Countdown to October: Some Short Story Collection Recommendations

Short story collections. You either hate them, or you love them.

I hope that you, the person reading this post, is in the camp of those who love them, as come October this year, I'll have a collection of my very own out in bookshops.

(It feels weird to say that, because I haven't even finished putting it all together, but more details will come as I know them and I am planning on blogging through the whole process.)

In the lead up to the really hard work of getting it ready, I've been thinking a lot about short story collections I love, and short story collections that I really want to read.  I thought today I would post a list for you of amazing collections to check out if you're wanting to get into the genre, or if you're just looking for something new to read. These are in no particular order:

Short Story Collections I Have Read and Loved

* Like a House on Fire and Dark Roots, both by Cate Kennedy
* Trick of the Light by Laura Elvery
* Pulse Points by Jennifer Down
* Australia Day by Melanie Cheng
* Bird Country by Claire Aman
* Foreign Soil by Maxine Beneba Clarke
* Heat and Light by Ellen van Neerven
* The Weight of a Human Heart by Ryan O'Neill
* You Think It, I'll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld
* The True Colour of the Sea and The Bodysurfers by Robert Drewe
* Feet to the Stars by Susan Midalia
* Only the Animals by Ceridwen Dovey
* The Circle and the Equator by Kyra Giorgi
* The Love of a Bad Man by Laura Elizabeth Woollett


Short Story Collections I Really Want to Read

* Little White Slips by Karen Hitchcock
* Zebra by Debra Adelaide
* Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
* Sour Heart by Jenny Zhang
* The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night by Jen Campbell
* You Know You Want This by Kristen Roupenian
* Common People by Tony Birch
* Any collection by Joyce Carol Oates
* After the Carnage by Tara June Winch
* The Secret Lives of Men by Georgia Blain
* Kiss Kiss by Roald Dahl
* Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood
* The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher by Hilary Mantel


Let me know if there are any collections missing from this list-- I want to be inspired by what other writers are doing in the genre!

Happy reading.