Books with short stories that come together and create a whole.
To be more precise, I'm going to compare with normal books…
Most books are a story or arc from start to finish. Breaks between events are usually quite short and the events themselves are usually in chronological order.
What I'm looking for are books that are more like collection of short stories. Each short story is an arc and satisfying to read, even if you put the book down forever, and they do not have to be chronologically linear (optional). And when combined, they form an overarching narrative.
Not really a book, but the show Princess Principal is kind of what I'm looking for, if each episode was a short story in a bigger book.
- It starts in the middle of action and showcases all the characters, and then that mini-plot is resolved by the end.
- Then the story goes to the past where the protagonist is introduced, with its own subplot, which is resolved by the end of the short story.
- And so on and so forth.
- By the end, the overarching plot is mostly tied up and the whole story as a whole is coherent despite being so segmented and non-chronological.
Not sure how to describe it better, but I can't seem to find any books like this, "Short story collections" usually give me stories that are completely independent, rather than coming together to weave a narrative.
Edit: Obviously I haven't read any of the ones in the comments yet, but from the synopsis of each, it seems like most of them fit my criteria, Hearts in Atlantis, Rediscovery of Man, and Next in particular. And found so quickly too. I have no idea how I couldn't find a single one on my own.
by KaleidoAxiom
12 Comments
Hearts in Atlantis, Stephen King
The Rediscovery of Man by Cordwainer Smith
Hyperion by Dan Simmons.
I don’t have a lot of experience with reading short stories but Kate Atkinson’s “Normal Rules Don’t Apply” is maybe kind of what you’re looking for. They seem like individual stories but there are connecting threads throughout, that sometimes jump out and surprise you.
Next, by Michael Crichton
Furiously Happy https://g.co/kgs/ZayuGyp
Murasaki edited by Poul Anderson
The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra. I highly recommend.
*The Stories of Ibis* by Hiroshi Yamamoto
It’s about AI but it long predates the current generative AI fad.
Both Dandelion Wine and The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
trainspotting by irvine welsh and its prequel skagboys
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell might fit the bill. Each section is its own scenario with its own narrator – so feels like a short story collection – but all linked by an overarching thread. In the second half of the book each story is picked up again in reverse chronological order.