At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom, Hempel's second collection of short stories, which includes the well-received story about writing stories, "Harvest."

Less than Zero, Bret Easton Ellis's 1985 novel about youth in California, whose unexamined lives have tragic consequences.

"The Jilting of Granny Weatherall," Katherine Anne Porter's 1929 story about a dying woman troubled by her past; written in first-person, stream-of-consciousness narrative.

Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?, the earliest of Raymond Carver's collection of short stories and the first fiction to which literary critics applied the term "minimalism."

"Hills Like White Elephants," Ernest Hemingway's minimalist short story about a couple at a crossroads in their relationship. Like "In the Cemetery," their strongest feelings go unspoken.

Days, the initial collection of short stories written by Mary Robison, whose early creative writing efforts were directed by Gordon Lish, and who was a...