• The Obituary Writer (2000) -- 2000 New York Times Notable Book, a Book Sense pick, and a Borders Original Voices selection
  Gordie Hatch is twenty-two, charmingly naive, and certain that his first job as a writer for the ST LOUIS INDEPENDENT'S obituary page will be a stepping stone to a crackerjack career in journalism. The year is 1989, and Gordie watches helplessly while dramatic events -- the very events that could be his lucky break -- unfold in the world around him. But nothing can prepare him for the call he gets from Alicia Whiting, a young widow with an accent he can't quite place. When Gordie agrees to meet Alicia, against his better judgment, his journalistic curiosity quickly turns into an obsessive search for the outrageous truth behind the Whiting family. Shot through with affectionate humor and surprising twists and turns, THE OBITUARY WRITER introduces an author of enormous talent and heart. Porter Shreve brings a deft touch to the moments that mark a young person's entrance into the world, and a sharp eye to the ways in which the lead story can be wonderfully, seductively misleading.

• Drives Like a Dream (2005) -- 2005 Chicago Tribune Favorite Book of the Year, a People "Great Reads" selection, and a Woman's Day "Spring Pick."
  Shreve's second novel, Drives Like a Dream, is a smart, wry tale about a modern-day mother in the midst of a lifestyle crisis and her outlandish attempts to get her family back. Lydia Modine is sixty-one and about to come undone. Her three grown-up children have flown the coop. She hasn't seen them together in more than a year, and now her ex-husband is about to remarry a woman half his age. And the insults keep coming: Lydia is stuck on a book she's writing about Detroit's car industry, which uncannily parallels her own life out with the old model, in with the new. She's poured her soul into her family, only to be abandoned in the City of Dream Machines. But then a twist of fate introduces her to Norm, an eco-car fanatic out to remake her and the world. Is he the answer to all of her problems, or does he hold the one secret that just might get her children back to Detroit, home for good? A warm, funny, and affecting novel that's sure to appeal to anyone who has longed for an alternate life, Drives Like a Dream confirms that sometimes when you set out for a spin, the twists and turns can be perfectly rewarding and right.

• When the White House Was Ours (2008 release)

Anthologies

• Outside the Law: Narratives on Justice in America (1997),edited with Susan Richards Shreve

• Tales Out of School: Contemporary Writers on Their Student Years (2000), edited with Susan Richards Shreve

• The Contemporary American Short Story (2003) with B. Minh Nguyen

• Contemporary Creative Nonfiction: I & Eye (2004) with Bich Minh Nguyen

• 30/30: Thirty American Stories from the Last Thirty Years (2005) with Bich Minh Nguyen
  Designed for introduction to fiction and fiction-writing courses, 30/30 is part of Longman’s Penguin Academics series of portable, value-priced texts. This anthology offers an array of fiction that not only teaches craft, but also provides a context in which to study formal and thematic trends of the past 30 years. The stories are represented by a mix of well-established authors and newer voices, offering a stylistic range, from the traditional narrative to experimental forms, and thematic range as well, with stories that address issues including family and culture, love and loss, ethnicity and gender.