Beattie is often compared with Raymond Carver as a writer of minimalist short stories. Carver's Where I'm Calling From (1988) is a collection that illustrates the range of Carver's talent.

Bobbie Ann Mason's Love Life (1989) offers a look at short fiction written by one of Beattie's contemporaries. Mason's work also features a close attention to the minutia of the everyday.

Beattie's Park City: New and Collected Stories (1998) allows the reader a retrospective look at Beattie's best stories, with representative stories from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

Contemporary American Women Writers (1985), edited by Catherine Rainwater and William J. Scheik and published by the University of Kentucky Press, is a collection of essays and photographs treating ten important women writers, including Beattie, Grace Paley, Annie Dillard, and Toni Morrison, among others. Each chapter also includes a very useful bibliography of writings by each...