Lorrie Moore Short Story Collections books in order

Lorrie Moore's six short story collections span nearly forty years of American fiction, from the innovative second-person experiments of Self-Help (1985) to the more somber stories of Bark (2014). Birds of America (1998) became a New York Times bestseller and won the Irish Times International Fiction Prize.
Series · Short Stories · Literary Fiction · American Fiction

Reading order

# Title Published Author Buy on Amazon
1 Self-Help 1985 Lorrie Moore Buy
2 Like Life 1990 Lorrie Moore Buy
3 Birds of America: Stories 1998 Lorrie Moore Buy
4 Collected Stories 2008 Lorrie Moore Buy
5 The Collected Stories 2008 Lorrie Moore Buy
6 Bark 2014 Lorrie Moore Buy

Self-Help (1985) announced a new voice in American fiction. Written largely in the second person — “How to Be an Other Woman,” “How to Become a Writer” — the stories used the instruction manual format to describe the experience of women navigating relationships, careers, and disappointment. The technique was widely imitated but rarely as well.

Like Life (1990) and Birds of America (1998) continued the work, the latter becoming the collection most associated with Moore’s reputation. The story “People Like That Are the Only People Here,” about a parent whose infant is diagnosed with cancer, won an O. Henry Award and is among the most praised American short stories of its decade. Bark (2014), published after a long gap, showed a darker and more spare Moore, reflecting the experience of watching the people around her age and lose things.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books are in the Lorrie Moore Short Story Collections series?

There are six books in the Lorrie Moore Short Story Collections series, published between 1985 and 2014.

What is the first book in the Lorrie Moore Short Story Collections series?

The first book in the Lorrie Moore Short Story Collections series is Self-Help, published in 1985.

What makes Lorrie Moore's short story style distinctive?

Moore is known for her use of wordplay, black humor, and the second-person voice. Her stories often deal with grief, illness, and failed relationships, but they are rarely without comedy — she finds the joke inside the tragedy, and the tragedy inside the joke.

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