Posts Tagged ‘recommended reading’

Stories We're Thankful For: "Pilgrims"

Stories We’re Thankful For: “Pilgrims”

I’m thankful for many things this Thansksgiving–friends, family, bits of good fortune large and small that have come my way over the past year. But in terms of stories, there’s one I’m eternally grateful for: Julie Orringer’s “Pilgrims.”
I first encountered “Pilgrims” in The Best New American Voices 2001, where it was the lead-off story. [...]

One book to rule them all

One book to rule them all

A recent discussion on the community blog Metafilter asked, “Please tell me one book you think everyone should read and why. Fiction or nonfiction, doesn’t matter. I’m not so interested in hearing about your favorite book or your desert island book, but a book you think everyone would benefit from reading.”
In a matter of [...]

Halloween lit

Halloween lit

We don’t usually think of Halloween as a “reading” kind of day, but I can think of at least a couple of Halloween-related stories.
In Lorrie Moore’s classic short story “You’re Ugly, Too,” a history professor escapes her life by visiting her sister over Halloween weekend–to attend what may be the most painfully awkward [...]

Stories We Love: "Irish Girl"

Stories We Love: “Irish Girl”

I don’t mind admitting that I get stuck as a writer—occasionally. Well, pretty often. Okay, I mean constantly. And I’m not talking about jamming up over a flowery paragraph or a pivotal scene. I’m saying that I’ll be four pages into a new story (on what I’ve come to imagine on my worst days as [...]

The Problem of the Author: On Not Reading Autobiography into the Writing of Andre Dubus

The Problem of the Author: On Not Reading Autobiography into the Writing of Andre Dubus

What is the difference between art and life, between the writer and the writing? In this essay on the late, great Andre Dubus, we learn how Dubus recognized “transformative moments” as authors Richard Ford and Anne Beattie, among others, weigh in on his talents, and his legacy.

Journal of the Week: PANK

Journal of the Week: PANK

The stories in PANK epitomize their founders’ spirit of innovation, and it’s this spirit that has quickly helped build the journal a loyal community. Read on to learn more about how the journal provides inspiration for writers and readers alike.

Stories We Love: "Ballerina, Ballerina"

Stories We Love: “Ballerina, Ballerina”

(Editor’s note: “Stories We Love” made its debut as part of Fiction Writers Review’s Short Story Month celebration. But we love short stories year-round. So here’s another installment, courtesy of FWR contributor Tyler McMahon.)
As an undergraduate, I took my first fiction-writing workshop around 1997. It didn’t go well. My peers were entrenched in [...]

Stories We Love: "Map of the City"

Stories We Love: “Map of the City”

Editor’s note: What? Isn’t Short Story Month over? Yes, it is—but that doesn’t mean we stop loving short stories. So here’s an encore round of “Stories We Love.”

In “Map of the City,” a story from her new collection Separate Kingdoms, Valerie Laken portrays the life of an American college student in perostroika-era [...]

Curl Up with some Good Stories...from <em>Narrative</em>

Curl Up with some Good Stories…from Narrative

Is SSM really almost over?!
Thankfully we can read stories year round, but I still feel the urge (while they’re center stage) to list two recommendations this week. They both come from Narrative magazine, which does require (free) registration. But I promise, these stories are so good, it’s worth filling out a quick form to read [...]

Stories We Love: "Incarnations of Burned Children"

Stories We Love: “Incarnations of Burned Children”

When I first read William Faulkner, in high school, it felt less like reading a book and more like an archeological find—unearthing something long dormant that I’d always known. His cadence, and that humid, repetitious, biblical world of the South, tapped into something in my bones.
The first time I read David Foster Wallace’s “Incarnations [...]