Our Collection

Favorite Short Fiction

This list of staff recommendations originally appeared in the Library's August 2012 e-newsletter.

The Country of the Blind and Other Stories by H.G. Wells. The story entitled "The Door in the Wall" is about a man who is desperately searching for the perfect world he stumbled upon in his youth. As with many stories by Wells, the reader will examine the inexplicable and human nature. (Jennifer Hanley-Leonard, Children's Library)

You are Not a Stranger Here by Adam Haslett. This collection of stories features a cast of sharply drawn characters who are haunted by their circumstances, their illnesses, and their obligations. The stories are sad, but never depressing, and the writing is often beautiful. (Patrick Rayner, Circulation)

Palm of the Hand Stories by Yasunari Kawabata. Consisting of few stories longer than five pages, Kawabata's death-surrounded life led him to write what he called "palm of the hand" stories. Informed by haiku-like aesthetics of abbreviation, connotation, and silence, these stories implicate, and paradoxically offer, sensations of beauty familiar to painters and composers but otherwise unavailable in American fiction. Japanese in setting but universal in emotion, their abrupt terminations and refused conclusions are not to everyone's taste. Kawabata became the first Japanese Nobel Laureate in 1968. (Alan Behler, Cataloging/Systems)

Red Cavalry by Isaac Babel (translated from the Russian by Peter Constantine). Originally published in the 1920s, this cycle of stories chronicles the chaotic period of civil war on the Polish frontier that followed the Bolshevik revolution. The stories are short and brutal, and Babel brings you into this world of violence and bewilderment with clear and occasionally beautiful prose, imaginative description, and an unsettling sense of humor. (Steven McGuirl, Acquisitions)

The Atmospheric Railway and Others by Shena Mackay. On this side of the Atlantic, the Scottish-born writer Shena Mackay is something of a secret. Her best known novel is The Orchard on Fire, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1995, but I particularly adore her short stories. One story I have always loved is "The Thirty-First of October," which may be found in a recent collection of her stories called The Atmospheric Railway. It is Mackay at her best, full of compassion for people who find themselves adrift in the margins of society, in this case an elderly and unfashionable writer who is invited to a literary dinner quite by accident, yet resolutely unsentimental. Another favorite of mine is the wonderfully titled and very moving "Where the Carpet Ends," about a group of misfits living off-season at a hotel in the English seaside town of Eastbourne. (Andrew Corbin, Acquisitions/Reference)

No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July. July is a quirky artist, film producer and actor from Los Angeles. Her collection of short stories is no less quirky. The anecdotal stories in this book feature a young woman struggling to understand other people and what is normal. (Jennifer Hanley-Leonard, Children's Library)

A Bird in the House by Margaret Laurence. Eight enchanting tales of a prairie childhood, in the voice of the fictional character Vanessa MacLeod (loosely based on the author's childhood.) Laurence (1926-1987) is one of Canada's most highly regarded and widely studied writers. I'd also recommend The Tomorrow Tamer, short stories based on Laurence's African experience in the early fifties. (Mark Bartlett, Head Librarian)

For families:

You Read to Me and I'll Read to You, selected by Janet Schulman. This collection contains stories for children and parents to share with one another. Ranging from the humorous "The Piggy in the Puddle" by Charlotte Pomerantz to the inspiring "Wilma Unlimited" by Kathleen Krull, this book is a great choice for family reading. (Carrie Silberman, Children's Library)

Alfred Hitchcock's Solve-Them-Yourself Mysteries by Alfred Hitchcock. The master of suspense shares five detective stories with young sleuths. Clues are hidden among the tales and Hitchcock provokes young readers to solve his mysteries. (Carrie Silberman, Children's Library)