I have always loved short stories—fiction stories, nonfiction, creative nonfiction, personal essays, vignettes, I don’t discriminate. My love of short stories began in a high school English class in which we read Tim O’Brien’s "The Things They Carried" (honestly, if you haven’t read this, go out right now to Barnes and Noble and buy a copy). I was totally consumed by the art of telling a story quickly. Maybe it’s the ADD, maybe it’s because I’m a millennial and can’t focus, or maybe it’s just that the art of telling a short story is much harder to fine tune because you have much less space to do what you need to do.
This love of the short story pushed me to take an English course in college, which I had never done before (pathetic, I know). I took an intro to fiction writing course at Rice taught by this amazing author/professor Amber Dermont. For the first part of the semester, we focused more on reading and analyzing short stories mainly taken from the Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Fiction. We read anything and everything from Reginald McNight to Mary Gaitskill to Sabrinah Orah Mark to Junot Diaz.
So if you feel like you need a good read (and one that won’t take you a year to get through because we all have busy schedules) you should check out a couple of these authors, who happen to be my favorites (in no particular order).
1. David Sedaris
His best book is "Me Talk Pretty One Day." He is by far the funniest contemporary author I've ever read.
2. Junot Diaz
Besides his well known book, "The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao," his collection of short stories in "Drown" is really worthwhile. Also, check out his short story called "Nilda."
3. Jhumpa Lahiri
Read the "Interpreter of Maladies."
4. Amy Bloom
Read "Come to Me" and "Where the God of Love Hangs Out." She is funny and creative.
5. Tim O’Brien
If you haven't read "The Things They Carried," you literally haven't lived.
6. Russel Banks
Read the "Angel on the Roof."
7. Mary Gaitskill
Read "Bad Behavior." Mary Gaitskill does not shy away from talking about sex and drugs.
