Need help finding a great short story book

[Indian Boy]

I recently read the following books - 'Drown' by Junot Diaz, "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" by Sherman Alexie, "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'brien, and "The Martian Chronicles."

What I love about these books is that they're all short stories based around an a central idea. For example, the stories in "Drown" are all about a young man's struggles in both the Domincan Republic and then his transition into an impoverished life in New Jersey. The "Lone Ranger" stories all revolve around life on an indian reservation. "Things they carried" - Vietnam, and "The Martian Chronicles" are all about obviously Mars.

Does anybody know of any other short story books that would fit into this category? I'd really appreciate some titles. Thanks

[mal4mac]

I recently read the following books - 'Drown' by Junot Diaz, "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" by Sherman Alexie, "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'brien, and "The Martian Chronicles."

What I love about these books is that they're all short stories based around an a central idea. For example, the stories in "Drown" are all about a young man's struggles in both the Domincan Republic and then his transition into an impoverished life in New Jersey. The "Lone Ranger" stories all revolve around life on an indian reservation. "Things they carried" - Vietnam, and "The Martian Chronicles" are all about obviously Mars.

Does anybody know of any other short story books that would fit into this category? I'd really appreciate some titles. Thanks

Tolstoy's short works about the Cossacks may suit your taste. Try:

The Cossacks and Other Stories (Penguin Classics) by Leo Tolstoy

[Pecksie]

'The Believers' by Charles Baxter?

[Pryderi Agni]

Hmmm...Kwaidan, I guess, because they're all ghost stories from the same period in Japanese history?

[Helga]

after the earthquake by Haruki Murakami everything happens in Japan after a big earthquake

[FalseReality]

I recently read the following books - 'Drown' by Junot Diaz, "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" by Sherman Alexie, "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'brien, and "The Martian Chronicles."

What I love about these books is that they're all short stories based around an a central idea. For example, the stories in "Drown" are all about a young man's struggles in both the Domincan Republic and then his transition into an impoverished life in New Jersey. The "Lone Ranger" stories all revolve around life on an indian reservation. "Things they carried" - Vietnam, and "The Martian Chronicles" are all about obviously Mars.

Does anybody know of any other short story books that would fit into this category? I'd really appreciate some titles. Thanks


I've read all those books in the past two years, except the "Martian Chronicles".

Since you've read "Drown" I must recommend Diaz's The Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
because Drown is basically a pre-cursor this novel, which also deals with a teenage dealing with life in NJ and the DR.

Short story recommendation would be Tadeuz Borowski's This Way for Gas Ladies and Gentlemen and Borges Collected Fictions

[promtbr]

The Literarary Fiction "discovery" of the 20th century for me was when Penguin's Voces from the Other Europe first published Poland's Bruno Schulz' collection Street of Crocodiles all stories are from the same 1st person narrator and all set in the same time and place .. This is all we have of his works, as he was killed by an SS officer when he was 40....Amazing amazing stories and prose. They share the same sense that the 'irreal' is waiting to emerge from any corner of one's perception. (and I don't mean horror-suspense "unreal")

btw. If you liked Alexie's Lone Ranger etc... his early The Business of Fancy Dancing written before he had a readership and tainted by media discovery (my opinion), is superior to it (by a Light Year or two)



---

[joebob]

http://www.scribd.com/doc/13076194/JD-Salinger-The-Uncollected-Works

This is money.

[Roaring Fish]

At lot depends on your taste, but...

Chekhov. He was an extraordinarily prolific producer of short stories - over 500 before his 28th birthday.

Roald Dahl. My personal favourite. Try Switch *****.

Chinhua Achebe. Maybe a little unusual, but worth a read all the same. Try Girls at War.

[mal4mac]

At lot depends on your taste, but...

Chekhov. He was an extraordinarily prolific producer of short stories - over 500 before his 28th birthday.



The OP asked for a *book* of short stories, so which one book of Chekhov stories would you recommend? I've read three paperback collections extracted from the Oxford Chekhov, all of which I'd recommend above any other short stories I've ever read. The favourite was maybe:

Ward Number Six and Other Stories (Oxford World's Classics) by Anton Chekhov (translated by Ronald Hingley).

Any Chekhov experts recommend other collections? I'm tempted by the thirteen volume Ecco set. But is Chekhov consistently great across so many stories? Is Garnett's translation as good as Hingley's?

[Roaring Fish]

The OP asked for a *book* of short stories, so which one book of Chekhov stories would you recommend? I've read three paperback collections extracted from the Oxford Chekhov, all of which I'd recommend above any other short stories I've ever read. The favourite was maybe:

Ward Number Six and Other Stories (Oxford World's Classics) by Anton Chekhov (translated by Ronald Hingley).

Any Chekhov experts recommend other collections? I'm tempted by the thirteen volume Ecco set. But is Chekhov consistently great across so many stories? Is Garnett's translation as good as Hingley's?

I didn't want to nail it down to one volume because he was so prolific. deciding which one to read myself is difficult, never mind choosing for someone else.

If I had to, I would choose The Comic Stories, a collection of early Checkhov translated by Harvey Pitcher. Not *all* Chechov is good (“Chekhov wrote about 6 good stories.” ~ Ernest Hemingway), and this is particularly true of his early output, but this is a good selection. For me, the appeal is that it is more imaginative, light-hearted, mischievous even, than later Chekhov. Given that I like Roald Dahl I am sure you can see the appeal.

For others, maybe a better choice would be Lady with the Little Dog and Other Stories, translated by Ronald Wilkes. This is a collection from his last years, when he was producing his 'best' (in what way?) work. It includes The Bride, The Bishop, and of course the Lady with the Little Dog, all held up as masterpieces by Checkhov fans.

[mal4mac]

The Lady with the Little Dog is the title story to another of the Oxford paperbacks I read. That story was as good as "Ward 6", but less "action packed".

“Chekhov wrote about 6 good stories.” must be one of the more ridiculous thing Hemingway has drunkenly spouted. Almost on a par with Tolstoy's dismissal of of Shakespeare. I've read about 30 of Chekhov's short stories, hand picked by Oxford Classics, and all were excellent. Looks like a case of anxiety of influence becoming realisation of inferiority. Result = sour grapes...