Review: The Best American Short Stories 2009 ed. by Alice Sebold

Well, another edition of one of my favorite short story collections is over and done with. I think I always talk about how long I've been collecting these volumes (about ten years now) when I review one of them. But that says something to me: consistent high quality. And, once again, the collection delivers.

It's hard to review short story collections. There's less to talk about because there's more to give away. Standouts in this book, for me, were "A Shadow Table" by Alice Fulton, set in the 1920's, with a Japanese flair; "Sagittarius" by Greg Hrbek, which was probably my favorite in the whole collection, about parents trying to come to terms with a, ahem, differently-abled child; and "One Dog Year" by Kevin Moffett, about the last days of John D. Rockefeller.

Those are very simplistic descriptions of the stories, and only descriptions of the ones I particularly liked. All of them, however, stood out in their own ways. To get too far into the details of each storyline would probably lead to me giving away spoilers and endings...I can't keep a secret. Suffice it to say, this collection was excellent, as usual. However, this time, I'm giving it four and a half out of five Whatevers, since it didn't hold my attention as well as the last collection did. Still excellent, still a great introduction to the short fiction form for those who aren't accustomed to it, just not as good as the last one.

Now I'll be starting my third in the Lonesome Dove tetralogy, Dead Man's Walk. I hope it's as good as the other two I've read!

The Best American Short Stories 2008 ed. by Salman Rushdie

This series is one of my favorites. I've been collecting these short story compendiums since 1999. (Ten years, wow!) I used to buy them as soon as they came out, sometime in October of the year in question, but now I usually ask for them as a Christmas gift. In addition to the Short Stories collection, I also get the Mystery Stories and Non-Required Reading editions.

I read most of this book during the Read-a-Thon, and I found it to be ideal for that situation. Instead of trolling through a long tome in one voice, by one author, I had the ability to read several snippets in different voices, yet each telling a complete story.

These short stories really are the best of the best. The only one I didn't particularly care for was "Nawabdin Electrician" by Daniyal Mueenuddin. For some reason, Nawab didn't resonate with me. I didn't feel much when the story reached its climax, despite the action being intense! My favorite story was probably Steven Millhauser's "The Wizard of West Orange," a fictionalized (or is it?) telling of a Thomas Edison-esque (or maybe it was meant to be Edison? But he worked in Menlo Park...) inventor who came up with a machine, the haptograph, which could simulate touch, with astonishing results. Coming in second? "Vampires in the Lemon Grove" by Karen Russell. Unusual story about...um, vampires...living in a lemon grove.

This collection of short stories was a great way to spend a good chunk of the Read-a-Thon. If you are in any way interested in adding really good quality short stories to your repertoire, by all means, check this book out! Five out of five Whatevers, as usual.