SBCC Recommends - Short Fiction and Nonfiction
Short Fiction - Stories, poems, other creative short pieces
Short Nonfiction - Essays, speeches, articles, other short nonfiction pieces
Short Fiction
| Title | Author | Why I Recommend This Book | Personal Story (optional) | Recommender |
| A Sign in Space | Italo Calvino | I recommend this for a few reasons: (1) You can find it online and read it in one short sitting without committing to buying a book that may or may not just sit in a corner unread for a while: (2) The contents are light-years away from any typical reading that would be happening in or out of school; (3) It's playful. | Part of a larger collection, Cosmicomics, this story is my personal favorite. The man who wrote it writes in such a way that my own internal run-on sentences and over-analyzing of concepts and origins can't match. It's a stretch for some maybe, it imagines the formation of the universe, quite possibly written from the perspective of a molecule but that is never made clear. Just read it (: | M.E., Former EH student, furthering education online |
| Love and Longing in Bombay | Vikram Chandra | This short story collection contains five stories about Bombay (Mumbai). Ghosts, toxic masculinity, elite backstabbing, a missing lover, a murder mystery: each story is wildly different from one another. This collection is a perfect example of how literature allows us to immerse ourselves in another culture. | The story "Kama" features the main character of Chandra's novel Sacred Games that has since been turned into a Netflix series with the same name. | Joshua Escobar, Director of Creative Writing |
| Stories of Your Life and Others |
Ted Chiang | The narrator of “Stories of Your Life,” a brilliant linguist, is telling stories to her daughter, weaving the science and drama of conflict with other nations–aliens arrive and humanity is too distrustful to work together–into everyday stories about her daughter growing up. Learning the pictorial, nonlinear, language of the alien species changed the narrator’s experience of time so that she could see the past, present, and future simultaneously, which leads her to make a choice that her husband can’t forgive. I wondered what would have happened if she had never told her husband that secret. | There is a really great movie based on this story, Arrival. They made some major plot changes when they adapted it for film (like narrowly averting WWIII–I’m pretty sure that’s not in the story), and I liked the film as much as I liked the story, which is rare for me. | Kim Monda, English Professor |
| The Out Side: Trans & Nonbinary Comics |
Min Christensen, David Daneman and Kao Studios (Compilers) |
The Out Side is an anthology of comics featuring 29 different comic artists who share snippets
of their gender and transition journeys, showcasing the vivid range of gender expression
through art. I loved seeing the unique art styles that each comic artist used, and
many of their stories brought me tears of joy. |
Mae James, Student | |
| Latino Poetry: The Library of America Anthology |
Rigoberto González (Editor) |
This is a behemoth of an anthology with over 180 poets featured, including such renowned names as U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón. If you're starting to dip your toe into poetry, this is a great place to start; you can easily flip through the pages until something catches your eye, then start reading to figure out what you connect with. | Mae James, Student |
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| Never Whistle at Night |
Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. (Editors) |
Never Whistle at Night is a superb collection of stories for those who want to explore the spooky or supernatural
at their own ease without the pressure of a full-length horror novel. A vast array
of talented authors make this anthology difficult to put down, however. |
Mae James, Environmental Science Major | |
| Lighthead | Terrance Hayes | The poems in this collection are a reflection on history, the lives of cultural icons,
and the author's own life experience. The entire book of poetry is written in a way
that takes the reader off on a fantastical journey, then grounds them back in reality.
Hayes' writing style is dynamic, lyrical, and so rich in metaphor and meaning. I recommend
this work, especially the poem "Lighthead's Guide to the Galaxy," because of Hayes'
absolute mastery of the craft! |
I first learned about Terrance Hayes in an undergraduate poetry class, nearly a decade
ago. In the years since, I have consumed a wide variety of poetry but I have yet to
find a poet whose work I enjoy reading more than Hayes. His work taught me how fun
and inventive poetry could be while still conveying depth and intention, and he has
greatly inspired my own writing practice. |
Alyssa Barbosa, Biological Sciences Laboratory Technician |
| "Abou Ben Adhem" | James Henry Leigh Hunt | This short narrative poem tells of a Sufi's conversation with the Angel of God about those who love the Lord. Since his name is not in the book, he tells the Angel to write that he loves his fellow men. For me, loving one's fellow men is loving the Lord, no matter the religion. | This poem always makes me cry. | Penelope LePome, Student |
| Nepantla: An Anthology Dedicated to Queer Poets of Color |
Christopher Soto | This is one of the most impactful anthologies of poetry I've read, and it includes
cherished poets such as Ocean Vuong, Joy Harjo, Danez Smith, Audre Lorde, and June
Jordan. These fragments of life made art echo the importance of intersectional thinking.
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Mae James, Environmental Science Major |
Short Nonfiction
| Title | Author | Why I Recommend This Book | Personal Story (optional) | Recommender |
| "Salvation" | Langston Hughes |
In his marvelous personal narrative essay “Salvation” (1940), Langston Hughes looks
back on a critical moment in his late boyhood when he felt enormous pressure in church
to get up and say he “saw” Jesus when he didn’t. Ironically, this painful experience
of self-betrayal turns out to “save” Hughes by teaching him the sacredness of living
by one’s own truth no matter what. It’s not easy to be who you really are, especially
in a country that seems hell-bent on rewarding you for being who you aren’t. But Hughes's
“Salvation” inspires you to give genuine selfhood your best shot. |
Hughes’s essay has served for many years as a model for my English 111 students who
write a personal narrative essay of their own about a time in their lives when they
gave in to pressure from family or friends to be someone they knew they weren’t. Just
how well they can tell their own story of conformity and self-betrayal reminds me
every year how worthwhile and satisfying it is to teach “Salvation.” |
Robert Metzger, English Professor |
| "Letter from Birmingham Jail" | Martin Luther King Jr. | Letter written on April 16, 1963. MLK explains--from in jail for protesting--that while people have a responsibility to follow just laws, they have a duty to break unjust ones. People have power to shift governments back towards justice, when those governments go astray. Not "historical" but rather timely. | Julia Offen, Student (Extended Studies) | |
| "The Clash of Ignorance" | Edward Said |
Written as a rebuttal to Samuel Huntington’s "The Clash of Civilizations," the Palestinian-American
political activist, Edward Said, eloquently dismantles Islamophobic rhetoric in "The
Clash of Ignorance" (published in The Nation on October 22, 2001). It's basically
the literary equivalent of a diss track. Now more pertinent than ever, this essay
reframes civilizational conflicts as the ramifications of ignorant preconceptions
rather than intrinsic incongruities; it's a must-read for anyone interested in political
science, international relations, or current affairs. |
Amelia Lundgren, Student (English Major) |