I feel that had I been introduced to Carver and his genius through my reading of recommendation number six here (which, again, also provides readers with insight into Carver’s thoughts and feelings at the time), it could have compromised (if ever so slightly) the impact of his work and the mystique of the man himself. The literary purist in me wants to give you the opportunity to appreciate Carver the same way I did: one book at a time, from earliest to most recent. So why am I recommending all six books to you when you can buy the sixth book alone and get all of his works, plus more, between one set of covers, all for one price? Simple. The sixth of my recommendations is a collection of all of his short stories plus, as I’ve already mentioned, some great behind-the-scenes material, among other things. The fifth of my recommendations contains selections from the first four books, plus some posthumously published short stories not found in those first four. Each of these four books has got its own group of stories except for Furious Seasons (recommendation two) and What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (recommendation three), which share three stories. The first four volumes I’m recommending are individual books of his short stories. He’s known best for his short stories, and short stories are what’s in each of these volumes (with the exception of the last of my recs, which, in addition to his short stories, offers some other goodies – a great behind the scenes insight into Carver’s thoughts and feelings in the form of a letter he wrote to his editor, for example). Second, and more to the point, I’m recommending six volumes of Carver’s works. I’m just a guy who loves to read, and who has an opinion. But, before I subject you to my actual thoughts about Carver’s writing, I do want to get a couple of things squared away.įirst, I’m nobody’s literary critic.

And I want to make some recommendations – six, specifically. I’ve been a fan of Carver’s work for over thirty years – a BIG fan – and I want to tell you why.

More specifically, I’m going to briefly give you my thoughts on the oeuvre, across six different volumes, of one of the 20th century’s most underappreciated authors, Raymond Carver. This article represents my first book review here on The Renaissance Garden Guy.

Collected Stories by Raymond Carver