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| May is Short Story Month, and last year at this time we put together a list, boldly named The Short List, of our favorite short stories. Since we're so enamored with compact prose, we decided to make The Short List an annual tradition. Short stories will always be the focus of the list, but we'll be changing up the theme from year to year.
This year, to shine the spotlight on contemporary authors, our theme is Best Short Story Collections of the 21st Century (So Far). To qualify, the collection must have been released (or first translated into English) between 2001 and 2014. Collected works, anthologies, and reprints were excluded.
As was the case last year, we had trouble keeping The Short List, well, short. But we wanted to give our favorite collections the attention they deserve. So, without further ado, here's what the booklovers at Powell's selected!
(To download a printable PDF of The Short List, click here.)
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by Peter S. Beagle
published 2011
Not just another pretty unicorn book. Peter Beagle writes a great novel — but he's definitely at home in the short story genre. This collection is dazzling; it grabs your attention and doesn't let you go until the final story is told. Werewolves, ghosts, and shark gods all come into play through a mixture of urban fantasy, magical realism, and fairy tales. I'm so glad that Tachyon Press has included Beagle's own comments about each story in this collection. Get a copy for yourself and buy one for your friends, because you won't want to loan this book out. – Carla
by Aimee Bender
published 2005
Aimee Bender always manages to tell stories that are both surreal and whimsical, yet entirely emotionally relatable. In Willful Creatures she weaves stories of people with keys as fingers or irons as heads that draw you in and perfectly capture the human condition. She never fails to make you feel weird and wonderful at the same time. – Jordan H.
by Roberto Bolaño
published 2006
Last Evenings on Earth was the first of Bolaño's short story collections to appear in English translation. Culled from the same two collections (Llamadas Telefónicas and Putas Asesinas) as the stories in The Return, these 14 tales feature wayward and lowlife characters similar to those found within his two masterworks, The Savage Detectives and 2666. Often somber, even haunting, these short stories unfurl in the low-lit peripheries of prescience and immediacy that the late Chilean author most likely knew all too well. Regardless of form (poetry, short story, essay, or novel), Bolaño's writing was consistently singular and beautifully sinister. – Jeremy
by Ted Chiang
published 2002
This stunning collection of stories brings science fiction back to its magazine-published short story roots. With Hugo and Nebula awards under his belt, Chiang manages to put the science back into science fiction while still using ancient, biblical, and familiar themes. Truly a landmark in 21st-century science fiction and short story writing.
– Patrick R.
by James Curcio
published 2012
This is a brutal, darkly funny, and, above all, honest collection of short stories crafted especially for lovers of physical books. Illustration styles and even typeface are carefully matched to enrich the unique narrative experience of each tale. Words of Traitors is a work of art unlike anything you've read before. – Brian S.
by Lydia Davis
published 2007
In all of her collections, Davis's taut, straightforward prose has a tendency to hit you with a thud. But the impact is lasting. Stories that at first seem surface-level — sometimes overly logical, other times coy — gradually reveal themselves to be much more. In Varieties of Disturbance, her fourth collection, Davis ventures into even more experimental territory, with exquisite results. – Abby
by Junot Díaz
published 2013
A wonderful series of vignettes that expose the absurdity of love and relationships. Growing up in a Latino neighborhood, I found Díaz's narrative tone very familiar. Each of these stories could've easily been told to me while riding with a cholo in a broken-down Honda Accord, cruising down Boyle Heights, while listening to The Delfonics. – Paul J.
by Brian Doyle
published 2011
I'm not normally a fan of short story collections. Yet, it seems that anything Doyle writes is instantly able to hook me. Here you have the quirkiest collection of characters ever cobbled together (Bin Laden's barber, anyone?). Doyle managed to circumvent my entrenched bias and made me a believer in the absolute perfection of a short story written well. If you haven't read him, do yourself a favor and pick up anything he's done; enjoy the meandering, quixotic, and singular musings of Portland's own Brian Doyle. – Dianah
by Dave Eggers
published 2004
This is the kind of short story collection that contains images that will stick with you forever; the idea of a wave as an escalator is something I still think about every time I go surfing, and, in fact, I'm pretty sure it's this book that made me want to surf in the first place. Even though Eggers is known for his novels, these short stories are perfect distillations of feelings, always going for less instead of more, taking ridiculous risks and coming together in a collection that will make you wish Eggers wrote short stories more often. – Lizzy
by Deborah Eisenberg
published 2007
The problem with slice-of-life fiction is that so many of the slices seem cut from the same pie: quiet struggles, recognizable types, familiar emotions. While these six meaty stories slice life, they're serving a different meal — every character here is so unique that, while you'll recognize yourself in them, you'll spend every page learning who they are. I guarantee that these are not stories you already know. – Tye
by Amy Hempel
published 2005
Amy Hempel writes all her stories in her head before she touches the page, and reading her recite her work is somewhere in between eavesdropping on a woman talking to her dog and hearing an agnostic pray. There's an intimacy in watching her characters know themselves, often through watching others who do not, and there's a power in her epiphanies, which are often found in the everyday, but resound in uncommon ways off the page. And all of this is hung on the bones of her bright, wicked humor — you'll feel lucky to be invited to watch.
– Caitlin D.
by Joe Hill
published 2005
I picked up this collection because I had heard that one of Stephen King's sons was dabbling in the horror genre, and I wanted to see if he was, well, any good. It took roughly three pages for me to determine that Joe Hill is a superb suspense storyteller, who manages it in a way that both evokes his father's tone while firmly establishing his own unique voice. Good, creepy stuff, and the winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Fiction Collection in 2005. – Chris B.
by Etgar Keret
published 2002
These stories are just so wonderfully strange! Keret stands with Tom Robbins in the arena of bold and brazen quirkiness. With a blend of humor and pathos, he offers us slices of life seen from oblique angles, so that the mundane... never is. – Benjamin H.
by Jhumpa Lahiri
published 2008
Unaccustomed Earth is in many ways a deeply and authentically sad book. I would not advise reading the stories too quickly; they will each haunt you for days afterward (and, unusually in a collection like this, they are all equally strong). But Lahiri's prose is worth it; her work is masterful, confident, and timeless, and this gorgeously written collection of stories is her strongest fiction yet. – Tessa
by Rebecca Lee
published 2013
Bobcat reminds me of early Alice Munro (and early Alice Munro is my idea of short story perfection) but set in American academia rather than rural Ontario. Lee is a master of contemporary realism with a good sense of humor. I love diving into her characters and way of seeing the world. – Cindy P.
by J. Robert Lennon
published 2009
This is a fantastic collection of short short stories, anecdotes, and vignettes — some fiction, some nonfiction, some a combination of the two. And with each piece being only a page or two long, it makes for great in-between, "palate cleansing" reading. – Gary L.
by Adam Levin
published 2012
Levin's first story collection (following his 1,000-plus page debut novel, The Instructions) features stories about a doll that thwarts eating disorders, mysterious goo leaking from a bedroom wall, and a girl who likes to be hit by strangers. But, bizarre plotlines aside, what really sets this collection apart is Levin's flair for voice, and his tough, damaged characters have big personalities and a lot of soul. Inventive, energetic, and disarmingly funny, Hot Pink is a collection that will remain fresh for years to come. – Renee P.
by Ben Marcus
published 2014
In Leaving the Sea, the unassuming dean practitioner of avant-garde language salad courts — but never quite weds — more conventional narrative. One watches these new, homier stories go about their business and wonders why Marcus seemingly struggled so long to avoid this type of writing. His new mode connects with startling truths so often it's like watching an expert trapper hunt a hapless species to extinction.
– Gil
by Maureen F. McHugh
published 2011
I'm a sucker for apocalypse and post-apocalypse stories, but McHugh's collection is something extra-special. Her protagonists differ dramatically in age, cultural background, income levels, and values, and they are all real and compelling; the settings vary widely in place and time (some in the present, some in a recognizable near-future), and each story is a fully realized and absorbing vignette — I'm never in a rush to start the next story because of how fully the previous story occupies my mind. I especially love that while the subject matter is dark, the stories are often funny, and most have an element of hope. – Suzanne G.
by Kyle Minor
published 2014
A collection of loosely connected stories, musings, and meditations, all weaved together to illustrate the many different paths to overcoming grief and, one way or another, finding grace and healing. I wanted to call up the author afterward and either thank him or curse him out for ruining my day. – Santi
by Lorrie Moore
published 2014
Moore's first book of short stories in 15 years showcases her razor-edged humor, her dazzling skill with language, and her incredible psychological precision. Reading Bark, I realized that as much as I love her novels, I'd been missing the irresistible pull of her stories terribly without knowing it. – Jill
by Alice Munro
published 2001
The stories in this collection accomplish so much in such a short time that two of them have been adapted into films… to differing results. Alice Munro treats her characters with respect and creates lives for them that include tragedy — are frequently defined by tragedy — but are not tragic in a standard literary way. Somehow she has written a collection of stories that earns both the joy and sadness it evokes. After reading this, her Nobel Prize win should surprise absolutely no one.
– Fredericka
by Lydia Peelle
published 2009
This was a collection I read because of its inclusion on a creative writing class syllabus. Though all the work we read in that class represented good storytelling, Peelle's collection has stayed with me, and I find it hard to express why. The experience of reading her stories was less an experience of "reading stories" and more like being submerged in lives that weren't mine, but weren't "other." I came up again feeling breathless, and with a vague sense of loss. – Ariel B.
by Donald Ray Pollock
published 2008
"My father showed me how to hurt a man one August night at the Torch Drive-in when I was seven years old. It was the only thing he was ever any good at." With this opening line, Pollock never looks back or lets up in a debut collection of short stories based in his aptly named hometown of Knockemstiff, Ohio. (And yes, it is a real place.) – Shawn D.
by Karen Russell
published 2006
This bizarre, mesmerizing debut collection got a lot of attention when it came out, for good reason. Russell has a gift for telling intricate, fantastical tales with great emotional depth. To read one of the stories in St. Lucy's is to step into a new world — a world you'll long to revisit again and again. – Kat
by George Saunders
published 2006
While it was Saunders's Tenth of December that garnered all the attention, In Persuasion Nation is the book that is most representative of the Saunders experience. The stories show us a near future saturated in marketing and the tyranny of the brand, where scanners in the sidewalk attain consumer preferences and customize advertising accordingly, and focus groups are replaced by slaves acting in a never-ending series of commercials. But the chilling dystopia isn't what Saunders is after; his characters are imbued with a humanity and a warmth at odds with the starkness of his vision of where our society is headed (and increasingly, where it has ended up already). No one is penetrating to the heart of American life in the 21st century like Saunders is. – Tim B.
by George Saunders
published 2013
Any collection by Saunders is a gem, but his latest book shows tremendous range and maturity. His scope, wild imagination, clarity, depth of feeling, and skewed sense of humor make the stories shine and linger. Amazing. Tenth of December is a masterpiece.
– Todd C.
by Jim Shepard
published 2011
Across continents and historical periods, in impeccably researched settings, Shepard's hapless narrators struggle for their humanity in the face of ignorance and stagnation. From returning veterans to missile scientists, from avalanche researchers to the makers of Godzilla, Shepard dramatizes history in fiction for his novelistic vignettes. Endlessly fascinating and beautifully written. – Jacob S.
by Wells Tower
published 2009
Every story here feels like a weird little shot of brilliance. I can only describe this collection as "masterful." I had read the title story a few years before and really loved it, but I actually liked most of the other stories even more. "Retreat" has a great ending that'll make your stomach tumble with laughter and sickness. "Wild America" is full of young female bitterness. And "On the Show" is full of some of the most quotable dialogue ever. – Kevin S.
by David Foster Wallace
published 2005
In a body of work earmarked by information overload and hyperawareness, this final collection of stories by the '90s wunderkind focuses on its titular state, oblivion. At turns bawdy and heart-stopping, the defining feature of these stories are characters who miss a fateful, telling detail, who lack awareness, who suffer blind spots. The stories here are the very finest examples of modern tragedy American letters have to offer. – Tate
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