In the title story, a 1950s era housewife watches another woman completely lose it in the grocery store. Hilma Wolitzer’s stories then plow through time until her most recent, emotional tale about losing one she loves in the pandemic. This is a treasure trove of feelings and ferocity.
Listen to my podcast with Hilma Wolitzer.
