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  • Re: Short fiction recommendations
    by EmmaD at 09:24 on 28 June 2007
    Thanks, everyone, that's a great help.

    I've just extracted all my short fiction from among the rest of my still un-sorted books, and there's more than I thought. Chandler, Helen Dunmore, A L Kennedy. Going back a bit, anyone else adore Kate Chopin? Must actually read the Kafka...

    Emma
  • Re: Short fiction recommendations
    by Sibelius at 14:04 on 28 June 2007
    In translation:

    Guy de Maupassant
    Fernando Sorrentino
    Turgenev
    Lu Xun


    Not in translation, but still fantastic:
    John Cheever
  • Re: Short fiction recommendations
    by Account Closed at 15:43 on 28 June 2007
    Has anybody mentioned The Summer Book and The Winter Book by Tove Jansson? I haven't actually read either of these books yet, but a friend of mine pushed them on me and they're supposed to be marvellous. And they look like short stories. (I think.)

    Am reading Scoop at the moment. It's my first Waugh and it's so good I'm already trying to ration the pages.


    Ooh, Sammy, isn't it glorious? Have you finished yet??
  • Re: Short fiction recommendations
    by nr at 16:00 on 29 June 2007
    Yay! Another Scoop fan!

    Naomi R
  • Re: Short fiction recommendations
    by Hal Incadenza at 18:15 on 29 June 2007
    ZZ Packer
    A.M Homes
    Arthur Bradford
    David Means
    David Foster Wallace

    (all from over in the US... but that's where the best short fiction lives these days methinks)
  • Re: Short fiction recommendations
    by Jordan789 at 21:14 on 29 June 2007
    hmm, lots of goodies have already been mentioned, but i can reiterate a few, or maybe give a couple more suggestions. Let's see:

    Hemingway! Read The snows of Kiliminjaro (one story), A Moveable Feast(a collection of yarns, all beautiful,) and, my favorite story, The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.

    Jhumpa Lahari: Interpreter of Maladies. Well deserved pulitzer winner. Rare that they hand those out for short story collections.

    If you like David Sedaris, check out Augustin Burroughs's Possible Side Effects. Very similar in style and *almost* as funny.

    As far as fiction journals, there are tons and tons to check out. The Paris Review publishes some fantastic fiction, as does Zeotrope: All Story, Glimmertrain, and The New Yorker publishes a fiction piece each week that can generally be read a their website, www.thenewyorker.com

    Annie Proulx is good, and Brokeback Mountain is worth reading, as are a number of other stories by her.

    John Updike is pretty much considered a god of short fiction. Check out "Trust Me," one of his first fiction books stuffed with memorable tales.

    T.C. Boyle writes real nice too.

    GL getting through everyone's suggestions

  • Re: Short fiction recommendations
    by Account Closed at 16:29 on 30 June 2007
    Fredegonde - no, not finished Scoop. Am loving it, though.

    And, yes, ZZ Packer's Drinking Coffee Elsewhere was great.
  • Re: Short fiction recommendations
    by ZK at 20:44 on 30 June 2007
    Late to the party, but no one has yet mentioned Margaret Atwood, who I think is superb.

    Zoe
  • Re: Short fiction recommendations
    by Steerpike`s sister at 08:54 on 01 July 2007
    Talking of Tove Jansson, why not re-read Moominland Midwinter. The Fillyjonk Who Was Afraid of Storms is a classic story - a pin-sharp character study, with the building menance of the storm in the background, the loneliness of the setting mirroring the fillyjonk's own loneliness, at the heart of the story is human isolation and the controlled insanity we create to try and conquer the greater madness of existence and Chaos.
    She was a great children's writer, Tove Jansson...
    How about Paul Bowles - A Distant Episode is my favourite short story of all time.
  • Re: Short fiction recommendations
    by sharas at 19:51 on 14 July 2007
    A M Homes is probably my favourite, but I've been reading Neil Gaiman's Smoke and Mirrors and Fragile things recently and really really enjoyed them. Reminds me how much fun it is to play on the page.
  • Re: Short fiction recommendations
    by Heckyspice at 11:19 on 27 July 2007
    I am bit late joining this thread but has anyone here mentioned Alan Sillitoe?

    Also Annie Proulx's Close Range collection is very good.

    David
  • Re: Short fiction recommendations
    by MF at 14:53 on 27 July 2007
    Did I mention Patricia Highsmith? She wrote the collection "Eleven"...
  • Re: Short fiction recommendations
    by caro55 at 16:17 on 27 July 2007
    Another vote here for Annie Proulx's Close Range. Startling use of language - I plan to read it again sometime as I'm sure I will get even more out of it second time around. One of the stories does, however, have perhaps the most stomach-churning description of bodily functions I have ever read.
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