5 Short Story Collections you must read

Stories are like spiders, with all they long legs, and stories are like spiderwebs, which man gets himself all tangled up in but which look pretty when you see them under a leaf in the morning dew, and in the elegant way that they connect to one another, each to each.

~ Neil Gaiman

Majority of readers start loving books after reading short stories. With few pages, stories leave a long-lasting impact on us. In this post, I am recommending 5 short story collections that you must read.

1. Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami

This book is a collection of short stories which were originally written in Japanese. Every story shows the loneliness of a man who is without a woman in life. There are various psychological implications in each story. Characters are well developed and very unique. Every story makes you think in the end.

If you are like me and have not read any Murakami Books earlier, then you must begin with this one. It will introduce you with his writing style.

2. What we Talk About when we Talk about Love by Raymond Carver

This book comprises stories of incomplete love. Every story has strange setup. These stories are fabricated in simple words. These stories depict different kinds of love. The kind of love no one talks about. Stories ends abruptly, but make you think of the possibilities of what would have happened. But these are really captivating stories.

and it ought to make us feel ashamed when we talk like we know what we’re talking about when we talk about love

3. Selected Stories by Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore is one of the authors whom I can’t get enough of and who always takes me back to my childhood. This book consists of some of his stories, which are so beautiful that you can’t get tired of reading them again and again. The first story “Kabuliwala” is my most favourite ever. I don’t remember how many times I have read it, but I still cherish it so much.

When we were young, we understood all sweet things; and we could detect the sweets of a fairy story by an unerring science of our own. We never cared for such useless things as knowledge. We only cared for truth. And our unsophisticated little hearts knew well where the Crystal Palace of Truth lay and how to reach it. But today we are expected to write pages of facts, while truth is simply this.
“There was a king.”

4. The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad by Twinkle Khanna

This book is a collection of 4 short stories which revolves around women and their issues. The first story is about Lakshmi Prasad, a girl living in a rural area. Her one idea changed the lives of girls in her village. Then there is Noni Appa, an old widow. The third story is about a girl who keeps checking the weather forecast while planning each time for her five weddings.

Last story is my most favourite one and a movie it has been adapted in a movie as well. It is a real-life story of Arunachalam Muruganantham from Coimbatore. He is a man who worked for women. He devised lowcost sanitary napkins for women.

This book is a must read for everyone.

5. The Trees Told me so by Purva Grover

This book consists of 11 stories. These are different stories of different people. But one thing that is common in these stories – tree. They all have been related with trees somehow in their life.

Trees are truly the one spectator and friend which helps us, and we never even realize it. They give shade to someone, or some make their home under a tree. A tree observes everything and everyone. It stands there like a true companion.

This book talks about that. I found all these stories very beautiful. I would recommend it to pick it once.

That’s it for today. Have you read any of these? Do you have any recommendation? Share in the comments.

I have written this post for #AtoZChallenge and my theme is “Love for the books”

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