Favorite Fiction: Short Story Collections

Short stories can be just as powerful and effective as a novel, but they don't get as much recognition in the literary criticism world.  Even so, there are a lot of amazing short stories out there.  Some authors have even built careers on writing short fiction, such as Washington Irving ("The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"), Edgar Allan Poe (The Tell Tale Heart and Other Stories), and Guy de Maupassant ("The Necklace").  And you may remember that Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" is still one of the most well-known and studied pieces of literature throughout American high schools.  Even though short stories are often treated like the novel's annoying kid sister, there are some pretty spectacular short story collections out there.  Here are a few of Hooked Bookworm's favorites:

You might want to listen to this...

If you follow Hooked Bookworm on Facebook, then you've probably already seen this. But either way, it's so cool I'm posting it twice. Yesterday Flavorwire posted audio recordings of some of the world's most beloved authors reading their work aloud.  The collection includes recording from authors such as Vladimir Nabokov, James Joyce, J.R.R. Tolkien, Flannery O'Connor, and Virginia Woolf. It seriously gave me goosebumps, and if you want in on the goosebumps, check out the full post here.

Southern Lit Rant

Being from Tennessee, I have great affection for southern literature and southern authors. When people talk about southern authors, they almost always think of Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, Truman Capote, etc. Now I think these writers hold a well-deserved place in the literary canon, but lately I have been reading (and thoroughly enjoying) books from (shall we say) less recognized southern authors, such as: