Renowned Canadian writer Alice Munro is one of Orringer's favorite writers. Orringer singled out Munro's short story collection, The Love of a Good Woman (1999) for particular praise, admiring the stories “The Children Stay,” “Before the Change,” and “My Mother's Dream,” as well as the title story. Orringer admires the way Munro describes the inner lives of her characters.

In an interview available on the Barnes and Noble website, Orringer named George Saunders's Pastoralia (2001) as one of her favorite books. It is Saunders's second collection, consisting of five stories as well as the title novella. Saunders sets his stories in a disturbing near future in which capitalism and the free market rule the world, resulting in grotesque inequities. The stories feature many wretched characters in appallingly bad situations, but there are many moments of grace and humor, and in spite of...