You know how much I love short stories collection!

You don’t? Click here and here to check out my previous posts on Short Stories!

Anyways, getting back to today’s post, I present before you a Double Feature!!!

‘The Greatest Bengali Stories Ever Told’

and ‘The Greatest Odia Stories Ever Told’

Yes, I am in love with these two pieces of my newly acquired treasures and I have to tell you all about them! First comes the Table of Contents (so that you can appreciate the range of writers represented in these books)

‘The Greatest Bengali Stories Ever Told’: selected and translated by Arunava Sinha, the book presents 21 short stories from Bengal.

The Kabuliwallah by Rabindranath Tagore

The Offering by Pramatha Chaudhuri

Maheshby Sarat Chandra Chatopadhyay

Einstein and Indubala by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay

The Music Room by Tarashankar Bandopadhyay

The Homecoming by Banaphool

The Discovery of Telenapota by Premendra Mitra

And How Are You? By Buddhadeva Bose

Thunder and Lightening by Ashapurna Debi

Ras by Narendranath Mitra

Two Magicians by Satyajit Ray

India by Ramapada Chowdhury

Raja by Ritwik Ghatak

Urvashi and Johnny by Mahasweta Devi

News of a Murder by Moti Nandy

Ten Days of the Strike by Sandipan Chattopadhyay

Swapan is Dead, Long Live Swapan by Udayan Ghosh

Post – mortem by Sunil Gangopadhyay

The Marble Table by Sanjib Chattopadhyay

Flapperoos by Nabarun Bhattacharya

Air and Water by Amar Mitra

‘The Greatest Odia Stories Ever Told’: translated to English by Leelawati Mohapatra, Paul St – Pierre and K. K. Mohapatra, the book features 24 selected short fiction from Odia Literature

Ananta, the Widow’s Boy by Fakir Mohan Senapati

Maguni’s Bullock Cart by Godavaris Mohapatra

The Solution by Gopinath Mohanty

The Holy Banyan by Bamacharan Mitra

The Witness by Satchidananda Rautray

Ghania Celebrates Ganesh Chaturthi by Surendra Mohanty

The Atheist by Kishori Charan Das

Mother India (The Chronicle of Uddhav Malik) by Mohapatra Nilamoni Sahoo

A River called Democracy by Akhil Mohan Pattnaik

The Tale of the Snake Charmer by Chandrasekhar Rath

Plus Minus Greater than Zero by Santanu Kr. Acharya

Trojan Horse by Krushna Prasad Mishra

Mrs Crocodile by Manoj Das

Savitri by Rabi Patnaik

Savara by Chaudhury Hemakanta Misra

The Mantra by Jagannath Prasad Das

Patadei by Binapani Mohanty

Salvation by Pratibha Ray

Anatomy of Madness by Ramachandra Behera

Longing for Ramakanta Rath by Nrusingha Tripathy

News of the Day by Kanheilal Das

The Whore: A Love Story by Kamalakanta Mohapatra

Rebati by Fakir Mohan Senapati

The Sanyasi by Reba Ray

Why do I love these two books so much!?!

These two amazing books of short stories collection provided me the first exposure to Bengali and Odia literature. At last, I got the chance to read the tales by popular writers like Satyajit Ray, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Rabindranath Tagore, Mahasweta Devi, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Binapani Mohanty, Fakir Mohan Senapati, Godavaris Mohapatra, Gopinath Mohanty, Jagannath Prasad Das, Rabi Patnaik, Reba Ray among others.

These fine short fictions have drawn many beautiful pictures in my mind and thus, I would recommend this rich collection of vibrant tales to all readers for everyone must taste the magic lying within the pages.

Moreover, I must mention how grateful I am that Aleph BookCo has taken the initiative to represent the Indian regional writers and make their precious tales available to a larger audience. I hope that in the near future gems from other regions of India find representation as well.

I hope you pick these books up and have as much fun as I had!