As you know, I’m really fond of theme reading. It clears my bookshelves and helps me get some genres read that I’ve been meaning to try. This month I thought I’d jump on my short story and essay collections. I have been accumulating them apparently. I’m going to try for the ones I own and if I get through those I’ll reach out to what I have on Scribd and get some recommendations from you guys (throw them in the comments, I’ll try to get to them). I read 34 books in January and I don’t think I have that many essay/short story collections on my shelf so it’s possible. I’m not only reading these, since The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee is coming out tomorrow! (Side note: This took all my willpower not to capitalize all of that and add all the exclamation points.)
Here’s my physical shelf.
- Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights by Salman Rushdie
- Trigger Warning by Neil Gaimain
- Nocturne by Kazuo Ishiguro
- The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson
- Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
- When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
- Naked by David Sedaris
- Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
- Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls by David Sedaris
- How to be a Heroine: Or What I’ve Learned by Reading Too Much by Samantha Ellis
- Ghost Summer by TananariveDue (also my horror pick for my Read Harder Challenge)
On my digital shelf
- Beyond Belief: The Secret Lives of Women in Extreme Religions edited by Cami Ostman (my religion pick for #readharder)
- Dear Mr. You by Mary-Louise Parker
- A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories by Lucia Berlin
- Bitchfest: Ten Years of Cultural Criticism from the Pages of Bitch Magazine edited by Lisa Jervis (possibly my #readharder feminist pick)
- Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie
- Dangerous Books for Girls: The Bad Reputation of Romance Novels Explained by Maya Rodale
Do you have any recommendations for me? Read any of these? Any I should read sooner than the others? Talk to me, people!
Bitchfest is a great book.
That looks like such a good list, I hope you enjoy it tons! and if you need more essays or short stories, I can always supply. 😉
You are the best. Go check your email. 😉
I adored Lahiri’s earlier collection, Interpreter of Maladies, which I expect you’ve already read. Other amazing collections of realistic stories: Night at the Fiestas by Kirstin Valdez Quade, This Close by Jessica Francis Kane.
Verging into the weird: Tenth of December by George Saunders (and I’ve been meaning to try Kelly Link)
Science fiction: Warm Worlds and Otherwise by James Tiptree, Jr. (pen name for Alice Sheldon)
Yup I’ve read Interpreter of Maladies. It was great. Ooh thanks. You definitely should read Kelly Link. She’s fun.
John Updike was better known for his novels but was a master of the short story. Flannery O’Connor likewise.