Happy Fourth of July! Celebrate Independence Day by reading these must-read American short story collections.

1. My Life and Hard Times by James Thurber

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“Widely hailed as one of the finest humorist of the twentieth century, James Thurber looks back at his own life growing up in Columbus, Ohio, with the same humor and sharp wit that defined his famous sketches and writings. In My Life and Hard Times, first published in 1933, he recounts the delightful chaos and frustrations of family, boyhood, youth odd dogs, recalcitrant machinery, and the foibles of human nature.”

2. Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger

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3. Laughter and Early Sorrow: And Other Stories by Brett Busang

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“Laughter and Early Sorrow pays tribute to growing pains and the universal feelings of disappointment, wonder, and gratitude. Set in Memphis, Tennessee during  the 1960s and 1970s, these nine stories provide a summation of what it’s like to play without a net, face people and situations that are inherently difficult, and emerge with your vital signs intact and your curiosity paradoxically enlarged. Humorous, insightful, and heartfelt, Laughter and Early Sorrow recalls life’s most indelible moments.”

4. The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty by Eudora Welty

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“This complete collection includes all the published stories of Eudora Welty. There are forty-one stories in all, including the earlier collections A Curtain of Green, The Wide Net, The Golden Apples, and The Bride of the Innisfallen, as well as previously uncollected stories. With a Preface written by the Author especially for this edition.”

5. The Complete Short Stories by Mark Twain

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6. Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories: And Other Disasters by Jean Shepherd

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“Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories is a universal (and achingly funny) orchestration of Midwestern puberty rites, from the gut-wrenching playground antics of one Delbert Bumpus, to the supernal glow surrounding unapproachable high school beauty Daphne Bigelow, to the memorable disaster that was Shepherd’s (and everyone else’s) junior prom.”

7. Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson

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“In this moving collection of interrelated stories, Ohio-born Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941) illuminates the loneliness and frustration — spiritual, emotional and artistic — of life in a small American town. Winesburg, Ohio subtly portrays as well a young writer’s coming of age, searching for love, yearning for a less stifling world.”

8. The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson

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“This is the definitive collection of Shirley Jackson’s short stories, including ‘The Lottery’ – one of the most terrifying and iconic stories of the twentieth century, and an influence on writers such as Neil Gaiman and Stephen King.”

9. Tennessee Williams: Collected Stories by Tennessee Williams

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“Tennessee Williams’ Collected Stories combines the four short-story volumes published during Williams’ lifetime with previously unpublished or uncollected stories. Arranged chronologically, the forty-nine stories, when taken together with the memoir of his father that serves as a preface, not only establish Williams as a major American fiction writer of the twentieth century, but also, in Gore Vidal’s view, constitute the real autobiography of Williams’ ‘art and inner life.'”

10. The Complete Short Stories of Thomas Wolfe by Thomas Wolfe

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“The Complete Short Stories of Thomas Wolfe stands as the most comprehensive edition of Thomas Wolfe’s short fiction to date. Collected by Francis E. Skipp, these fifty-eight stories span the breadth of Thomas Wolfe’s career, from the uninhibited young writer meticulously describing the enchanting birth of springtime in ‘The Train and the City’ to his mature, sober account of a terrible lynching in ‘The Child by Tiger.'”

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