Strange and spectacular--my favorite book I've read this year. Carmen Maria Machado's stories will haunt you in the best possible way.
Kate
This short story collection introduces a stellar new generation of fantasy writers. Standout stories include "Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers," "A Kiss With Teeth," "The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn," and so many more. Be warned: you'll find yourself feverishly running to the bookstore to find more from each of these captivating authors!
Rebecca
It took me too long to take this book seriously because of the unique title, and I'm still mad at myself for taking so long to read it. This book expertly weaves together the stories of people from across both time and the vast country of Russia. We meet a man working to censor pieces of art, a museum curator, a thug from a small Siberian town, an actress, and many others that all flawlessly form a larger picture of Russian culture and experiences.
Cissa
Gorgeous language, striking imagery...it doesn’t get better than this. If you like Kelly Link’s work, you simply must read this short story collection!
Marika
Meet Cute is a YA short story anthology celebrating the best part of any good rom-com- the meet cute. The fourteen stories within are diverse, romantic, funny, and heartbreaking, featuring many of today's most popular YA authors. This is the perfect read to get you in that Valentine's Day spirit.
April
If Karen Russell wrote stories set in the wilds of rural England rather than rural Florida, you might get something like Daisy Johnson's Fen--strange stories of girls growing up and on the outskirts of an unwelcoming world. Johnson writes with a cutting voice, elegantly dissecting daily injustices and incremental brutalizations, and the transformations women make to survive.
There is no such thing as having too much Flannery O'Connor in your life or on your shelf. Whether you've never read her work before, or you've written a dissertation on it, O'Connor's stories are always worth reading. Whenever I read her, I walk away not knowing how I feel, but certain I've been changed.
Matthew
A collection of short stories, exploring cataclysm in its many forms, from the personal to the global--and often both together. The title piece of the book is a literal set of 100 tiny stories, each touching on apocalyptic themes in its own way. A playful, absorbing series of experiments; if Kelly Link and Lydia Davis wrote a book together, the result might be something like this.
Alexander
Link has mastered the art of the short story, giving you just enough information that you always end wanting just a little bit more. Each story has a thread of strangeness or magic that is so skillfully woven in, you may not realize when it was introduced. Quite simply, these are astonishing stories that beg to be read aloud.
-Marika
A beautifully strange and packed short story collection. You get caught up with Aira in his preposterous logic problems and descriptions of artwork—such as a historical scene on a ship deck depicted in a folded cafe napkin, a dissolving Mona Lisa that becomes Debussyscented candles. Aira poses important questions, like: Would you rather have a Picasso or be a Picasso? For lovers of Borges, Cortazar, Calvino, Murakami.
Jamie
