Here are some of my favorite short story collections of recent years:
A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan - I was surprised to see that I read this all the way back in 2011, because I still remember it! It was a 5 star read for me and on my ten favorites list for 2011. This is one of those books that actually claims to be a novel, but is actually a book of short stories about various interconnecting characters. It usually irritates me when books are misleadingly marketed in that way, but I thought this book was so brilliant that I didn't care. The stories were written in different styles - including one all in powerpoint slides - which sounds crazy but again I found to be just brilliant writing. This book was on lots of critics' lists and even won the Pulitzer prize. Definitely is a bit of a love it or hate it book though - many people I know loved it just as much as I did, but a few friends really disliked it.
Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal - Another collection of inter-connected short stories masquerading as a novel, and another brilliant one that I just loved. Even though it was a quiet book, I couldn't put it down, which I think made it even better as it was easier to spot some of the more subtle interconnections between characters/stories. The writing was just so great, and the characters came so vividly to life. And the last chapter/story, where everything kind of came together, really blew me away - to the extent that I can still vividly recall it now, two and a half years later. This was on my 2016 ten favorites list and I highly recommend it.
You Think It, I'll Say it by Curtis Sittenfeld - I read this one just last year, and while it didn't make it onto my 2018 ten favorites list, I thought it was fabulous and did mention it on my "best of the rest" list. Curtis Sittenfeld is such an incisive writer that in just one story, you can get to know a character better than you can in a whole novel written by a lesser author. This was a great read and I definitely recommend to anyone who likes short stories, and to anyone who has enjoyed Curtis Sittenfeld's novels.
Auggie & Me by R.J. Palacio - I don't know if it's fair to put this one on a list of short stories, since it's a collection of 3 novellas. But close enough. This one I recommend only for anyone who has already read "Wonder," as each of the novellas refer to the characters and events in that book, to varying degrees. One story is from the perspective of Julian, the bully in "Wonder"; one is from the perspective of Christopher, Auggie's oldest friend, which is about both his friendship with Auggie and his life in general; and the final one is from the perspective of Charlotte, another student at Beecher Prep - she has very little connection to Auggie, but I think her story resonated with me the most, with its sensitive and nuanced portrait of girl friendships. I originally read this back in 2015, and am just finishing up reading it out loud with my 10 year old. It's not as amazing a book as "Wonder" but it's still quite great, and I really wish R.J. Palacio would write another book.
And if you're looking for more short story collections, here are a few others that I remember less vividly, but were on my older top 10 lists:
- Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
- Birds of America by Lorrie Moore
- Local Girls by Alice Hoffman
- Who's Irish by Gish Jen
- Mary and O'Neil by Justin Cronin
- A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You by Amy Bloom
- Use Me by Elissa Schapell
- Kissing in Manhattan by David Schickler
- The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank
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