Anthologies are among the most popular forms of storytelling in the world today. Lately, it would seem as if TV has had a few great hits in this department. Don’t let that confuse you into thinking anthologies started with the big screen. In essence, anthologies are a collection of stories written in a common theme.
American Horror Story is a good example of an anthology done right. It’s a TV show, but you get the basic idea. A similar plot, but each season trends differently in the story that it’s going to tell. Viewers eat it up, as each volume (or season) is unique. With literature, anthologies can be collections of poems or a book series. Immerse yourself into the best anthology books and many more!
What Did These Anthology Books Do To Qualify For This List
Any time you are ranking the best of something the results are usually somewhat subjective but we have did our best to come up with a list the readers of the anthology genre will truly like. To come up with this list we took into account:
- quantity and quality of user reviews
- sales data
- public perception
- opinions of readers of this genres
- commercial success
- and of course personal opinion
Take a look at the best Anthology Books you can read right now:
Table of Contents
Best Anthology Books
Here are the best Anthology books by the experts:
1)Cabana Anthology, by Martina Mondadori Sartogo
Book Summary:Cabana Anthology, drawn from the sought-after, sumptuous biannual Cabana magazine, celebrates the most luxurious personal statements in interior design, lifestyle, architecture, and all related luxuries. Founded in 2014 by Martina Mondadori Sartogo, Cabana Anthology features the very best photography, interviews, profiles, and features from the publication’s first five formative years and offers an extraordinary mix of topics, interiors, objects, and visual essays from contributors ranging from Justine Picardie, Patrick Kinmonth, and Christian Louboutin to Lauren Santo Domingo and Gianluca Longo, photographed by the likes of Miguel Flores-Vianna and Tim Beddow. With astonishing production values not seen since the legendary Flair magazine of the 1950s, this new book—which will be a true collector’s item—is a must-have for regular subscribers, as well as art and design aficionados who missed out the first time around. Undoubtedly one of the best anthology books. Due to the unique cloth binding of this book, covers may vary slightly from the example shown here, and will be shipped to customers at random.
- Book Reviews:
2)Touchstone Anthology of Contemporary Creative Nonfiction: Work from 1970 to the Present 1st Edition by Lex Williford and Michael Martone
Book Summary:From memoir to journalism, personal essays to cultural criticism, this indispensable anthology brings together works from all genres of creative nonfiction, with pieces by fifty contemporary writers including Cheryl Strayed, David Sedaris, Barbara Kingsolver, and more.Selected by five hundred writers, English professors, and creative writing teachers from across the country, this collection includes only the most highly regarded nonfiction work published since 1970.Contributers include: Jo Ann Beard, Wendell Berry, Eula Biss, Mary Clearman Blew, Charles Bowden, Janet Burroway, Kelly Grey Carlisle, Anne Carson, Bernard Cooper, Michael W. Cox, Annie Dillard, Mark Doty, Brian Doyle, Tony Earley, Anthony Farrington, Harrison Candelaria Fletcher, Diane Glancy, Lucy Grealy, William Harrison, Robin Hemley, Adam Hochschild, Jamaica Kincaid, Barbara Kingsolver , Ted Kooser, Sara Levine, E.J. Levy, Phillip Lopate, Barry Lopez, Thomas Lynch, Lee Martin, Rebecca McCLanahan, Erin McGraw, John McPhee, Brenda Miller, Dinty W. Moore, Kathleen Norris, Naomi Shihab Nye, Lia Purpura, Richard Rhodes, Bill Roorbach, David Sedaris, Richard Selzer, Sue William Silverman, Floyd Skloot, Lauren Slater, Cheryl Strayed, Amy Tan, Ryan Van Meter, David Foster Wallace, and Joy Williams.
- Book Reviews:
3)Ghostly Writes Anthology 2018 by Ghostly Writers
Book Summary:Plaisted Publishing House and The Ghostly Writes Crew have done it again, bringing us yet another collection of haunted tales and spooky poems. From ghostly encounters to haunted carnival rides, wicked forests and ghoulish manors, there is something inside for everyone. So curl up beneath your blanket and get ready to experience all the spine tingling encounters hidden inside…. The Ghostly Writes Anthology 2018
- Book Reviews:
4)The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction: 50 North American Stories Since 1970 by Michael Martone
Book Summary:Fifty remarkable short stories from a range of contemporary fiction authors including Junot Diaz, Amy Tan, Jamaica Kincaid, Jhumpa Lahiri, and more, selected from a survey of more than five hundred English professors, short story writers, and novelists.
- Book Reviews:
5)The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction by Arthur B. Evans, Istvan Csicsery-Ronay Jr., Joan Gordon, Veronica Hollinger, et al.
Book Summary:The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction features over a 150 years’ worth of the best science fiction ever collected in a single volume. The fifty-two stories and critical introductions are organized chronologically as well as thematically for classroom use. Filled with luminous ideas, otherworldly adventures, and startling futuristic speculations, these stories will appeal to all readers as they chart the emergence and evolution of science fiction as a modern literary genre. They also provide a fascinating look at how our Western technoculture has imaginatively expressed its hopes and fears from the Industrial Revolution of the nineteenth century to the digital age of today. A free online teacher’s guide at http://sfanthology.site.wesleyan.edu/ accompanies the anthology and offers access to a host of pedagogical aids for using this book in an academic setting.The stories in this anthology have been selected and introduced by the editors of Science Fiction Studies, the world’s most respected journal for the critical study of science fiction.
- Book Reviews:
6)Champions: An Anthology of Winning Fantasy Stories by Eric Lange, Ken Lim, B Lynch, et al.
Book Summary:Champions is an anthology of more than thirty of the best fantasy stories that the online writing community has to offer; from spells gone wrong to prisons for gods and much more.This anthology brings together the winning stories from the monthly competitions of Reddit’s FantasyWriters forum with each story demonstrates the vivid and extraordinary worlds that the fantasy genre has to offer. The competitions these stories won range from the end of 2011 until the middle of 2015, meaning that the entries in Champions cover almost every kind of fantasy genre you can think of. With over thirty stories this anthology showcases a wide range of tales and demonstrates what it is we most love about fantasy tales: that anything is possible.The relevant writing prompt also appears alongside each entry, giving you the opportunity to try your hand at writing something yourself, and each writer weaves a wonderful story for you to enjoy.
- Book Reviews:
7)The Norton Anthology of American Literature by Robert S. Levine, Michael A. Elliott, Sandra M. Gustafson, et al.
Book Summary:A responsive, refreshed, and media-rich revision of the market-leading anthology of American literature.The most-trusted anthology for complete works, balanced selections, and helpful editorial apparatus, The Norton Anthology of American Literature features a cover-to-cover revision. The Ninth Edition introduces new General Editor Robert Levine and three new-generation editors who have reenergized the volume across the centuries. Fresh scholarship, new authors―with an emphasis on contemporary writers―new topical clusters, and a new ebook make the Norton Anthology an even better teaching tool and an unmatched value for students.
- Book Reviews:
8)Glimpses: an Anthology of 16 Short Fantasy Stories: An exclusive collection of fantasy fiction by Kevin Partner, Adrian G Hilder, Cameron Wayne Smith, et al.
Book Summary:16 Short Fantasy Stories written exclusively for this anthology
Take a Glimpse into 16 fantasy worlds with this anthology of short fiction by some of the brightest new fantasy fiction talent.
Download this amazing collection of fantastic stories and find your next favourite fantasy author today.
- Book Reviews:
9)Literature: A Portable Anthology by Janet E. Gardner , Beverly Lawn, Jack Rid, et al.
Book Summary:With a handy size and a very affordable price, this collection offers a well-balanced selection of classic and contemporary literature — 40 stories, 200 poems, 9 plays — for the introductory literature or literature for composition course. The literature is chronologically arranged by genre and supported by informative and concise editorial matter, including a complete guide to writing about literature and, in the fourth edition, increased coverage of close reading. As a member of the popular Bedford/St. Martin’s series of Portable Anthologies and Guides, this volume offers a trademark combination of high quality and great value.
- Book Reviews:
10)Apothecary: Fantasy Anthology by Thomas Fay
Book Summary:A shady apothecary plies its craft, a giant wolf stalks a village, while a frost giant—the last of his kind—embarks on a quest to rid the world of magic. Dragons, elves and demons abound in this dark fantasy anthology of short stories and flash fiction, blending elements of fairy tale, fable and epic fantasy into one spellbinding volume.
- Book Reviews:
Best Anthology Movies
If you enjoyed the best anthology books, why stop there? Take a look at our list of best anthology movies and witness these marvelous films from the big screen.
1)Fantasia
Starring: Deems Taylor and Leopold Stokowski
Directed by: James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, Ford Beebe, Norman Ferguson, Jim Handley, T. Hee, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield, Hamilton Luske, and Wilfred Jackson
Movie Summary:A groundbreaking Disney film featuring eight classical music pieces, accompanied by animation, to create a unique blend of sound and pictures.
Movie Reviews:
Saw it the first time in a theater in the 1940’s. This Blu-ray version is good. I thought the “Ave Maria” was a bit weak, but the rest of the orchestrations were very good for something re-recorded and re-mastered many times sine 1940. Fantastic graphics. I can understand why in the early 1970’s, when theaters allowed smoking, the smell of marijuana permeated the air inside theaters showing this film. The animation was WAY advanced for its time–before computers.
-Amazon Reviewer
What a classic! I bought this to share the “Sorcerer’s Apprentice with my music classes. They loved it! I really like the introductions to each musical selection. In researching this movie, I learned that Disney used it as a vehicle to help Mickey Mouse regain popularity back in 1940. I think they succeeded!
-Amazon Reviewer
2)Pulp Fiction
Starring: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman
Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Movie Summary:Writer/director Quentin Tarantino delivers an unforgettable cast of characters — including a pair of low-rent hit men, their boss’s sexy wife, and a desperate prizefighter — in a wildly entertaining and exhilarating motion picture adventure that both thrills and amuses!
Movie Reviews:
Great movie. Re-watchable INFINITELY for sure. One caveat… 7:22 A.M. and the victims have HAMBURGERS??? Are you freaking kidding me right now. Yeah, most of the fast food chains lightened up on ordering burgers at breakfast time but REALLY? 7:22 A.M. hamburgers. Okay. Whatever. Maybe it’s a perfect world there or something. However, that said, this movie is freaking awesome. I can NOT just watch it once. I have to go back again and again and again and watch it. It’s that amazing. If you haven’t seen it, prepare yourself to be simply amazed.
-Amazon Reviewer
3)Mystery Train
Starring: Masatoshi Nagase, Youki Kudoh, and Nicoletta Braschi
Directed by: Jim Jarmusch
Movie Summary:Aloof teenage Japanese tourists, a frazzled Italian widow, and a disgruntled British immigrant all converge in the city of dreams–which, in Mystery Train, from Jim Jarmusch, is Memphis. This triptych of stories pays playful tribute to the home of Stax Records, Sun Studio, Graceland, Carl Perkins, and, of course, the King, who presides over the film like a spirit.
Movie Reviews:
A delightful trudge through Memphis with a couple of jaded Japanese tourists. The fact that they speak practically no English just adds to the charm and surrealism. It’s actually a collage of three or four more or less independent stories, a form that I am particularly partial to, sort of like waking up from a dream into another dream several times.
-Amazon Reviewer
4)Wild Tales
Starring: Ricardo Darín, Oscar Martínez, Leonardo Sbaraglia
Directed by: Damián Szifron
Movie Summary:Made up of six stories, it is an entertaining and jaw-dropping film about people crossing the line into madness when faced with perceived injustice.
Movie Reviews:
One of the most bizarre, satisfying films I have ever seen. You cannot even imagine where it’s going, which makes the journey that much more exciting. I found myself speechless after seeing it and would only have one-on-one viewings when I screened it for friends, anticipating the lively conversation and debate that would follow. Nominated for an Academy award in the best foreign-language film category, this anthology made up of six savagely comic revenge stories, is truly a masterpiece to behold. Violent, funny and brutally honest. Repeat viewings? Sign me up. Every time.
-Amazon Reviewer
5)Coffee and Cigarettes
Starring: Roberto Benigni, Steven Wright, Joie Lee
Directed by: Jim Jarmusch
Movie Summary:“Coffee and Cigarettes” is a comic series of short vignettes that build on one another to create a cumulative effect as the characters discuss things as diverse as caffeine popsicles, Paris in the twenties, and the use of nicotine as an insecticide, all the while sitting around sipping coffee and smoking cigarettes. As writer and director Jim Jarmusch delves into the normal pace of our world from an extraordinary angle, he shows just how absorbing the obsessions, joys, and addictions of life can be.
Movie Reviews:
Very entertaining. Quirky, well done.
-Amazon Reviewer
Best Anthology Audio Books
Now that you’ve seen our list of the best anthology books and movies, I’m sure you’ll be interested in trying out more of the best anthology books in audio!
1)50 Greatest Short Stories by Terry O’Brien
Book Summary:Selected from the best of the world’s short fiction, 50 Great Short Stories brings together writings by great masters of the genre. Carefully picked for their timeless quality, listeners are sure to be delighted by the inclusion of such favourites as ‘The Gift of the Magi’, ‘The Lady with the Dog’, ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’, ‘Rain’ and ‘Mrs Packletide’s Tiger’, to name but a few.
This outstanding and wide-ranging anthology of stories is a collector’s item, designed for those familiar to refresh their acquaintance with some of the world’s finest writing and for newer listeners to be introduced to it.
Book Reviews:
-Amazon Reviewer
2)Monstronomicon: 100 Horror Stories from 70 Authors
Book Summary:Tips for monster hunting:
Check the deepest part of the ocean. Or let someone with a submarine check it for you.
Order a monster egg online. Make sure it won’t hatch before it arrives.
Don’t. What are you, crazy? You don’t need to look. The monsters will find you.
Monstronomicon is a collection of 100 stories from around the world. These aren’t your everyday werewolves and wendigos either. Each story is told by the survivor of an encounter with a unique and mysterious creature more wild and varied than you can imagine. This audiobook has something for everyone with a dark mind, so listen now to find the perfect monster for you.
Some monsters are quirky and friendly, while others are apocalyptic behemoths crawling up from the depths. Some stories are heartwarming, funny, or profound, while others are a bloodbath.
Book Reviews:
If you like horror get this. I read just about every horror anthology Amazon offers. I had thought, “This is just another one of those generic, throw together Monster things.” NO it is not. Good stories here ! Great stories here! Get this now!
-Amazon Reviewer
I love this book! I love horror stories and the short stories are fun to read, and if you only have a little bit a time, you can read one and enjoy it and come back later to read more!
-Amazon Reviewer
3)The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol. 2-A: The Greatest Science Fiction Novellas of All Time Chosen by the Members of The Science Fiction Writers of America
Book Summary:Eleven essential classics in one volume
This volume is the definitive collection of the best science fiction novellas published between 1929 and 1964, containing 11 great classics. No anthology better captures the birth of science fiction as a literary field.
Published in 1973 to honor stories that had appeared before the institution of the Nebula Awards, The Science Fiction Hall of Fame introduced tens of thousands of young readers to the wonders of science fiction and was a favorite of libraries across the country.
This volume contains the following:
Introduction by Ben Bova
Call Me Joe by Poul Anderson
Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell Jr. (as Don A. Stuart)
Nerves by Lester del Rey
Universe by Robert A. Heinlein
The Marching Morons by C. M. Kornbluth
Vintage Season by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore (as Lawrence O’Donnell)
And Then There Were None by Eric Frank Russell
The Ballad of Lost C’Mell by Cordwainer Smith
Baby Is Three by Theodore Sturgeon
The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
With Folded Hands by Jack Williamson
Book Reviews:
The subtitle of this book is the Greatest Science Fiction Stories of All Time Chosen by the Members of the Science Fiction Writers of America. This statement is not true. First of all, the selection was limited to one story per writer. This means that if a writer has written many great stories, only one went into this book. Also, because this volume was chosen by a group(the Science Fiction Writers of America), the selection is skewed toward the most famous writers . This means that many less famous writers are left out out of this book. I gave this book 5 stars because it contains the most famous stories from the 40s and 50s(many now out of print and hard to find), and it does contain some great stories by less known writers. The reader who buys this book will find many stories that he will read and reread with great pleasure.
-Amazon Reviewer
This is probably the greatest anthology of stories from science fiction’s Golden Age, with well-crafted, thought-provoking, and often gut-wrenching stories from the likes of Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, James Blish, Alfred Bester, Clifford D. Simak, and Lewis Padgett. This is a book I return to time and time again, as the stories hold up against multiple readings. If I had to choose just one book to take with me to a desert island, this would most likely be it.
-Amazon Reviewer
4)The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
Book Summary:This modern classic and New York Times best seller was a finalist for both the 1990 Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award and has become a staple of American classrooms. Hailed by The New York Times as “a marvel of storytelling”, The Things They Carried’s portrayal of the boots-on-the-ground experience of soldiers in the Vietnam War is a landmark in war writing. Now, three-time Emmy Award winner Bryan Cranston, star of the hit TV series Breaking Bad, delivers an electrifying performance that walks the book’s hallucinatory line between reality and fiction and highlights the emotional power of the spoken word.
The soldiers in this collection of stories carried M-16 rifles, M-60 machine guns, and M-79 grenade launchers. They carried plastic explosives, hand grenades, flak jackets, and landmines. But they also carried letters from home, illustrated Bibles, and pictures of their loved ones. Some of them carried extra food or comic books or drugs. Every man carried what he needed to survive, and those who did carried their shattering stories away from the jungle and back to a nation that would never understand.
This audiobook also includes an exclusive recording “The Vietnam in Me,” a recount of the author’s trip back to Vietnam in 1994, revisiting his experience there as a soldier 25 years before, read by Tim O’Brien himself.
The Things They Carried was produced by Audible Studios in partnership with Playtone, the celebrated film and television production company founded by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, and producer of the award-winning series Band of Brothers, John Adams, and The Pacific, as well as the HBO movie Game Change.
Book Reviews:
This book just grabs you and won’t let go. When you’re finished with it it won’t be finished with you. I was in the Air Force during the war – C141 cargo transport. I was never stationed in Vietnam but flying in and out several times a month. In with things needed to fight a war. Everything from soldiers to mop buckets. Out with the results. Air Evacs full of wounded, or cargo of 140 coffins filled with human remains. First book I’ve read in years that I didn’t want to put down, but I was glad when it emded.
-Amazon Reviewer
This book has something that other books don’t. The writing, the people, the words, the lack of words, a comma here or a period there. Every page is so magnificently done with a finesse of heartache, dark comedy, and raw, pure, genuineness that I’ve never experienced in any film or text. It’s addicting yet painful to read which makes the experienced of reading it all the more powerful.
This book has something that other books don’t.
-Amazon Reviewer
5)Everything’s Eventual: 14 Dark Tales by Stephen King
Book Summary:The first collection of stories Stephen King has published since Nightmares & Dreamscapes nine years ago, Everything’s Eventual includes one O. Henry Prize winner, two other award winners, four stories published by The New Yorker, and “Riding the Bullet,” King’s original e-book, which attracted over half a million online readers and became the most famous short story of the decade.
“Riding the Bullet” is the story of Alan Parker, who’s hitchhiking to see his dying mother but takes the wrong ride, farther than he ever intended. In “Lunch at the Gotham Café”, a sparring couple’s contentious lunch turns very, very bloody when the maître d’ gets out of sorts. “1408” is about a successful writer whose specialty is “Ten Nights in Ten Haunted Graveyards” or “Ten Nights in Ten Haunted Houses”, and though Room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel doesn’t kill him, he won’t be writing about ghosts anymore. And in “That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is In French”, terror is déjà vu at 16,000 feet.
Whether writing about encounters with the dead, the near dead, or about the mundane dreads of life, from quitting smoking to yard sales, Stephen King is at the top of his form in the 14 dark tales assembled in Everything’s Eventual. Intense, eerie, and instantly compelling, they announce the stunningly fertile imagination of perhaps the greatest storyteller of our time.
The complete list of narrators includes Becky Ann Baker, John Collum, Boyd Gaines, Peter Gerety, Josh Hamilton, Arliss Howard, Judith Ivey, Stephen King, Justin Long, Oliver Platt, and Jay O. Sanders.
Book Reviews:
I was an avid Stephen King reader in high school, but I haven’t really liked some of his later stuff. It seems like he gets really involved and I lose interest. I’m not trying to be insulting, it’s just me, and obviously he’s doing just fine without my business. But, and that’s a big but, I loved this book!!! Apparently short stories from Mr King are perfect for me. I felt like I was reading a book he’d written in the seventies or eighties. Every story, except one, had me riveted to my seat. My kindle died and I just moved closer to the outlet and continued reading. 1408, the main reason I bought this book, was worth it. I’m reading, wondering when anything scary is going to happen, only to realize it’s already happening and I’m terrified. Trust me, especially if you loved Stephen King like I did (Salems Lot, Carrie) then this book is for you.
-Amazon Reviewer
As disturbing, scary, funny, moving, and enthralling as always. Just what I needed on my kindle app for times on the bus and subway when I want something to read other than depressing news about republicans attempting to end democracy. I of course had my favorites, 1408 being the most creepy and unnerving, but they all made me wish each trip on public transport could last a little longer. I think I’ll invest in the paper copies too, for reading at home on dark, spooky evenings! I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good story, and with great intros to each tale by King himself, there’s a sense of intimacy, like a fireside telling, that pulls you in close.
-Amazon Reviewer
Conclusion
What do you think about our list of best anthology books? If you have another genre that you prefer to read we have probably compiled a list of our favorites for that genre too. So if you are looking for something other than the best anthology books you can find other genres here.
