Flannery O’Connor Reading Order
7 series · 66 books · Born March 25, 1925
Flannery O'Connor was a prominent American author known for her captivating blend of humor, tragedy, and the grotesque within the Southern Gothic tradition. Throughout her career, which spanned from 1952 to 2019, she produced an impressive 66 books, including stand-alone novels, short story collections, and works exploring contemporary literature and the life of faith. Her most notable work, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," showcases her unique style and has left a lasting impact on readers and writers alike.
Anthologies Series
Complete21 books (1952–2015)
Start with 50 Great Short Stories, the first of 21 books in the Anthologies series.
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 |  50 Great Short Stories 1952Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 2 |  The Best American Short Stories 1957 1957Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 3 |  Women and Fiction 1975Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 4 | Stories of the Modern South 1977Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 5 |  Witches' Brew 1984Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 6 |  Volume II: The Medusa In The Shield 1990Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 7 |  Growing Up in the South 1991Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 8 |  The Oxford Book of American Short Stories 1992Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 9 |  The Short Story: 30 Masterpieces 1992Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 10 |  First Fiction: An Anthology of the First Published Stories by Famous Writers 1994Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 11 |  Listening for God Reader, Vol. 1 1994Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 12 |  Downhome 1995Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 13 |  Mistresses of the Dark 1998Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 14 | The Modern Library: The 200 Best Novels in English Since 1950 1999Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 15 | 40 Short Stories: A Portable Anthology 2000Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 16 |  The Best American Short Stories of the Century 2000Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 17 |  Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules 2005Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 18 |  The New Granta Book of the American Short Story 2007Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 19 |  The Civil Rights Reader 2009Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 20 |  Literary Savannah 2011Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 21 |  Plough Quarterly No. 4: Earth 2015Buy 🇺🇸 |
Contemporary Literature and the Life of Faith Series
Complete4 books (1994–2002)
Start with Listening for God Reader, Vol. 1(With: Raymond Carver,Alice Walker,Garrison Keillor,Annie Dillard,Richard Rodríguez,Patricia Hampl,Peter Hawkins,Frederick Buechner,Paula J. Carlson,Peter S. Hawkins), the first of 4 books in the Contemporary Literature and the Life of Faith series.
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 | Listening for God Reader, Vol. 1(With: Raymond Carver,Alice Walker,Garrison Keillor,Annie Dillard,Richard Rodríguez,Patricia Hampl,Peter Hawkins,Frederick Buechner,Paula J. Carlson,Peter S. Hawkins) 1994Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 2 |  Listening for God, Vol. 2(By: Anne Tyler,John Updike,Tobias Wolff,Gail Godwin,Henry Louis Gates Jr.,Kathleen Norris,Paula J. Carlson,Peter S. Hawkins,Carol Bly,Andrew Dubus) 1996Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 3 |  Listening for God, Vol. 3(By: Tillie Olsen,Wendell Berry,John Cheever,Louise Erdrich,Mary Gordon,Tess Gallagher,Reynolds Price,Oscar Hijuelos,Paula J. Carlson,Peter S. Hawkins) 2000Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 4 |  Listening For God, Vol. 4(By: Robert Olen Butler,Allegra Goodman,James Baldwin,Kent Haruf,SueMiller,Doris Betts,Paula J. Carlson,Peter S. Hawkins,MichaelMalone,Alice Elliot Dark) 2002Buy 🇺🇸 |
Faber Stories Series
Complete28 books (1955–2019)
Start with A Good Man Is Hard To Find, the first of 28 books in the Faber Stories series.
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 |  A Good Man Is Hard To Find 1955Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 2 | The Inner Room(By: Robert Aickman) 1968Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 3 | Daughters of Passion(By: Julia O'Faolain) 1982Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 4 | Giacomo Joyce(By: Richard Ellmann) 1983Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 5 | Homeland(By: Barbara Kingsolver) 1989Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 6 | Shanti(By: Vikram Chandra) 1997Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 7 | Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine(By: Thom Jones) 1998Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 8 | An Elegy for Easterly(By: Petina Gappah) 2009Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 9 | The Shielding of Mrs Forbes(By: Alan Bennett) 2011Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 10 | The Cheater's Guide to Love(By: Junot Díaz) 2012Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 11 | Mostly Hero(By: Anna Burns) 2014Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 12 | Mrs Fox(By: Sarah Hall) 2014Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 13 |  Mr Salary(By: Sally Rooney) 2016Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 14 | A River in Egypt(By: David Means) 2019Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 15 |  Come Rain or Come Shine(By: Kazuo Ishiguro) 2019Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 16 |  Cosmopolitan(By: Akhil Sharma) 2019Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 17 | Dante and the Lobster(By: Samuel Beckett) 2019Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 18 | Fairy Tales(By: Marianne Moore) 2019Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 19 | Ghostly Stories(By: Celia Fremlin) 2019Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 20 |  Intruders(By: Adrian Tomine) 2019Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 21 | Mary Ventura and The Ninth Kingdom(By: Sylvia Plath) 2019Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 22 | Paradise(By: Edna O'Brien) 2019Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 23 | Terrific Mother(By: Lorrie Moore) 2019Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 24 | The Country Funeral(By: John McGahern) 2019Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 25 | The Forester's Daughter(By: Claire Keegan) 2019Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 26 | The Lydia Steptoe Stories(By: Djuna Barnes) 2019Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 27 |  The Victim(By: P.D. James) 2019Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 28 | Three Types of Solitude(By: Brian W. Aldiss) 2019Buy 🇺🇸 |
Non-Fiction Series
Complete2 books (1978–1983)
Start with The Habit of Being and read in order.
Short Story Collections Series
Complete6 books (1955–2003)
Start with A Good Man Is Hard To Find, the first of 6 books in the Short Story Collections series.
Standalone Novels Series
Complete2 books (1952–1960)
Start with Wise Blood and read in order.
The Dark Descent Series
Complete3 books (1987–1991)
Start with Volume I: The Color of Evil and read in order.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How many books has Flannery O’Connor written?
- Flannery O’Connor has written 66 books across 7 series. Their published works span from 1952 to 2019.
- What is the first book in each Flannery O’Connor series?
- Here are the first books in Flannery O’Connor's series: Anthologies: 50 Great Short Stories; Contemporary Literature and the Life of Faith: Listening for God Reader, Vol. 1(With: Raymond Carver,Alice Walker,Garrison Keillor,Annie Dillard,Richard Rodríguez,Patricia Hampl,Peter Hawkins,Frederick Buechner,Paula J. Carlson,Peter S. Hawkins); Faber Stories: A Good Man Is Hard To Find; Non-Fiction: The Habit of Being; Short Story Collections: A Good Man Is Hard To Find.
- What order should I read Flannery O’Connor's books?
- We recommend reading Flannery O’Connor's series in publication order. Each series can be read independently.
- Are Flannery O’Connor's series complete?
- Flannery O’Connor has 7 completed series.