Seeking recommendations: collections of short stories

[Mike Niendorff]

I'm looking for some good nightstand reading, in particular any short-story compilations that are dark, intelligent and exceedingly well-written. I've pretty much run through the authors I know, and I'm drawing a blank. Anyone have any ideas or recommendations?


MDN

[democracyindanger]

1. Have you read

Raymond Carver? "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" is a good collection. Consistently grim.

or

Roald Dahl--he of Willy Wonka fame. His short story collection is surprisingly dark, but looking at how he offed so many greedy kids in Wonka, I guess it's not that surprising.

[fishnfla]

4. another vote for carver

there is a new book out by a guy, Berger, I believe, supposed to be pretty good, I'll track it down

[democracyindanger]

5. The great thing about Carver

is that he puts the 'short' in 'short story'. My favorite is "Popular Mechanics," which is about 4 grafs long.

[Mike Niendorff]

12. sounds very cool

I'm a big fan of brevity in writing. I even like my poems short (my favorite, if I had to pick one, is Langston Hughes' Motto -- all 8 lines of it :) ). It always amazes me how a good writer can say in 10 pages what a mediocre writer can't say in 100.


MDN

[Mike Niendorff]

8. new name to me

Which is, of course, exactly what I was looking for :) I'll check it out when I go book shopping tomorrow.


MDN

[democracyindanger]

9. Ooh--also, just remembered

"I Thought My Father Was God," an anthology edited by Paul Auster for the NPR National Story Project. 180 true stories by average people. I'll crib from the blurb:

"...Most of the stories are short, vivid bits of narrative...Some are funny, like the story of how a Ku Klux Klan member's beloved dog rushed out into the street during the annual KKK parade and unmasked his owner as the whole town looked on. Some are mysterious, like the story of a woman who watched a white chicken walk purposefully down a street in Portland, Oregon, hop up some porch steps, knock on the door--and calmly enter the house..."

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

2. "The Simple Art Of Murder," by Raymond Chandler

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0394757653/qid=1086482871/sr=1-12/ref=sr_1_12/103-3312311-0872609?v=glance&s=books

"From Library Journal
Chandler is not only the best writer of hardboiled PI stories, he's one of the 20th century's top scribes, period. His full canon of novels and short stories is reprinted in trade paper featuring uniform covers in Black Lizard's signature style. A handsome set for a reasonable price."

"dark, intelligent and exceedingly well-written"...a good description of Chandler's work.

:toast:

[DemoTex]

3. Flannery O'Conner.

" .. dark, intelligent and exceedingly well-written." That's Ms. O'Conner. Very dark, smarter than I, and as tight as a drum.

[Mike Niendorff]

13. Another new name to me

Out of curiousity, does she have any particular topical genre she fits into (crime, horror, etc)?


MDN

[DemoTex]

15. Southern Gothic

O'Conner's short stories are classics. They were required reading in English 102 when I was there (1966). Racism and religion (particularly the dark notion of Flannery's Catholic salvation) are the main themes. Strong themes, too. There is always the ubiquitous dark line of trees against a bright sky (O'Conner's moral inflexibility, perhaps). Read "Three" by Flannery O'Conner, a good starting place.

[Mike Niendorff]

16. thanks for the info.

We engineering students mostly got the crash course in lit, I'm afraid ... but I can draw up a mean Bode plot :)


MDN

[kiahzero]

18. Ugh

Christian Existentialism... I had to read "The Violent Bear It Away" for English class. Easily one of the worst books I've ever had to read for a class; I'm pretty sure only Wuthering Heights was worse.

[buycitgo]

21. the best

see the movie Wise Blood, too, if it's available

John Huston's last, I think

main character prosletyzes for the "Church of Jesus Christ Without Jesus Christ"

etc

[KittyWampus]

6. Honore de Balzac's Droll Stories

short, well written and slightly risque stories.

[DemoTex]

7. If you like the Vietnam genre ...

Try the short stories of Tim O'Brien, particularly The Things They Carried, which - if I remember correctly - is a compendium of his short stories on that subject. Also check out Tobias Wolff. I have seen his short stories in Granta, and he has a great little novel called In Pharaoh's Army.

[kiahzero]

10. Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman

Gaiman is a masterful author.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060934700/qid=1086486516/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/002-7941134-1076059?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

[eyesroll]

11. I've got an enormous anthology of Philip K. Dick, and another of Harlan

Ellison -- both make good reading, if you like scifi.

[Mike Niendorff]

14. I've been thinking of checking into Philip Dick

I thumbed through one of his books of short stories last time I was at B&N (can't remember the specific title offhand), and I've heard *tons* of good comments on him over the years, but I just haven't broken down and picked one of his books up yet. Definitely one I'll be checking into.


MDN

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

17. Clive Barker's "Books of Blood". I'm serious. If you don't mind the

macabre. These stories are extremely well written and clever.

If you go in for that sort of thing, an early Stephen King ("Nightshift") is also good, uneven but some really high notes.

[Fenris]

19. The collected short stories of Guy de Maupassant

Also, if you really want dark, try "The Acid House" by Irvine Welsh.

[tigereye]

20. shorts by Ethan Canin

he is really good.

Can't beat early Updike.

Also Issac Babel.

Lori Moore, as well.

Short stories are great.