Aura, Carlos Fuentes

If you’re a Poe or a magic realism fan, don’t miss this gripping novella about a man who accepts a mysterious job putting together a widow’s deceased husband’s memoirs—and runs into a whole bunch of weirdness. Rich in references to Poe’s work and penned in the second person, if this piece doesn’t mentally whisk you away to another world, nothing will. It was originally written in Spanish, and many editions feature both the original Spanish text as well as the English translation, such as this one: http://amzn.com/0374511713

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Lately I’ve been working on the overwhelming task of thinning out my book collection; it’s something no book lover likes to do, but let’s face it, every once in a while it has to be done, either to clear clutter or make room for more.

It’s no surprise that a good portion of my collection is devoted to short story collections. I’ve read my share of great stories, and I’ve read my share of awful ones—but I’ve also read my share of a few that blew me away to the point at which I’ll never forget them. So instead of doing a typical “Top” list, I decided instead to focus on ones which fall into the last category (please note that in my “about” descriptions I tried to be spoiler-free). Do you have any that have made a lasting impression on you? Leave them in the comments.