FEATURES: WE RECOMMEND
‘We Recommend’ features are personal recommendations of a story collection, an anthology, a group of short stories, or a single short story. They are written in the first-person, subjective in tone, and include personal responses to the work being discussed, how the work has influenced the following as a reader and/or writer.
The WE RECOMMEND Archive:
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s The Thing Around Your Neck – Andiswa Onke Maqutu
Robert Aickman – Frances Gapper
Conrad Aiken’s ‘Silent Snow, Secret Snow’ – Dora D’Agostino
Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s ‘In a Bamboo Grove’ – Scott Wilson
David Almond’s ‘Slog’s Dad’ – Craig Lamont
Hanan Al-Shaykh’s ‘The Scratching of Angels’ Pens’ – Jemma Draycott
Donald Antrim’s The Emerald Light in the Air – Nicole Mansour
A.J. Ashworth’s ‘Sometimes Gulls Kill Other Gulls’ – Jose Varghese
Kjell Askildsen’s Selected Stories – Dan Powell
Kate Atkinson’s Not the End of the World – Tracy Fells
Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Bog Man’ – Erinna Mettler
Margaret Atwood’s Flash Fiction – Santino Prinzi
Margaret Atwood’s ‘Rape Fantasies’ – Wanda Campbell
Stacy Aumonier’s ‘A Man of Letters’ – Mike Smith
Paul Auster’s ‘Auggie Wren’s Christmas Story’ – Erinna Mettler
Marcel Aymé’s ‘Le Passe-Muraille’ (‘The Man Who Walked Through Walls’) – Janis Lane
Trezza Azzopardi’s ‘Sticks and Stones’ – Sarah Rachel Beart
J.G. Ballard – Kate Krake
J.G. Ballard’s science fiction stories – Drew Whittet
Toni Cade Bambara’s ‘The Lesson’ – Patrick Yarker
Julian Barnes’ Pulse – Soumya Bhattacharya
Colin Barrett’s Young Skins – David Butler
Kevin Barry’s collections – Pratibha Castle
Kevin Barry’s ‘A Cruelty’ – Armel Dagorn
H.E. Bates’ ‘The Little Farm’ – Mike Smith
H.E. Bates’ ‘The Mill’ – Mike Smith
H.E. Bates’ ‘The Mill’ and ‘The Good Corn’ – Mike Smith
Richard Bausch – Morgan Omotoye
The BBC International Short Story Award 2012 (various) – Kirsty Walters
The BBC International Short Story Award 2016 (various) – David Frankel
Leslie Beckmann’s ‘Genus and Species’ – Kate Finegan
Martyn Bedford’s Letters Home – Hannah Radcliffe
‘This Beautiful House’ by Louis de Bernières – Jose Varghese
Louis de Bernières’ Red Dog – Gina Challen
Samuel Beckett’s ‘Ping’ – K.S. Dearsley
Phyllis Bentley – Julia A Hickey
Laura van den Berg’s ‘Antarctica’ – Dora D’Agostino
Megan Mayhew Bergman’s Almost Famous Women – Stephanie Williamson
The Best British Short Stories 2012 (various) – Lela Tredwell
The Best British Short Stories 2013 (various) – Alex Ruczaj
Best British Short Stories 2015 (various) – Victoria Heath
Best British Short Stories 2016 (various) – Sophia Kier-Byfield
Best British Short Stories 2017 (various) – Nicole Mansour
Beta Life (various) – David Frankel
Bio-Punk: Stories from the Far Side of Research (various) – Kirsty Walters
Hassam Blasim’s The Iraqi Christ – Dr. Waleed Al-Bazoon
‘Rowing to Eden’ by Amy Bloom – Susmita Bhattacharya
Roberto Bolaño’s ‘Sensini’ – Anushree Nande
Heinrich Böll’s ‘Christmas Not Just Once a Year’ – J.L. Bogenschneider
Simon Van Booy’s Love Begins in Winter – Amanda Oosthuizen
‘Death and the Compass’ by Jorge Luis Borges – Emily Cleaver
‘The Library of Babel’ by Jorge Luis Borges – Aimee McCague
The Maker by Jorge Luis Borges – Daniel Spinks
‘The South’ by Jorge Luis Borges – Louise Hegarty
The stories of Jorge Luis Borges – Jonathan Pinnock
Elizabeth Bowen’s Collected Stories – Mike Smith
Elizabeth Bowen’s ‘The New House’ – Marcella O’Connor
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury – Tyler Miller
Rainer Brambach’s For Six Cups of Coffee and Other Stories – Madeleine McDonald
Carys Bray’s Sweet Home – Carol Fenlon
Bridges: A Global Anthology of Short Stories (various) – Kirsty Walters
Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology – Margaret Sessa-Hawkins
Brigid Brophy’s The Adventures of God in His Search for the Black Girl – Michael Caines
George Mackay Brown’s A Calendar of Love – Francesca Creffield
Frederick Busch’s Ralph The Duck – Sarah Hegarty
Mary Butt’s ‘With and Without Buttons’ – Victoria Leslie
A.S. Byatt’s ‘A Stone Woman’ – Victoria Leslie
Joanna Campbell’s ‘Upshots’ – Julia Anderson
Joanna Campbell’s When Planets Slip Their Tracks – Julia Anderson
John W. Campbell’s Who Goes There? – Chris Machell
Truman Capote’s ‘A Christmas Memory’ – Anushree Nande
Truman Capote’s ‘Miriam‘ – Juliet West
Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber – Sharon Telfer
Angela Carter’s ‘The Company of Wolves’ – Morgaine Davidson
Angela Carter’s ‘The Courtship of Mr Lyon’ and ‘The Tiger’s Bride’ – Chrissy Derbyshire
Angela Carter’s ‘The Erl-King’ – Ever Dundas
Raymond Carver’s ‘A Small, Good Thing’ – Wendy Good
Raymond Carver’s Beginners – Will Bowerman
Raymond Carver’s Cathedral – Evan Guilford-Blake
Raymond Carver’s Cathedral – Claire Edwards
Carver: Collected Stories – Jack Tilley
Raymond Carver’s ‘Kindling’ – A. J. Ashworth
Raymond Carver’s Short Cuts – Alex Coulton
Raymond Carver’s ‘So Much Water So Close to Home’ – Angela Readman
Eileen Chang’s ‘Lust, Caution’ – Chris Machell
John Cheever’s ‘The Swimmer’ – Chris Machell
Anton Chekhov’s The Exclamation Mark – Dan Powell
Ted Chiang’s ‘Story of Your Life’ and its film adaptation – Chris Machell
Kate Chopin’s ‘The Story of an Hour’ – Stephen Devereux
Liz Cody’s ‘Chalk Mother’ – Hannah Brockbank
Joseph Conrad’s ‘Amy Foster’ – Stephen Devereux
Joseph Conrad in Conradology – Gina Challen
Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’ – Chris Machell
David Constantine’s ‘Mr Carlton’ – Neil Campbell
David Constantine’s Tea at the Midland – Holly Dawson
A.E. Coppard’s ‘The Higgler’ – Mike Smith
A.E. Coppard’s ‘My Hundredth Tale’ – Mike Smith
A.E. Coppard’s ‘Weep Not My Wanton’ – Mike Smith
Lucy Corin’s One Hundred Apocalypses and Other Apocalypses – Sophie Kier-Byfield
Julio Cortázar’s ‘Cartas de Mamá’ – Bella Whittington
Julio Cortázar’s ‘The Health of the Sick’ – J.L. Bogenschneider
Stig Daggerman’s The Games of Night – Dan Powell
Roald Dahl’s ‘The Great Automatic Grammatizator’ – Tracy Fells
Elspeth Davie’s ‘Allergy’ – Stephen Hargadon
Lydia Davis’ Varieties of Disturbance – Tim Love
Rebecca Harding Davis’ ‘Life in the Iron Mills’ – Pat Tompkins
Shelagh Delaney Sweetly Sings the Donkey – David Frankel
Shelagh Delaney’s Sweetly Sings the Donkey – Geoffrey Heptonstall
Shashi Deshpande – Farah Ahamed
‘Illumination’ by Éilís Ní Dhuibhne – Claire Savage
Junot Diaz’s This is How You Lose Her – Ruba Abughaida
Philip K. Dick – Mike Smith
Anthony Doerr’s Memory Wall – Tania Hershman
Sergei Dovlatov’s The Suitcase – Alan McMonagle
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes – Morgaine Davidson
Rob Doyle’s This is the Ritual – Ariella Diamond
Stella Duffy’s ‘To Brixton Beach’ – Carine Osmont
Stuart Dybek’s flash fiction – Marcella O’Connor
Dorothy Edwards – Frances Gapper
Anne Enright’s Taking Pictures – Alex Ruczaj
William Faulkner’s ‘Dry September’ – Sharon Telfer
Félix Fénéon’s Novels in Three Lines – Benjamin Noys
Liam O’Flaherty’s ‘The White Bitch’ – Séamus Duggan
Ian Fleming’s James Bond stories – Chris Machell
John Fowles’ The Ebony Tower – Geoffrey Heptonstall
Janet Frame’s the daylight and the dust: collected short stories – Nicola Daley
The Lagoon by Janet Frame – Jennifer Harvey
The future: Science Fiction and Dystopian works – Mary O’Donnell
Neil Gaiman’s Smoke and Mirrors – Jacqueline Saville
William Gass’ In the Heart of the Heart of the Country – Nicole Mansour
Tim Gautreaux’s Waiting for the Evening News – Richard Buxton
William Gay’s ‘Where Will You Go When Your Skin Cannot Contain You?’ – Dan Powell
Brian George’s ‘More Than a Magician’ – Juliet West
Ghost Stories – Tracy Fells
‘Clay’ by Lewis Grassic Gibbon – Kenneth Steven
Global Cultures, Transnational Short Fiction – Trish Nicholson
Nadine Gordimer’s ‘The Catch’ – Alison Gibbs
Georgi Gospodinov’s And Other Stories – C.D. Rose
Julian Gough’s ‘The Orphan and the Mob’ – Julia Anderson
Marc Le Goupils’ ‘The Cross-Roads’ – Mike Smith
Juan Goytisolo’s The Party’s Over – Patricia Duffaud
Graham Greene’s ‘The Basement Room’ – Chris Machell
Graham Greene’s ‘The Third Man’ – Chris Machell
Graham Greene’s ‘Under the Garden’ – Stephen Devereux
Sarah Hall’s ‘Mrs Fox’ – Erinna Mettler
Helen Harris’ ‘The Man Who Kept the Sweet Shop at the Bus Station’ – Stephen Devereux
Elizabeth Harrower’s A Few Days in the Country – Nicole Mansour
Helon Habila’s stories – Kenneth Okpomo
Ernest Hemingway’s ‘A Clean, Well-Lighted Place’ – Jason Clifton
Ernest Hemingway’s short stories – Peter Jordan
‘Up in Michigan’ by Ernest Hemingway – Peter Jordan
Tania Hershman’s My Mother Was An Upright Piano – Victoria Heath
Patricia Highsmith’s Little Tales of Misogyny – Konstantinos Tzikas
Winifred Holtby’s Remember, Remember! – Sue Wilsea
A.M. Homes’ A Real Doll – Ruth Quinlan
Ideas Above Our Station (various) – Sarada Gray
Witi Ihimaera’s Pounamu, Pounamu – Karen Wrigglesworth
Stories from Iraq – Naomi Foyle
The Glass Shore: Short Stories by Women Writers from the North of Ireland – Zoe Mitchell
Irish Ghost Stories edited by David Stuart Davies – Brendan O’Dea
A Trio of Irish Short Stories – Nuala Ní Chonchúir
Washington Irving’s Tales of Alhambra – Graham Landon
Kazuo Ishiguro’s Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall – Katie Lunn-Pigula
Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Lottery’ – Hayley N Jones
Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Lottery’ – Rachel Stevenson
Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Witch’ – Ever Dundas
Jambula Tree (various) – Kirsty Walters
M.R. James’ ‘Oh Whislte, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad’ – Stephen Devereux
Daisy Johnson’s Fen – A. Poythress
Denis Johnson’s ‘Two Men’ – Morgan Omotoye
Holly Goddard Jones’ Girl Trouble – Mary Larsen
Stephen Graham Jones’ ‘Father, Son, Holy Rabbit’ – Kathleen H. Story
Vivien Jones’ ‘Sorting Office’ – Mike Smith
James Joyce’s Dubliners – Mike Smith
The Essential James Joyce – John Verling
No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July – Anna Arbiter
Franz Kafka – Gina Challen
Franz Kafka’s ‘The Great Wall of China’ – Anton Dechand
Franz Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’ – G. F. Phillips
Panos Karenzis’ Little Infamies – Gina Challen
Jackie Kay’s Wish I Was Here – Gina Challen
Claire Keegan’s ‘Antarctica’ – Nicola Daly
Claire Keegan’s ‘Night of the Quicken Trees’ – Judith George
Marina Keegan’s ‘Cold Pastoral’ – Charlotte Osborn
Daniel Kehlmann‘s Fame – Katherine Orr
Rudyard Kipling – Professor Charles E. May
Rudyard Kipling’s ‘Mrs Bathurst’ – David Frankel
Rudyard Kipling’s ‘The Eye of Allah’ – Mike Smith
Hanif Kureishi’s Collected Stories – Alison MacLeod
Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies – Farhana Shaikh
Jhumpa Lahiri’s short stories – Shafiqah Samarasam
Philip Langeskov’s ‘Barcelona’ – Hannah Radcliffe
D.H. Lawrence’s ‘Fanny and Annie’ – Stephen Devereux
D.H. Lawrence’s ‘Odour of Chrysanthemums’ – G.F. Phillips
D.H. Lawrence’s ‘Odour of Chrysanthemums’ – Mike Smith
D.H. Lawrence’s ‘The Prussian Officer’ – K.S. Dearsley
Henry Lawson’s ‘The Drover’s Wife’ – Jennie Ryan
Nam Le’s The Boat – Katherine Orr
Rosemond Lehmann’s ‘The Red-Haired Miss Daintreys’ – Christine Genovese
Deborah Levy’s Black Vodka – Jeanloup Pranchère
Yiyun Li’s Gold Boy, Emerald Girl – Amanda Oosthuizen
H.P. Lovecraft – Geoff Holder
Carmen Maria Machado’s ‘The Husband Stitch’ – Kate Jones
Alexander MacLeod – Mary Jo Anderson
Alistair MacLeod’s Island: Collected Stories – Laura Morgan
Adnan Mahmutovic’s How to Fare Well and Stay Fair – Moa Lindunger
André Mangeot – Hugh Dunkerley
Katherine Mansfield’s ‘An Indiscreet Journey’ – Cath Humphris
Katherine Mansfield’s short stories – David Butler
Katherine Mansfield Short Stories – Gill Thompson
Hilary Mantel’s ‘Winter Break’ – Jo Cole
Adam Marek’s collections – Carys Bray
Adam Marek’s The Stone Thrower – Lela Tredwell
W. Somerset Maugham – Mike Smith
‘Boule de Suif’ by Guy de Maupassant – Allyson Dowling
Guy de Maupassant’s ‘A Mother of Monsters’ – Bella Reid
Daphne du Maurier’s ‘Don’t Look Now’ – Brendan O’Dea
Daphne du Maurier’s ‘The Old Man’ – Mike Smith
Daphne du Maurier’s short stories – Sophie Reid
Mary McCarthy’s short stories – Sam Reese
Thomas McGuane’s ‘Stars’ – Morgan Omotoye
Carson McCullers’ short stories – Tess St Clair-Ford
Ian McEwan’s ‘Butterflies’ – Jennie Ryan
Ian McEwan’s ‘First Love, Last Rites’ – Victoria Heath
James McKenna’s Black Range Tales – Kate Prudchenko
C. G. Menon’s Subjunctive Moods – Melissa Fu
Seven Stories by Prosper Mérimée – Mike Smith
Erinna Mettler’s 15 Minutes – Tracy Fells
Leonard Michaels’ ‘Murderers’ – Morgan Omotoye
China Miéville’s Looking For Jake and Other Stories – C.D. Rose
Arthur Miller’s Timebends (an autobiography) – Mike Smith
Steven Millhauser’s ‘Eisenheim the Illusionist’ – Chris Machell
Screwtop Thompson by Magnus Mills – Eamonn Griffin
Rohinton Mistry’s ‘Squatter’ – Jose Varghese
Joseph Mitchell’s ‘The Downfall of Fascism in Black Ankle County’ – Séamus Duggan
Rick Moody’s ‘Boys’ – Neelima Vinod
Michael Moorcock’s ‘London Bone’ – Drew Whittet
George Moore – Mike Smith
Lorrie Moore’s Self Help – Tracy Maylath
Lorrie Moore’s ‘You’re Ugly, Too’ – Mary O’Donnell
Thomas Morris’ We Don’t Know What We’re Doing – Sophia Kier-Byfield
Arthur Morrison’s Tales of Mean Streets – Mike Smith
Graham Mort’s Touch – Tom Vowler
Alice Munro’s ‘The Beggar Maid’ – Emily Devane
Alice Munro’s Dear Life – Penny Boxall
Alice Munro’s ‘Family Furnishings’ – Mary O’Donnell
Two Stories by Alice Munro – Ellie Walsh
‘The Lumber Room’ by H. H. Munro – Stephen Devereux
R. K. Narayan and Ivan Vladislavic’s short stories – Farah Ahamed
20 Under 40: Stories from The New Yorker – Andrew Leon Hudson
Cees Nooteboom’s The Foxes Come At Night – Jennifer Harvey
The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat and other stories from the North: Nordic short stories – David Frankel
Flannery O’Connor – Kath McKay
Flannery O’Connor’s Complete Stories – Judy Upton
Mark O’Flynn – Marjorie Lewis-Jones
Once Upon a Time There Was a Traveller (various) – Victoria Heath
K. J. Orr’s The Inland Sea – Vicki Heath
K. J. Orr’s Light box – Victoria Heath
Grace Paley’s ‘The Loudest Voice’ – Dora D’Agostino
Breece D’J Pancake’s Trilobites and Other Stories – Alison Armstrong
Janice Pariat’s Boats on Land – Susmita Bhattacharya
Dorothy Parker’s ‘The Standard of Living’ – Uschi Gatward
Nick Parker’s The Exploding Boy and Other Tiny Tales – Jonathan Pinnock
Cassandra Parkin’s New World Fairy Tales – Teika Bellamy
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘Old Water’ – Victoria Leslie
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ – Rosemary Gemmell
Ludmilla Petrushevskaya’s There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbour’s Baby – Amanda Oosthuizen
Ludmilla Petrushevskaya’s There Once Lived a Woman – Pauline Masurel
‘Place’ in Fiction – Mary O’Donnell
Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ – Chris Machell
Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination – Christine Genovese
Chris Powers’ Mothers – Nicole Mansour
Protest: Stories of Resistance edited by Ra Page – Nicole Mansour
Annie Proulx – Hayley Singer
Annie Proulx’s ‘Brokeback Mountain’ – Chris Machell
Annie Proulx’s ‘Brokeback Mountain’ – Charles E. May
‘A Cottage in Troy’ by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch– Mike Smith
Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch’s ‘Captain Knot’ – Mike Smith
Ron Rash’s ‘Hard Times’ – Kath McKay
Refugee Tales – Hannah Brockbank
Dorothy Richardson’s Journey to Paradise – K.S. Dearsley
Michèle Roberts – Amanda McAleese
Jane Rogers’ Hitting Trees with Sticks – Carlotta Eden
‘The Lumber Room’ by Saki – Stephen Devereux
J.D. Salinger’s ‘For Esmé–With Love and Squalor’ – Wanda Campbell
James Salter’s Last Night – Mike Smith
Ken Sar0-Wiwa’s A Forest of Flowers – Stanley Echebiri
George Saunders’ ‘Escape from Spiderhead’ – Jose Varghese
George Saunders’ Tenth of December – Juliet West
Diane Schoemperlen’s Forms of Devotion – Felicity Skelton
Hubert Selby Jnr’s Song of the Silent Snow – David Frankel
Sam Selvon’s Short Stories – Cyril Dabydeen
Robert Shearman – Carys Bray
Robert Shearman’s Everyone’s Just So So Special – Lela Tredwell
Robert Shearman’s Remember Why You Fear Me – Gina Parsons
Sam Shepard’s short stories – Nicole Mansour
Reading Short Stories – Tracy Fells
Murzban F. Shroff’s Breathless in Bombay – Susmita Bhattacharya
Helen Simpson’s Hey Yeah Right Get A Life – Carys Bray
Ali Smith’s ‘The History of History’ – Kathryn Hall
Ali Smith’s stories – Tracy Maylath
Ali Smith’s ‘Writ’ – Hayley N. Jones
Michael V. Smith’s ‘What We Wanted’ – Ellie Walsh
Neil Smith’s Bang Crunch – Zoë Apostolides
Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘A Lodging for the Night’ – Professor Charles E. May
Robert Stone’s Bear and His Daughter – Jason Clifton
Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge – Erinna Mettler
Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s The Push Man and Other Stories – Dan Powell
Elizabeth Taylor’s ‘The Devastating Boys’ – Alison Fisher
Elizabeth Taylor’s The Devastating Boys – Nicola Daly
These Seven (various) – Susmita Bhattacharya
A Trio of Irish Short Stories – Nuala Ní Chonchúir
Colm Tóibín’s The Empty Family – Paul Curd
Colm Tóibín’s ‘A Song’ – Anushree Nande
F.X. Toole – Emily Bullock
Rose Tremain’s The American Lover – Janis Lane
Valerie Trueblood’s Marry or Burn – Nuala Ní Chonchúir
20 Under 40: Stories from The New Yorker – Andrew Leon Hudson
Samrat Upadhyay’s ‘The Limping Bride’ – Eleanor Walsh
Kurt Vonnegut – Pauline Masurel
Tom Vowler’s Dazzling the Gods – Dan Coxon
David Foster Wallace’s Oblivion – David Frankel
Robert Walser’s ‘Kleist in Thun’ – Ben Winch
Guy Ware’s ‘Witness Protection’ – Anushree Nande
Eudora Welty’s ‘A Worn Path’ – David Butler
Melanie Whipman’s Llama Sutra – Tracy Fells
Oscar Wilde’s Fairy Tales – Louise Murray
Oscar Wilde’s unrecorded stories – Eleanor Fitzsimons
Tennessee Williams’ ‘The Resemblance between a Violin Case and a Coffin’ – Stephen Devereux
Tim Winton’s The Turning – Kath Mckay
P.G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster series – Margaret Sessa-Hawkins
Tobias Wolff’s ‘Hunters in the Snow’ – Séamus Duggan
The World’s Thousand Best Short Stories (various) – Mike Smith
Francis Wyndham’s The Other Garden and Collected Stories – J.K. Fox
Richard Yates’ ‘Fun with a Stranger’ – JL Bogenschneider
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