It’s a little over a week now until Short Story September begins. I’ve been gathering potential reads, mostly from my own shelves. I used to have a dedicated short story shelf, but earlier this year interfiled everything into an alphabetical fiction sequence. When I went hunting through to pick out the story collections, they were more numerous than I expected! I recreated a temporary short story shelf (below), but it ended up overflowing…
I also earmarked a few books I wouldn’t mind rereading (left-hand stack). In the few cases where I have more than one option by the same author, I’ve pulled out the extras (middle stack). And I have a couple that would do double duty for R.I.P. (right-hand stack), which technically starts in September, though I usually don’t feel like reading for that challenge until closer to Halloween.
Here’s a library pile I assembled last week, another R.I.P.-suitable read that I’m partway through, and two late additions from a secondhand book haul.
But wait, there’s more! Here are some of the options on my e-readers:
My overall aim will be to cover a variety of time periods and styles, as well as author nationalities and genders.
Particularly for the classics and longer Collected/Selected volumes (Barnes, de Maupassant, Forster, Frame, Lawrence, Mansfield, Maugham, Porter, Williamson), I will probably choose just one renowned story to review.
I wanted to get ahead, so I’m now stuck into six collections already!
Spy anything that you have read and can recommend?
What have you got lined up for next month?
Bookish Beck = Rebecca Foster. American transplant to England. Freelance proofreader and book reviewer.
Bookish Beck 
I was impressed with Everyone Still Here and I always enjoy Joyce Carol Oates’ creepy tales. I’ll be posting my possibilities tomorrow!
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I didn’t realize that the author is anonymous (like Ferrante).
I think I enjoy Oates more in short story form, though I still struggle with her style in general.
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How exciting, so many choices. 🙂
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I’ll never lack for options! The question is always what to read next.
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That’s wonderful. 😀 I hope it’s good, what ever you decide.
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So many great options! I can spot some I’ve read: The Fahrenheit Twins (v good), Fen (good), Dear Life (v good), The Rental Heart (have forgotten), Runaway (excellent).
I was pleased to see I have three short story collections left on my 2026 reading list, which feels like the perfect amount: Ken Liu ed/trans, Invisible Planets; Elaine Hsieh Chou, Where Are You Really From; and Malka Older, … And Other Disasters.
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I’m partway through Fen now. As I have three unread Munros, I will definitely try to get to one of them.
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Echoing Cathy with Everyone Still Here, and I enjoyed The Office of Historical Corrections which may well feel even more relevant now.
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I liked both of Evans’s collections, but this is the one that stuck with me. I expect you’re right.
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Lots of options! I just stumbled across The Complete Father Brown stories in a charity shop and it’s very tempting…
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Ah, go on 😉
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Maupassant is always a good choice.
My plan is Dandelion Wine by Bradbury and The Human Zero, a collection of scifi short-stories by Erle Stanley Gardner!
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I’ve never read him. I was thinking of choosing “Boule de Suif.”
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I would suggest The Horla. So modern in his writing, and gripping.
The Necklace (shorter) is also super famous
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[…] year, Lisa of ANZ LitLovers launched Short Story September as a reading challenge. This year Bookish Beck is taking over the challenge so it can continue. Thank you to both bloggers for this fun event! […]
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I’ve been too far ahead to think about this. I’m reading Novellas for November! And my Classics Club book, which is really long, just arrived at my local library and is calling my name. I might try to make a note on my calendar in, say, July, to think about some short stories for September next year.
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That’s a good idea to suit your planning-ahead schedule 🙂
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Serendipitously, today I found a stray little book from the Penguin 60s Classics collection of three Turgenev short stories – a Russian I’ve never read – so they’ll be a good intro. I hope. And if I can reunite it with the rest of the set, which I have stashed somewhere, doubtless I’ll find more there!
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Turgenev is great — very readable.
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I loved Don’t Go to Sleep in the Dark and have another Celia Fremlin collection on the TBR which I was hoping to read soon, so I’ll try to join in!
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I read Uncle Paul from the library a few years ago. I’ll be interested to see how her short stories compare.
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I need to read books about books for a travelling book box which I need to get moving again (a BookCrossing thing). But I also have a plethora of short story collections, including a Murakami and an Edna O’Brien half-read, so I’ll try to fit a few in. Mind you, I’ve got to finish my 20 Books of Summer first. It’s hard work being a bookaholic!
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All these self-imposed deadlines we let hang over us 😉 I am finishing my last 7 of 20 Books of Summer this week. How to review them before September is the real question!
I hope you can manage some short stories next month and that they’re memorable reads.
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I’ve got some books of short stories I could read – Agatha Christie’s Parker Pryne and Allingham’s stories.
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Crime short stories must be something of a rarity.
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Actually, not as rare as you’d think. Christie did the a book of Tommy & Tuppence short stories, and then there are the Harley Quin short stories, in addition to these Parker Pryne ones.
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My friend blogger Lisa gave me the idea to try this! I’m reading “A Good Man is Hard to Find” collection by Flannery O’Connor and will be posting sometime this month 😉
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It will be great to have you join us! When you post, add your link to the link party on my pinned post (or in a comment).
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Hah, I know that feeling, where you are imagining a single shelf for a certain gathering of books and, before you know it, the shelf is stuffed full. But I’m sure, by now, you’ve managed to wrangle them into some order? You know I like to take my time with short stories, and this year I’ve been reading a lot more single stories in magazines than usual, but I think I spot a Jess Walter here that I’ve read. (For some reason I can’t zoom. It’s probably me.)
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I didn’t know Walter had written short stories, but either Laila let me know about this one or I just stumbled on it at random, and added it to a recent secondhand book haul.
(I think you’d have to open the photo in a new tab and zoom in there.)
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Wow! You have a lot to choose from! I see a Zweig title on there that I haven’t read. I really liked Chess Story and I’ve read a couple more of his shorter works as well. I’ve been impressed with his writing so far!
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Oh, I have enough for 3-4 years’ worth of this challenge, for sure, but in the meantime I will have added more options 😉
I tend to lose track of things on my Kindle but went back through my list of Edelweiss approved requests and found that one. I’ve meant to read more by Zweig.
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