Reading snacks
Short story collections, because sometimes it’s too hot for anything else.
Greetings from the thick, upper 90s Fahrenheit misery of a climate disaster Virginia summer. My current activities are: sitting in the dark, reading books, making ice cream, and eating that ice cream while sitting in the dark. I will emerge like a pale butterfly in October!
I wasn’t always into short stories — give me a book-length plot, I used to shout! But then I read George Saunders’s A Swim in a Pond in the Rain (see EELS: Working title), and it helped me understand the format in a new way.
I like the idea that each word is important, but also that you can take a break in between stories. Pick the book up, put it down. Digest what you just read. Eat some ice cream in the dark. Come back for the next story!
Here are three very different collections for your very different needs. Trust me on all of them. For other great story collections, check out Kelly Link’s Get in Trouble (see EELS: It’s pumpkin spies time) and everything I wrote about in EELS: For a small fee in America.
Check out all my past recommendations, linked to all the past EELSes, in one easy-to-scan spreadsheet! Hit the button below, and if you’re on my subscriber list, it’s yours for the taking.
📱If It Bleeds
Stephen King, 2020
Starting off with a bang! I am not one of those people who celebrates anything King. I find much of his recent stuff to be very meh, with a seemingly written-to-be-adapted-for-television-ASAP vibe.
But not these four stories, though calling some of them “short” is a bit of a stretch. And don’t worry, they won’t scare you too much. This is not Pennywise stuff — nobody’s floating down here. Instead, these tales range from mildly creepy to darkly sweet. And, in my opinion, the writing is King’s best in years, if not decades.
I constantly think about “The Life of Chuck,” but also King’s new recurring character Holly Gibney, who you may know from the TV miniseries The Outsider. King says she’s his favorite, and I understand why. This collection also includes “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone,” which was adapted for Netflix, but I cannot vouch for how good the show was. The story itself is so quiet and just involves a lot of voicemails, so I imagine it was trumped up for TV with a lot of added action. I think you should just read it instead.
Recommended for: Those who miss vintage King and want something new.
Recommended format: I very much enjoyed the audiobook, and I believe it includes multiple narrators. Going the extra mile! Hooray for good audiobooks!
💈 Wednesday’s Child
Yiyun Li, 2023
One can expect a Pulitzer finalist to be pretty good. But I just read the winner of a certain other prize and didn’t enjoy it, so you never know.
This little volume, though, gosh. Yiyun Li is originally from Beijing, writes in English as a second language, which… LOL, imagine being so talented. She also lost her son, so these are two themes that keep popping up in these stories: Chinese women living in America, and/or mothers grieving children. I learned that she waited until she had the best possible stories to put together over the course of many years before publishing this volume. That’s pretty cool!
I’m painting a grim picture, but it’s really not the case. My favorite story in the book — about an older lady taking care of an even older lady, both of whom are coming to grips with some tricky episodes in their very different pasts — is both poignant and funny.
Recommended for: Those who want richly written stories that will make you think and feel.
👽 Stories of Your Life and Others
Ted Chiang, 2002
This is another one of those books that I would never have read if someone I trust (thanks, RA!) hadn’t made a Formal Demand. I like to think I’ll read anything, but that “anything” rarely swings into science fiction. We all have flaws.
However! I am very glad I did because huzzah, this was so excellent! Have you seen the movie Arrival featuring Amy Adams and some tentacley aliens? Did you know it is based on a story from this volume? Well, you do now! And, as always, the story version is better than the screen version.
But the other stories in this are all over the map. Some are extremely Science™ and lost me a little, but others are more accessible for the Humanities™ among us. A tower that literally goes into heaven! An experiment where people can’t see beauty! I am deeply into “imagine what a world would be like if X were true” and if that counts as science fiction then maybe I am into it after all?
Recommended for: Those who like sci-fi, speculative fiction, aliens, but also just good writing.
And now, a bonus recommendation
💍 All Fours — Miranda July, 2024
Recommended for: Those who heard something somewhere about this book and thought “I probably don’t need to actually read that.” Yes. Yes, you do.
Recommended by: Jessanne, who responded cheerfully to a friend in need of a bonus rec. Thanks, Jessanne! The last three books she loved were Love & Trouble: A Midlife Reckoning, I Love You So Much It’s Killing Us Both, and Break.up.
That was the forty-sixth EELS! As always, send any and all questions, feedback, and shouted book recommendations by hitting reply.
📚 Susan
Then we arch angels Tibetan