Short Stories and Some Other Stuff

Lately I have become a lover of the short story. A good short story requires a significant amount of skill as a writer has to convey all that he or she wants to in a shorter amount of space. Two collections to try by two of my favorite authors:

The Opposite of Fate, by Amy Tan

Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, by Alice Munro

Also, if you can get your hands on the short story "Sonny's Blues," by James Baldwin, you'll like it.

I also really like memoirs. One that I read recently in just two days (which you have all probably read) that Mom sent me after Sister got here was Chosen by a Horse, by Susan Richards. Another really good one that I tend to recommend to anyone calling me for a book recommendation is The Color of Water, by James McBride, which is a story about a white woman raising 12 children in poverty. Her two husbands were black.