Top Ten Favorite Short Story Collections

Short stories can be amazing when done well. A great short story is arguably better than a great novel. At least it can pack a similar punch with much fewer words. I was thinking about my favorite compilations and decided to make a list similar to my Top Ten Favorite Books blog to give these works some props and some accolades. These are in no particular order.

1. Gentleman Junkie and Other Stories of the Hung-Up Generation by Harlan Ellison - I read this one relatively recently and for my first time. It has an awful title, but the content just exudes quality. This book was the only paperback reviewed by Dorothy Parker and got serious acclaim from her as being fantastic. Any one of these stories makes the book work reading in my humble opinion. It did take me a while to get through this book after having started it, but that was as much because I was savoring it rather than out of any admonishment of its contents.

2. Dreamtigers by Jorge Luis Borges - I understand Jorge Luis Borges felt that the novel format for a story was a bit bloated and unnecessary. He never wrote one. He wrote primarily poems and short stories. "Dreamtigers" is a collection of both, and I have read it several times. Once again, I also read this one relatively recently. Astounding stuff...some of the pieces in here stuck with me for a decade or more and I'm sure will again.

3. Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger - This is the last of the list that I have read relatively recently. At least recently enough to have blogged about it... J.D. Salinger is an amazing writer. He had a very kind and approachable voice, though he wasn't afraid to write about unpleasant topics. His ability to write dialogue is almost unmatched in the literary world. This collection has nine amazing and touching stories. There's not a weak point.

4. If It Bleeds by Steven King - Steven King has done a number of short story collections and I regrettably have only read this one. Some of the stories in "If It Bleeds" are still in my head even though it has been a number of years since I read it. Even when I was thinning out my book collection and releasing some books that I had read already, I kept this one despite having read it already. I knew I would want to come back to it. I will, inevitably, but even more, I want to read some of Steven King's other short story collections for my first time. I even have one queued for upcoming reading...he's extremely prolific, but I have yet to be disappointed in his work.

5. No Comebacks by Frederick Forsyth - This is a collection of I think ten stories that I initially read as a child. One recurring theme of them, though, is surprise endings. Frederick Forsyth was so good at that, though not all of his work employs that technique (which is a good thing). The stories included in this collection do have surprise endings and each does it well in my opinion. I have read it at least twice, but it has been a while. Still, though, they are well executed enough to be memorable.

6. Again, Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison - "Again, Dangerous Visions" actually took me a really long time to make my way through. That isn't to say that it wasn't quality - it certainly was. It's a really long collection and, at the time, I was juggling a bunch of other books as well. I haven't read "Dangerous Visions" yet despite my wanting to. Only so many days in a year and only so many years in a lifetime. I'll probably get to it one day. "Again, Dangerous Visions" includes works by a wide variety of authors, including the fantastic Ursula Le Guin and Kurt Vonnegut. The premise of the collection is to encourage authors to take chances that they normally wouldn't be able to take in other collections or magazines. It works well, though, but not all stories are of the same level of quality. The great ones are great, and the rest range from good to pretty good.

7. Uncollected Stories of William Faulkner by William Faulkner - I'm almost cheating to include this selection in the list in that it includes some stories that were later revised and included in other extremely high-quality books, including "The Hamlet," "The Unvanquished," "Go Down, Moses," and "The Mansion," which happens to be my favorite Faulkner book. There are quite a few stories in this collection of uncollected stories (that concept seems somewhat humorously misleading to me). The book weighs in at nearly seven-hundred pages. It's been quite a while since I read it...twenty years or more...but this is an excellent source of Faulkner short stories, and I couldn't pass on mentioning it here.

8. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer - I have read "The Canterbury Tales" twice. It's not an easy read, but it is an enjoyable one. I must confess that I like the concept more than the delivery, if only because of the antiquated writing voice. It was a bold and ambitious work, though, and was regrettably never finished. What's there is pretty memorable, though, and touches on a wide range of personalities and themes. Good times, good times...

9. The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson - I'm a pretty big fan of Shirley Jackson. The centerpiece to this collection, "The Lottery," is a shocking and moving story that I understand had a huge impact on the literary world upon its initial publication. It's a great story and disturbing at the same time. Disturbing but not haunting? Not sure...anyway, this is an excellent collection well worth reading.

10. Maps to Anywhere by Bernard Cooper - A professor that taught at least one of my sister's bachelors classes and that she respected tremendously had been approached by an acquaintance of his that was terminally ill. The acquaintance did not have much time left at all, but had time enough to read one more book. "Maps to Anywhere" by Bernard Cooper was the book this professor recommended. Upon hearing about this, I grabbed myself a copy and read through it as well. It's almost disingenuous for me to include this book in this list as it is really essays rather than short stories, but I don't want to split hairs about the distinctions between the two. This book is amazing and I felt remiss in not giving it some kudos here. I need to read it again soon....