Anonymous wrote:Short stories are a different art form than the novel. Every sentence counts and packs a punch in good stories. Give Raymond Carver or Ann Beattie or Alice Munro a try if you have not already.

+100

Well, I love short stories and literary fiction. My reader's Achilles heels are classics (anything before WWI really), foreign novels in translation, and experimental writing. So I am very well read in an extremely narrow sense lol. And don't even get me started on nonfiction!

Stephen King has written a lot of great short stories, many of which have been adapted to film.

I like Flannery O'Connor's southern gothic short stories. Her most famous short story, "A Good Man is Hard to Find," is twisted, sometimes funny, yet tightly written.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I loved Olive Kitteridge; this is the sort of linked, portmanteau short story collection that I love. I have tried Alice Munro but can't get into it. Sigh. I know I'm missing something good but can't help feeling that the period of acclimation to plot, characters, etc. is just too much for me. It's my failing.

meh, you're just not into it. No failing there. (And I'm a short story writer.)

But, if you liked the linking stories of Olive Kitteridge (I loved that too!), try Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan and The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman. Both feature linking short stories.

OP here. I loved Olive Kitteridge; this is the sort of linked, portmanteau short story collection that I love. I have tried Alice Munro but can't get into it. Sigh. I know I'm missing something good but can't help feeling that the period of acclimation to plot, characters, etc. is just too much for me. It's my failing.

But they are also a snippet of a larger story, and I want all the story. Can't get into them very easily, either.

Anonymous wrote:For literally 20 years, the ONLY short story I ever liked was The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson. Then a few months ago, I read a book that was a collection of short stories by Tom Perotta. LOVED IT!

Tom Perotta is great, thanks for mentioning that he has a short story collection! Have read all his novels but not that.