fiction writing reading list

This fall, I took a Fiction Writing Workshop at the University of Texas through the Extension school program. I am more interested in Creative Non-Fiction, but as I haven't really taken any creative writing courses, I thought it would be a good experience nonetheless. I definitely benefited a lot from forcing myself to write (we submitted 3 pieces plus a final rewrite of one) and then going through the workshopping experience with my classmates. Each week, we also had assigned readings, mostly in our textbook.

The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction
50 North American Stories Since 1970

Our assigned readings:

• Rick Bass, The Hermit's Story
• Sanda Cisneros, Never Marry a Mexican
• Jhumpa Lahiri, A Temporary Matter
• David Leavitt, Territory
• Kelly Link, Stone Animals
• Susan Minot, Lust
• Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried
• Julie Orringer, Pilgrims
• ZZ Packer, Brownies

There were some other short stories that we read as copies and handouts as well as some other notes on writing. We kept a reading response journal, so perhaps I will type up some of my responses to the stories as individual posts. 

I've not been much of a short story reader, and I still have mixed feelings about it, but it was definitely helpful to read it while trying to write it. It is really surprising to see how different short stories can be and what the author can do within the span of a few to twenty pages. I'm casually reading some of the other stories in the anthology, but I think I prefer a longer medium.