Summer Is for Short Stories

Okay, I know that summer is traditionally the season in which you lug your juicy novel of choice to Dolores Park or Costa Rica or wherever you're going, but I'm going to buck the trend and suggest some stellar short story collections, just because. I did not love the form up until recently; like asparagus, beer, and crocheting, it was something I had to get a little older to appreciate. Now, I'm a huge fan, and if you try one of these books, you could be too!
1.Like Life, by Lorrie Moore
Really, all of Moore's short story collections are just fantastic, but we happen to have this one in on remainder right now. Yay! Don't be drinking anything while you read this, because it will make you snort with glee and your beverage will painfully shoot out your nose. These stories aren't just funny fluff, either; they will make you think about important stuff, like relationships and the art of writing, and you may find yourself seized with the desire to copy passages out on index cards and tape them to your walls. Don't resist it.
2.Going to Meet the Man, by James Baldwin
Did you know Baldwin wrote amazing short stories? I sure didn't, until I picked this book up (also, conveniently, on remainder right now). Now he's one of my favorite practitioners of the form. These stories are beautifully written, full of telling detail and meticulous characterization. Highly recommended!
3.Any collection of Alice Munro's
We are swimming in Alice Munro right now, and I couldn't be happier, because I love putting her many brilliant short story collections into people's hands. Munro creates characters so real you'll find yourself wondering, "What ever happened to so-and-so? I should really call her," and then you'll remember that she's a fictional character you met in one of these short stories. Spare, measured, and perfectly balanced, these stories are the prima ballerinas of the form, and not to be missed.
4.In the Forest of Forgetting, by Theodora Goss
If, by way of describing these stories, I could use the word "magical" without potentially engaging your gag reflex. Goss uses fairy tales as frames for exploring a wide variety of decidedly non-whimsical situations: getting pregnant by accident, dying of cancer, becoming "disappeared" by the government. Beautiful, amazingly inventive, reflective and clever, these stories are like no one else's.
5.All Aunt Hagar's Children, by Edward Jones
If you somehow managed to combine Alice Munro and James Baldwin (and I'd be mad at you if you did and neglected to invite me), you'd get someone like Edward Jones, although he's very much got his own thing going on, too. These stories are remarkable in their depth of character, their evocation of nuanced emotions, and their thought-provoking refraction of daily life. Read them.
6.Cathedral, by Raymond Carver
Okay, I haven't read this since I was 19 and living in a crappy apartment in the Bronx, but back then, it totally blew my mind. I remember these stories as being kind of spare and brutal, but also really well written and just sort of inhalable. We have a bunch of Carver on remainder now, so now's the time to read him if you skipped the miserable-in-New-York stage.
7.The World and Other Places, by Jeanette Winterson
I have a love/hate relationship with Ms. Winterson, but there's no denying she's a smart cookie. These stories are strange and poetic and philosophical in an interesting, bent kind of way.
We have a bunch of Tobias Wolff in on remainder right now too- his short stories are definitely worth reading. Mostly, we just have a ton of really great, really cheap books in right now, and we'd love to share the bounty with you!