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For Book Lovers

There's quite a bit to say against the short story.

Publishers tend to lump an entire career of short stories into one book. "Collected Stories of Eudora Welty." "The Stories of Ann Beattie." Who wants to read seven hundred pages of stories by one writer? The object itself seems unwieldy.

The writer did not intend for her work to be in an anthology. Alice Munro wrote--and designed--"The Beggar Maid." She didn't design "Alice Munro: Collected Stories," or "Collected Stories II," or "Vintage Munro."

Also, if your education is anything like mine, then your high-school teachers seem unaware that women occasionally write stories. Your high-school teachers think the only short story on the books is "The Things They Carried," by Tim O'Brien, and you yourself have never fought in a war, and you also have limited interest in what it means to be a straight man (a thought experiment), so you get turned off.

Another depressing matter: Every year, an editor finds an apparently Worthy Writer, such as Roxane Gay or Ann Patchett, and this august person combs through hundreds and hundreds of stories to find the "Best" ones. Not the "Most Entertaining." Or the "Weirdest." The word "Best" seems so dull and bland; it makes me think of the National Book Awards, another enterprise that I find distressing. "Best Short Stories" always makes me think: "Eat Your Oatmeal." "Do Your Homework." This is not the right way to package a book of short stories.

All that said, a short story can be a great thing, and here are my favorites:

*Kevin Henkes, "Wemberly Worried" (a picture book, but it's really a short story, as all picture books are)

*James Marshall, "Split Pea Soup"

*Robert Stone, "Helping"

*Alice Munro, "Floating Bridge"

*Alice Munro, "The Children Stay"

*Grace Paley, "Wants"

*Raymond Carver, "Fat"

*Tillie Olsen, "I Stand Here Ironing"

*Maile Meloy, "O Tannenbaum"

*Lorrie Moore, "People Like That Are the Only People Here"

*Amy Bloom, "Compassion and Mercy"

*Junot Diaz, "Fiesta 1980"

*Amy Hempel, "In the Cemetery where Al Jolson Is Buried"

*Andre Dubus III, "Listen Carefully as Our Options Have Changed" (he calls this a novella, but whatever)

If you find "collected stories" volumes upsetting, then I recommend two books that were *not* designed as anthologies. I'm thinking of "Dirty Love" and of Richard Russo's "The Whore's Child." These are short, sweet books, like music albums: The stories are arranged artfully. You're not getting an entire career jammed awkwardly into one volume. You're in and out fairly quickly. You don't need to break your back.

P.S. Cheever: "The Country Husband" ...
P.P.S. Toibin: "The Street" ...
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