David Foster Wallace Reading List Class Syllabus

May is Short Story Month, and last year at this fourth dimension we put together a list, boldly named The Brusque List, of our favorite short stories. Since nosotros're so enamored with compact prose, nosotros decided to brand The Short List an annual tradition. Short stories volition ever be the focus of the list, but we'll exist irresolute up the theme from year to year. This yr, to polish the spotlight on gimmicky 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. Nerveless works, anthologies, and reprints were excluded. As was the case concluding year, we had problem keeping The Curt Listing, well, curt. Just nosotros wanted to requite our favorite collections the attention they deserve. And so, without further ado, here's what the book lovers at Powell'southward selected!

Sleight of Mitt published 2011 Not merely another pretty unicorn book. Peter Beagle writes a peachy novel — just he's definitely at home in the brusk story genre. This drove is dazzling; it grabs your attending and doesn't let you go until the concluding 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 Printing has included Beagle's own comments about each story in this collection. Go a copy for yourself and buy one for your friends, because you won't want to loan this book out. – Carla

Willful Creatures past Aimee Bender published 2005 Aimee Bender e'er manages to tell stories that are both surreal and whimsical, notwithstanding entirely emotionally relatable. In Willful Creatures she weaves stories of people with keys as fingers or irons as heads that draw y'all in and perfectly capture the human condition. She never fails to brand you feel weird and wonderful at the same fourth dimension. – Jordan H.

Last Evenings on Earth by Roberto Bolaño published 2006 Concluding Evenings on Earth was the beginning of Bolaño'south short story collections to appear in English language translation. Culled from the aforementioned 2 collections (Llamadas Telefónicas and Putas Asesinas) as the stories in The Return, these 14 tales feature wayward and lowlife characters like 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 virtually likely knew all likewise well. Regardless of class (verse, curt story, essay, or novel), Bolaño'southward writing was consistently singular and beautifully sinister. – Jeremy

Stories of Your Life: And Others by Ted Chiang published 2002 This stunning drove of stories brings science fiction back to its mag-published brusque story roots. With Hugo and Nebula awards under his chugalug, Chiang manages to put the scientific discipline dorsum into science fiction while notwithstanding using ancient, biblical, and familiar themes. Truly a landmark in 21st-century science fiction and short story writing. – Patrick R.

Words of Traitors past 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 y'all've read earlier. – Brian S.

Varieties of Disturbance by Lydia Davis published 2007 In all of her collections, Davis'due south 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 exist much more. In Varieties of Disturbance, her fourth collection, Davis ventures into fifty-fifty more experimental territory, with exquisite results. – Abby

This Is How You Lose Her 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'due south narrative tone very familiar. Each of these stories could've easily been told to me while riding with a cholo in a jerry-built Honda Accordance, cruising downward Boyle Heights, while listening to The Delfonics. – Paul J.

Bin Laden's Bald Spot by Brian Doyle published 2011 I'1000 not normally a fan of short story collections. Nonetheless, it seems that anything Doyle writes is instantly able to hook me. Here you lot take the quirkiest collection of characters ever cobbled together (Bin Laden'due south hairdresser, anyone?). Doyle managed to circumvent my entrenched bias and made me a believer in the absolute perfection of a short story written well. If y'all oasis't read him, do yourself a favor and pick up anything he's washed; enjoy the meandering, quixotic, and singular musings of Portland'southward ain Brian Doyle. – Dianah

How Nosotros Are Hungry past Dave Eggers published 2004 This is the kind of short story collection that contains images that will stick with you lot forever; the idea of a wave as an escalator is something I still recall about every fourth dimension I go surfing, and, in fact, I'm pretty certain information technology's this book that made me want to surf in the first identify. Even though Eggers is known for his novels, these brusque stories are perfect distillations of feelings, always going for less instead of more, taking ridiculous risks and coming together in a drove that will make you wish Eggers wrote brusk stories more oft. – Lizzy

Twilight of the Superheroes past Deborah Eisenberg published 2004 The problem with slice-of-life fiction is that so many of the slices seem cutting from the aforementioned pie: quiet struggles, recognizable types, familiar emotions. While these six meaty stories slice life, they're serving a unlike meal — every character here is and so unique that, while you'll recognize yourself in them, y'all'll spend every page learning who they are. I guarantee that these are not stories yous already know. – Tye

The Domestic dog of the Marriage by Amy Hempel published 2005 Amy Hempel writes all her stories in her head earlier 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 doubter pray. There's an intimacy in watching her characters know themselves, often through watching others who practice not, and there'due south a power in her epiphanies, which are often found in the everyday, just resound in uncommon ways off the page. And all of this is hung on the bones of her bright, wicked humor — you lot'll feel lucky to be invited to lookout man. – Caitlin D.

20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill published 2005 I picked up this collection because I had heard that i of Stephen King's sons was dabbling in the horror genre, and I wanted to run across if he was, well, any proficient. It took roughly 3 pages for me to decide that Joe Colina is a superb suspense storyteller, who manages it in a style that both evokes his begetter'south tone while firmly establishing his own unique vocalization. Good, creepy stuff, and the winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Fiction Collection in 2005. – Chris B.

The Nimrod Flipout by Etgar Keret published 2002 These stories are merely then wonderfully strange! Keret stands with Tom Robbins in the arena of assuming and brazen quirkiness. With a blend of humor and desolation, he offers us slices of life seen from oblique angles, so that the mundane... never is. – Benjamin H.

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri published 2008 Unaccustomed Earth is in many ways a securely and authentically sorry book. I would non advise reading the stories too quickly; they will each haunt you for days afterward (and, unusually in a collection similar this, they are all as strong). But Lahiri's prose is worth it; her piece of work is masterful, confident, and timeless, and this gorgeously written drove of stories is her strongest fiction yet. – Tessa

Bobcat and Other Stories by Rebecca Lee published 2013 Bobcat reminds me of early on Alice Munro (and early Alice Munro is my idea of short story perfection) merely set in American academia rather than rural Ontario. Lee is a master of gimmicky realism with a good sense of humour. I love diving into her characters and way of seeing the world. – Cindy P.

Pieces for the Left Hand by J. Robert Lennon published 2009 This is a fantastic collection of curt short stories, anecdotes, and vignettes — some fiction, some nonfiction, some a combination of the two. And with each piece being but a page or ii long, it makes for dandy in-between, "palate cleansing" reading. – Gary 50.

Hot Pink by Adam Levin published 2012 Levin's offset story collection (following his 1,000-plus page debut novel, The Instructions) features stories virtually a doll that thwarts eating disorders, mysterious goo leaking from a bedroom wall, and a girl who likes to be hit by strangers. Only, bizarre plotlines aside, what really sets this drove autonomously is Levin's flair for voice, and his tough, damaged characters accept big personalities and a lot of soul. Inventive, energetic, and disarmingly funny, Hot Pinkish is a collection that volition remain fresh for years to come up. – Renee P.

Leaving the Sea by Ben Marcus published 2014 In Leaving the Sea, the unassuming dean practitioner of avant-garde language salad courts — only never quite weds — more conventional narrative. One watches these new, homier stories go about their business organisation and wonders why Marcus seemingly struggled so long to avoid this blazon of writing. His new mode connects with startling truths so often it's like watching an skilful trapper hunt a hapless species to extinction. – Gil

After the Apocalypse past Maureen F. McHugh published 2011 I'm a sucker for apocalypse and post-apocalypse stories, simply McHugh's collection is something actress-special. Her protagonists differ dramatically in age, cultural groundwork, 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 nigh-time to come), and each story is a fully realized and absorbing vignette — I'g never in a rush to start the next story considering of how fully the previous story occupies my mind. I especially dearest that while the subject area matter is dark, the stories are ofttimes funny, and most have an element of hope. – Suzanne G.

Praying Drunkard by Kyle Pocket-sized 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 give thanks him or curse him out for ruining my day. – Santi

Bark by Lorrie Moore published 2014 Moore'due south first book of short stories in 15 years showcases her razor-edged sense of humour, 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

Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage past Alice Munro published 2001 The stories in this collection accomplish and then much in such a brusk time that two of them accept 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 past tragedy — just are non 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 i. – Fredericka

Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing past Lydia Peelle published 2009 This was a drove I read because of its inclusion on a creative writing class syllabus. Though all the piece of work we read in that class represented skillful storytelling, Peelle'southward collection has stayed with me, and I find information technology hard to express why. The experience of reading her stories was less an experience of "reading stories" and more like existence submerged in lives that weren't mine, merely weren't "other." I came upward again feeling breathless, and with a vague sense of loss. – Ariel B.

Knockemstiff 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 sometime. It was the only affair he was ever whatsoever proficient 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 aye, it is a existent place.) – Shawn D.

St. Lucy'southward Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell published 2006 This bizarre, mesmerizing debut collection got a lot of attention when it came out, for skillful reason. Russell has a gift for telling intricate, fantastical tales with great emotional depth. To read 1 of the stories in St. Lucy'southward is to step into a new world — a world you'll long to revisit once again and once again. – Kat

In Persuasion Nation by George Saunders published 2006 While information technology was Saunders'southward Tenth of December that garnered all the attention, In Persuasion Nation is the book that is nearly representative of the Saunders experience. The stories prove us a most future saturated in marketing and the tyranny of the brand, where scanners in the sidewalk accomplish consumer preferences and customize advertising appropriately, and focus groups are replaced by slaves acting in a never-ending series of commercials. Only the chilling dystopia isn't what Saunders is later; 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 1 is penetrating to the heart of American life in the 21st century like Saunders is. – Tim B.

Tenth of December by George Saunders published 2013 Whatever collection by Saunders is a precious stone, but his latest book shows tremendous range and maturity. His telescopic, wild imagination, clarity, depth of feeling, and skewed sense of humour make the stories shine and linger. Amazing. 10th of Dec is a masterpiece. – Todd C.

You Call up That's Bad by Jim Shepard published 2011 Beyond continents and historical periods, in impeccably researched settings, Shepard's hapless narrators struggle for their humanity in the confront 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.

Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower published 2009 Every story here feels like a weird little shot of brilliance. I can only describe this drove as "masterful." I had read the championship story a few years before and really loved it, just I actually liked most of the other stories even more than. "Retreat" has a great ending that'll make your breadbasket tumble with laughter and sickness. "Wild America" is full of immature female bitterness. And "On the Show" is total of some of the most quotable dialogue ever. – Kevin Due south.

Oblivion by David Foster Wallace published 2005 In a body of work earmarked by information overload and hyperawareness, this final collection of stories past the '90s wunderkind focuses on its titular state, oblivion. At turns earthy and heart-stopping, the defining characteristic of these stories are characters who miss a fateful, telling item, who lack awareness, who endure bullheaded spots. The stories here are the very finest examples of mod tragedy American letters have to offer. – Tate

We Live in Water by Jess Walter published 2013 For me the key to a skillful short story is ane that I want to read over and over. We Live in H2o does just that… as soon as I finished the drove, I wanted to start it all over over again. Walter has the ability to make you laugh out loud reading one story and cry reading the side by side; to me this makes him one of the greatest authors of the Pacific Northwest… upward there with Sherman Alexie and Ursula Chiliad. Le Guin. – Marci

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Source: https://www.powells.com/the-short-list-2014

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