Our Shared Shelf discussion

What are some good female short stories books/authors? I love how short stories cut through the fluff and BS and get straight to the core, and I want some recommendations from the community!

The Canadian writer Alice Munro was the first that sprang to mind when I read your post. I have read some of her short stories, but not a whole collection, yet I feel comfortable recommending her works. I really feel she has a magnificent way of writing, rich and life like stories. .

It's just amazing how talented short storie writers manage to make such short texts that gives so much to the reader. I really admire that.

Jennifer wrote: "What are some good female short stories books/authors? I love how short stories cut through the fluff and BS and get straight to the core, and I want some recommendations from the community!"

I suppose it depends on your tastes. Joyce Carol Oates is an excellent short storyteller; I just read "Phantomwise: 1972" and it gave me chills.

If your tastes run toward the weird, try Amelia Gray; her short story anthologies "AM/PM" and "Museum of the Weird" are excellent.

If you're looking for someone relatively new, check out Alex Terrell; her work is very visceral and unsettling (at least the single story of hers I read), "Black Dog" (read this in PEN AMERICA BEST DEBUT SHORT STORIES 2018).

Depending on taste, I could recommend the all femal horror collection Women of Darkness, edited by Kathryn Ptacek.

definitely you must read Alice Munro but I am I recommend

Definitely you should read Alice Munro, but I also recommend Slavenko Drakulic and her collection of stories dedicated to women and to the female body, the aging process. The book
is Invisible Woman and Other Stories.

Alice Munro! All time favourite short story author.

Alice Munro Alice Munro Alice Munro. I read her 'selected short stories' last summer and I've never felt so transported to a time and place by an author. she is so precise

I would also recommend Annie Proulx. "Brokeback Mountain" is perhaps her most famous short story, but my favorite is "Them Old Cowboy Songs." I would also recommend Andrea Barrett's "Ship Fever."

I agree with Alice Munro, and also Lucia Berlin, A Manual for Cleaning Women.

Awesome! Thank you!! So many great responses. I just read a book of short stories recently and I’m not sure what to make of it. I posted about it about 2 months ago, but nobody ever cracked into it. I have a feeling it’ll be very controversial in this group, but I had a larger question I was hoping some could clarify: Is this book group more for just recommendations or is there discussion, as well?

Jennifer wrote: "Is this book group more for just recommendations or is there discussion, as well?"

I guess it depends on the people's utilization. I cannot speak on the behalf of others but I use this forum to talk about the recommendations Team OSS does (and obviously) I read them and I try to read the previous suggested books as well. You know, to catch up. To me a book club means sharing thoughts as well as reading, but it's my personal vision while some people are here for suggestions (mainly) and don't have time (or maybe don't want and it's all good) to discuss.

So, I am afraid there is no general answer to your question ;) However, if you got the chance to read the March/April suggestion Moderators and Members have created some thread regarding the first three parts of the books (I am really happy about that!!!) and I'm sure if you want to talk about those parts and comment the existing threads you'll have answers (I'll definitely read your comments).

I can recommend Alice Munro too, and Margaret Atwood: she's now probably best known for her novels (e.g. The Handmaid's Tale), but she's written several collections of short stories.

I've also just started reading You Know You Want This by Kristen Roupenian: a collection of short stories about dating, sex and desire in our modern life.

Are there any male feminist authors? Kinda sounds like an oxymoron, but I was curious!

@Jennifer: I believe that male feminist is not an oxymoron 😊 so why not male feminist authors, there are probably a minority but I suppose. Saying male feminist (author) is an oxymoron would mean that feminism does not embraced males as well while it actually does the opposite since it's about equality 😉

I read a book of short stories recently, but I’m having trouble figuring out if the author is a man or a woman. (Think they’re using a pen name). I think they are a feminist making fun of the traditional view of masculinity/femininity with pretty over-the-top satire.

Not exactly sure, though, so I wanted to get the opinion of the group. It’s called Darbyshire: Welcome to the Jungle and the author is Maverick Alexander. (Again, I think it’s a pen name, but there is a guy on Instagram with that name, so I’m not sure) 🤷‍♀️

To be honest, it does not matter if the gender and the sex of the author does not matter as long the person does not speak over other and does serve a great cause. Of course, it's just my opinion ;)

Florian you are right, hopefully I wasn't close enough to suicide thanks to you to sue you for cyber bullying, while you actually don't see you are the one, against me who doesn't accept when I may say something "Over" your personal knowledge indulging in a kind of self-satisfaction when people follow you in your will to get me away from the group because perhaps my picture touches the sensitive area of ​​your prejudices .. Or ... any way f(-.-;)

Sometimes I feel your that guy participating in a book club, but if people have knowledge you don't owe, you feel uncomfortable, and you may use gratuitous rudeness, hate, and threats... And then, you ask for moderation ...

I feel like we shall burn the books you didn't read, and then establish a leveling down based on your very own personality were you would be kind of a Snoke adored by women nobody can be a contradictor of ... "I don't Know is the new standard"

Sorry but I'm Laughing, Flow 😉😅

🙌🙌 In USA, I would have say : " Push Harder, and Further", you won't impress nobody, by saying I don't know in every one of your post... looking for to be kind of a patriarch ...

Xoxoxo

I loved 'Her Body and Other Stories' by Carmen Machado, would recommend checking it out.

Girl by Jamaica Kincaid, Referential by Lorrie Moore, the collection De Noche Vienes by Elena Poniatowska (If you can find a translation or read in Spanish), more of a novella in flash, I suppose but maybe the stories in Department of Speculation by Jenny Ofill can still be read individually, either way she's terrific.

These have all been AMAZING!! Big shout out to the community!

I'm really glad you've enjoyed them, Jennifer!

Alice Munro, Margaret Atwood, Edna O'Brien. There is a book, but I think it's just in italian, written by Annalena Benini, called I Racconti delle Donne. it's an anthology of short stories, written by some of the best feminine writers, such as Virginia Woolf, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Margaret Atwood, Edna O'Brien, Alice Munro, Katherine Chektovic (Franzen's wife), Nathalia Ginzburg and others. It's a beautiful book, but sadly, like I've said, I think it's not been translated from Italian into English or into other languages.

I feel like I’ve gotten so many amazing recs off here. Pretty amazing!!

I've recently read Dear Life, a collection of short stories by Alice Munro. It was excellent!

Fantastic Women: 18 Tales of the Surreal and the Sublime from Tin House

18 wonderful short stories by 18 wonderful female authors. Such an incredible collection!

We Are Displaced by Malala Yousafzai

Important collection of nine life stories from displaced women around the world.

There’s an Australian charity called Broken to Brilliant and they have published three books- short stories of domestic abuse and how victims survived and prevailed. I’ve read their newest book Shattered to Shining. Very confronting but great to read.

A Manual for Cleaning Ladies by Lucia Berlin is a good book for short stories. It is about the women we ignore in our surroundings- the women the feminist movement sometimes leaves behind.

I second the recommendation for this book! I love it and bought my own copy so I can reread it when I want.
I think the writing is wonderful!!