It’s that time of year (or decade) that list-makers love. I’ve come across a number of lists for the best books of the year (Publishers Weekly, New York Times, Library Journal, NPR, Amazon.com) and in each of them I’ve seen a few short story collections. Many in the publishing world are saying that 2009 was an exceptional year for the form. Though I have yet to come across a list solely for the short story. So, I thought I’d pull one together. The list includes a local author, a master of the form, and a few titles that may have flown under your reading radar.
- American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Cambell (Kalamazoo author)
- Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy
- Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower
- Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall by Kazuo Ishiguro
- Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro
- In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin
- The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis
- My Father’s Tears and Other Stories by John Updike
- Once the Shore by Paul Yoon
- Love and Obstacles by Aleksandar Hemon
- A Good Fall by Ha Jin
- Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing by Lydia Peelle
- Tunneling to the Center of the Earth by Kevin Wilson
- It’s Beginning to Hurt by James Lasdun
- Girl Trouble by Holly Goddard Jones
- Going Away Shoes by Jill McCorkle
- What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us by Laura Van den Berg
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Thanks, Ben. This looks like a great list!
I agree! Fully half of these are on my year's best list as well, especially Tower, Yoon, Peelle, Lasdun and van den Berg. And I've never seen them listed together as you have here. I'll get to work on exploring the others. Thanks!