The best short stories
347740
I fell across Maupassant's "The Necklace" years ago and have been a fan ever since. Many writers believe that the well crafted short story is the hardest story to write and Maupassant is certainly one of the masters. Many of his stories are well known: "The Necklace," "The Piece of String," and "The Ball of Fat" are standard university faire but this volume brings together about thirty of his best stories. His keen insight and sense of observation make these stories timeless and interesting - you might even see yourself. The writing is surprisingly fresh and readable. A great book to have by the fireside.
4275497
This is a great collection of short stories, it has two of my top three stories from the author in here, Red Man and Sacred Cow.  You have variety in the settings and variety in the horror.  What I like is that nothing is generic, everything makes you think just a little.
526198
Like any short story collection, many of the stories I couldn't put down, others didn't capture my interest as well. I will first comment on  my two favorties: "The Mansion on the Hill" and "Boys." "The Mansion on the Hill" was a great story with unexpected turns from beginning to end (like the car on the winding road). I liked all the characters and I still wanted to know what happened to them after the end of the story (I wanted to see the narrator's wedding). "Boys" was a wonderful short piece. You can feel the sentimentality of two boys in a household. It is sweet, short and full of emotional baggage, I loved it. These stories are both worth reading and I won't give away any details because that would spoil it for those who haven't read Demonology. Other worthy mentions are "The Double Zero" or "Demonology" not as great as the previous two I bragged about but also good stories. I actually know people in Ohio like the characters in "The Double Zero" and it was almost too familiar.
With some of the stories I had trouble adjusting to the voice of the narrators. They were like scrambled, neurotic thoughts until Moody finally found a focus or nitch for the story. I wasn't crazy about any of the stories involving Gerry and his girlfriend except for the second part of "The Carnival Tradition". That one had the most substance. My absolute LEAST favorite line in these stories is in the first part of "The Carnival Tradition" when the angelic hispanic boy from the "known drug location" is yelling "It's your town now,...Your town." I thought that was very lame since the scene itself was already a very obvious metaphor for several things going on in the story. Stories like "Drawer" and "Forecast from the Retail Desk" were, for me, completely forgettable as well.
However, I gave this an overall rating of four stars because the stories I did like made for an overall good read. It is a group of short stories and I'm aware that sometimes they are placed together because they all have a similar theme or some kind of connection to each other, even if the reader does not recognize this. Also, even the best writers don't always create literary masterpieces. Rick Moody is definitely a talented writer and I'm sure will come up with many more wonderful stories.
If you would like another decent collection of short stories, pick up Bonnie Jo Campbell's Women and Other Animals.
4787011
I keep a couple of short story compilations on my Kindle for those moments when I am waiting at the medical office, for a prescription, picking up a grandchild from school, or just those few times in between when it is best to have something with you. I picked this one up for just that reason.

But once I started I couldn't stop and I read them all at once. Some were so short they took less than a few minutes and some a bit longer. The theme running through this collection is dark but no so dark to be depressing. In fact there were several that brought chuckles to me.

I enjoyed every story in the collection which is unusual for me and immediately recommend it to a friend.

Pick this one up it won't go wrong for you if you like a little darkness in your short stories. Not for the under 18 crowd.

Karen Bryant Doering,
Parents' Little Black Book
MistBlueEeyroe@gmail.com
1518138
This is an incredible book of short stories. They are unlike any I have read. The first story was my favorite. Come Out Wherever You Are is like a life lesson put in a fiction story. Others may get another message from it than I did. It made me realize you cannot always run from the troubles you face in life. The author mentioned he is also a script writer, and I would love to check out movies that he has written. These short stories are well-written, quick reads and easy to follow. No matter what genre you are into you can enjoy these quick reads. I enjoyed each and every one of them. At the end of the first story, he breaks down the message he was trying to get across. I could not stop reading once I started. I look forward to reading more by this author in the future.
735632
Barthelme's stories are short and spectacular. He is probably the postmodernist (Man, I hate that word, but what else can you call it?) writer with the most understanding of the language. Some passages are beautiful, some disturbing, some confusing. I don't think there's a story in this volume that doesn't deserve to be read twice, and some ("The Indian Uprising","The Emerald","Daumier") should be read far more frequently.
 If you have any interest in absurd fiction, then Barthelme is the man for you, and ths volume gives a broad selection of his best work.
737174
I think these short stories are very good. You get to the end of the story instead of reading 300or 400 pages.
4160143
Classic horror stories.
The best. Short - weird - creepy!!!!
No fat to trim. Stories are well written with just enough setting.
101826
The best short stories ever! I could not put the Kindle away till every letter was read. I love it.
Harald, Norway
3384132
I know many lovers of fiction who won't touch short stories. Their complaint usually is that the stories go nowhere and are little more than vignettes or character studies. To them I cannot recommend this volume enough. Mr. Boyle tells stories  that grab you from the first sentence-- "They wore each other like a pair of socks"-- and do not let you go until the roller coaster ride is finished, some 20 pages or so later.

 The author has collected here 16 stories, most of which have been published previously in EQUIRE, GQ, GRANTA, THE NEW YORKER and PLAYBOY as well as collections of best short stories including The O. Henry Awards, an honor that is certainly apropos since this author is every bit as good at surprise endings as Mr. O. Henry, himself. ("She Wasn't Soft" and "After the Plague" are just two excellent examples.) Many of these stories are about men and women acting badly-- very badly. A young man throws his girl friend's unwanted newborn child into a dumpster, a young drug addict working at his physician brother's abortion clinic goes ballistic and starts shooting protestors, one of a handful of survivors of a global plague in a fit of jealously vandalizes another survivor's home. But Mr. Boyle also writes about the way some people react with gutsy courage to violence. An airline passsenger saves herself as well as everyone else on a plane by attacking an out-of-control fellow passenger who is trying to open the rear exit door of the plane by attacking him with the steel fork given with the awful flight food; and an elderly widow takes on a robber with a can of Mace, for example.

Mr. Boyle has an endless reservoir of creativity. Who else writes stories about a tour of women from Los Angeles going to Alaska to meet eligible men? ("There were a hundred and seven of them, of all ages, shapes and sizes, from twenty-five- and thirty-year-olds in dresses that looked like they were made of Saran Wrap to a couple of big-beamed older types in pantsuits who could have been somebody's mother--and I mean somebody grown, with a goatee beard and a job at McDonald's. . .") Or two wealthy single sisters, one who wears only black, the other only white, who live in a black and white house and hire only black or white workers, wearing only black and white clothes-- no brown-skinned people, that is, Mexicans need apply? Or a house full of young pretty women in an upscale neighborhood where voyeurs can go online and watch their goings-on twenty-four hours a day? Or an elderly couple where the husband suffers a stroke and his wife falls and breaks her hip as she searches for him?

Although not for the fainthearted, these Molotov cocktails are as good a collection of stories as you will find.
17292
This is a great collection of short stories. The works are well-written and draw you in quickly. I will reread these stories because they are interesting and provide a different look at dark topics.
3179094
Short stories are beautiful bedtime reading, enough to slow your thoughts and remove you from the stresses of the day. This collection is Hemingway's very best, his American debut from 1925. The stories are concise, yet rich with detail and feeling. My personal favorite, "A Very Short Story," is less than two pages, but it expresses everything it needs to. As is Hemingway's style, he doesn't hand stories to the reader. You jump in head first and have to figure out where you are and what you're doing there. Each one of these tales is truly an adventure not to be missed.
1566675
I enjoyed this compilation of short stories. All were well written and enjoyed by me. Please people read this collection, you will not regret it.
3438609
The vast majority of these stories are simply outstanding in their subtlety and irony. Almost to a story, I was enthralled within seconds of reading the first sentence. Wolff is undoubtedly one of the best short story writers out there. I spread reading this out over several months, reading a story or so a day, so that I could savor this impressive collection as long as possible. I am almost disappointed to be finished.
4430907
what a great way to get the best short stories of each year for those of those who don't have time to read much
2447046
I'm reading this one now, excellent compilation of short stories by, of course, some of our best authors.
344114
Very good collection of short stories, by a variety of authors.  Some stories are stronger than others.