GREAT WRITING IN THE SHORT FORM
Celebrate the Book! A Regional Readers’ Advisory Conference 11/04/2011
Kay Galbraith (kgalbraith@tscpl.org)
Angela Strathman (astrathman@tscpl.org)
What is a short story? Definitions vary from 5,000 to 10,000 words or less, or short enough to be read in a
single sitting. But generally, they are character-driven as opposed to plot-driven like a novel, concentrating on
a major event or conflict, no sub-plots, and not a lot of characters, much more focused with unity of theme,
character and plot. And, oh, the writing. It is amazing what can be done in a short story.
May Appeal to: Readers who are interested in fiction with a tight focus that features strong characterization,
and rich, evocative writing.
SUPER SHORT
Collected Stories of Lydia Davis (2009)
The Nimrod Flipout (& others) by Etgar Keret (2006)
Someday This Will Be Funny (& others) by Lynne Tillman (2011)
Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlife by David Eagleman (2009)
Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day by Ben Loory (2011)
Sudden Fiction anthologies
wigleaf.com
Many stories by Mary Robison, Amy Hempel, and in Stuart Dybek’s Coast of Chicago are only a couple of pages long.
NOVELLAS
Train Dreams by Denis Johnson (2011)
The New Valley by Josh Weil (2009)
We the Animals by Justin Torres (2011)
The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka (2011)
The Barracks Thief by Tobias Wolff (1984)
Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote (1958)
Different Seasons by Stephen King (1983)
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan (2007)
An Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett (2007)
Disquiet by Julia Leigh (2008)
The Last Worthless Evening (& others) by Andre Dubus (1986)
The Diving Pool: Three Novellas by Yoko Ogawa (2008)
The Granta Book of the American Long Story edited by Richard Ford (1998)
Melville House Art of the Novella series http://www.artofthenovella.com/
SHORT STORIES MASQUERADING AS NOVELS
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (2008)
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (2010)
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (2009)
The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachmann (2010)
The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat (2004)
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros (1984)
Day for Night by Frederick Reiken (2010)
Love Medicine and other novels by Louise Erdrich (1984)
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (1989)
I See You Everywhere by Julia Glass (2008)
Stiltsville by Susanna Daniel (2010)
Our Kind by Kate Walbert (2004)
Fame by Daniel Kehlmann (2010)
LINKED STORIES
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien (1990)
Ms. Hempel Chronicles by Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum (2008)
The Beggar Maid: The Stories of Flo and Rose by Alice Munro (1978)
Mary and O’Neill by Justin Cronin (2001)
Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson (1919)
Later, at the Bar by Rebecca Barry (2007)
Ideas in Heaven: A Ring of Stories by Joan Silber (2004)
Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson (1992)
Blueprints for Building Better Girls (2011) & Use Me (2000) by Elissa Schappell
After the Quake by Haruki Murakami (2002)
Ivan and Misha by Michael Alenyikov (2010)
You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon (2011)
The Golden Apples by Eudora Welty (1947)
Maples Stories/Olinger Stories/Bech Stories by John Updike
I Sailed With Magellan by Stuart Dybek (2003)
Normal People Don’t Live Like This by Dylan Landis (2009)
Stones for Ibarra by Harriet Doerr (1984)
GROWING UP FEMALE
How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer (2003)
I Knew You’d Be Lovely by Alethea Black (2011)
Blueprints for Building Better Girls by Elissa Schappell (2011)
Death is Not an Option by Suzanne Rivecca (2010)
Living with Saints by Mary O’Connell (2001)
Nothing Right (and others) by Antonya Nelson (2009)
Irish Girls About Town (2002)
See also the fiction of Lorrie Moore, Alice Munro (especially the early collections), Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum, Danielle
Evans, and Danzy Senna. Kate Chopin’s stories often focus on gender issues.
AFRICAN-AMERICAN EXPERIENCE
Going to Meet the Man by James Baldwin (1965)
The Complete Stories by Zora Neale Hurston
Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans (2010)
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by Z. Z. Packer (2004)
Lost in the City (1992) and All Aunt Hagar’s Children (2006) by Edward P. Jones
You Are Not Free by Danzy Senna (biracial) (2011)
God’s Gym (& others) by John Edgar Wideman (2005)
RURAL/BLUE COLLAR
American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Campbell (2009)
The Outlaw Album by Daniel Woodrell (2011)
Volt by Alan Heathcock (2011)
Crimes in Southern Indiana by Frank Bill (2011)
Trash by Dorothy Allison (1988)
Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock (2008)
American Masculine by Shann Ray (2011)
Cowboys Are My Weakness by Pam Houston (1992)
Men in the Making by Bruce Machart (2011)
Refresh, Refresh by Benjamin Percy (2007)
Legend of a Suicide by David Vann (2008)
See also Raymond Carver, Wells Tower, Edward P. Jones, and Victoria Patterson for down-on-their-luck protagonists and
stories of the underclass; some stories of Denis Johnson, Rebecca Barry, Melanie Rae Thon and Sherman Alexie for
similar explorations of alcohol and drug addiction.
SENSE OF PLACE
Wyoming Stories: Close Range(1999), Bad Dirt(2004), Fine Just the Way It Is (2008) by Annie Proulx
The Collected Stories of Wallace Stegner (1990)
The Best Short Stories of William Kittredge (2003)
Hot Biscuits: Eighteen Stories by Women and Men of the Ranching West ed. by Max Evans & Candy Moulton (2002)
Living on the Edge: fiction by Peace Corps Writers edited by John Coyne (1999)
Best of the West 4: New Stories from the Wide Side of the Missouri ed. by James Thomas & Denise Thomas (1991)
American West: Twenty New Stories from the Western Writers of America edited by Loren Estleman (2001)
Mysterious West edited by Tony Hillerman (1994)
Bear Down, Bear North: Alaska Stories by Melinda Moustakis (2011)
Drift by Victoria Patterson (the dark side of Orange County, California) (2009)
Platte River (& others) by Rick Bass (1994)
Edward P. Jones captures inner-city Washington D.C., especially in Lost in the City. Stuart Dybek does the same for the
Polish Catholic neighborhoods of Chicago. New York features heavily in the stories of Deborah Eisenberg, and many of
her early stories feature visits to Latin American locales.
THE SOUTH
Complete Stories by Flannery O’Connor (1971)
The Ballad of the Sad Cafe and other stories by Carson McCullers (1951)
Long, Last, Happy: New and Selected Stories by Barry Hannah (2010)
Big Bad Love by Larry Brown (1990)
Selected Short Stories of William Faulkner (1950)
Collected Stories of Eudora Welty (1980)
INTERNATIONAL/IMMIGRANT
Love and Obstacles (2009) & The Question of Bruno (2000) by Aleksandar Hemon (Bosnia)
The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamonda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria, 2009)
Growing Up Ethnic in America edited by Maria Mazziotti Gillan (1999)
Say You’re One of Them by Uwem Akpan (various African countries, 2008)
A Good Fall (& others) by Ha Jin (China, 2009)
Gold Boy, Emerald Girl (2010) & A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (2005) by Yiyun Li (China)
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (& others) by Haruki Murakami (Japan, 2006)
The Laws of Evening by Mary Yukari Waters (Japan, 2003)
Interpreter of Maladies (1999) & Unaccustomed Earth (2008) by Jhumpa Lahiri (India)
In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin (Pakistan, 2009)
An Elegy for Easterly by Petina Gappah (Zimbabwe, 2009)
East of the West: A Country in Stories by Miroslav Penkov (Bulgaria, 2011)
Brief Encounters with Che Guevara by Ben Fountain (Westerners in Third World countries, 2006)
Life Times: Stories 1952-2007 by Nadine Gordimer (South Africa, 2010)
Selected Stories by William Trevor (Ireland, 2010)
Drown by Junot Diaz (Dominican Republic, 1996)
Saints and Sinners by Edna O’Brien (Ireland, 2011)
Last Evenings on Earth by Roberto Bolano (Chile, 2006)
Strange Pilgrims by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Colombia, 1993)
Vida by Patricia Engel (Colombia, 2010)
The Art of the Story: an International Collection of Short Stories edited by Mark Helpern (1999)
SLIGHTLY FANTASTIC
Willful Creatures (1998) & The Girl in the Flammable Skirt (1998) by Aimee Bender
The Wall of the Eye, The Wall of the Sky (1996) & Men and Cartoons (2004) by Jonathan Lethem
The View from the Seventh Layer(2008) & Things That Fall From the Sky (2002) by Kevin Brockmeier
Magic for Beginners (2005) & Stranger Things Happen (2001) by Kelly Link
The Bloody Chamber (1979) & others by Angela Carter
Sixty Stories (1981) by Donald Barthelme
Tunneling to the Center of the Earth by Kevin Wilson (2009)
A Better Angel by Chris Adrian (2008)
Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut (1968)
St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell (2006)
Unpossible by Daryl Gregory (2011)
We Others: New and Selected Stories by Steven Millhauser (2011)
The Complete Stories of J. G. Ballard (2009)
Pastoralia (2000), In Persuasion Nation (2006), Civilwarland in Bad Decline (1996) by George Saunders
Year’s Best Science Fiction series
Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror series
See also the Latin American magical realists (Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortazar, Gabriel Garcia Marquez) and Italo
Calvino.
VARIETY HOUR (fiction with a wide range of places, time periods, styles w/in same collections)
You Think That’s Bad (& others) by Jim Shepard (historical) (2011)
Memory Wall (2010) & The Shell Collector (2002) by Anthony Doerr
The Lemon Table (2004) & Pulse (2011) by Julian Barnes
Orientation by Daniel Orozco (2011)
This Is Not Your City by Caitlin Horrocks (2011)
Ghosts of Chicago by John McNally (2008)
Red Car: Stories by Sallie Bingham (2008)
STORIES WITH A SENSE OF HUMOR
In the Driver’s Seat (& others) by Helen Simpson (2007)
Ten Little Indians (& others) by Sherman Alexie (2003)
Birds of America (1998), Like Life (1990), & Self Help (1985) by Lorrie Moore
Living with Saints by Mary O’Connell (2001)
Do the Windows Open? (1997) & Happy Trails to You (2008) by Julie Hecht
Selected Stories by Ring Lardner (1957)
Other writers whose stories frequently contain elements of wit and humor: Anne Beattie, Deborah Eisenberg, Etgar Keret,
Louise Erdrich, Kurt Vonnegut, Kevin Wilson, Pam Houston, John McNally, Wells Tower, Elizabeth McCracken, Suzanne
Rivecca, Denis Johnson, Flannery O’Connor, Eudora Welty, Larry Brown, and Barry Hannah.
ANTHOLOGIES
Best American Short Stories/O Henry Prize Stories/Pushcart Prize Stories yearly collections
Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories edited by Tobias Wolff (1994)
Ecco Anthology of Contemporary American Fiction edited by Joyce Carol Oates (2008)
The Best American Short Stories of the Century edited by John Updike (1999)
The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction edited by Lex Milliford &Michael Martone (2007)
The New Granta Book of the American Short Story edited by Richard Ford (2007)
The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories edited by Ben Marcus (2004)
My Mistress’s Sparrow is Dead: Great Love Stories from Chekhov to Munro edited by Jeffrey Eugenides (2008)
Stories: All New Tales edited by Neil Gaiman (2010)
Children Playing Before A Statue of Hercules edited by David Sedaris (2005)
Pow Wow: Charting the Fault Lines in the American Experience--Short Fiction from Then to Now ed. by Ishmael
Reed (2009)
MINIMALISM
Where I’m Calling From (& others) by Raymond Carver (1988)
Our Story Begins by Tobias Wolff (2008)
New Yorker Stories (& others) by Anne Beattie (2010)
Black Tickets by Jayne Anne Phillips (1979)
Rock Springs (& others) by Richard Ford (1987)
Complete Stories of Ernest Hemingway (1987)
Collected Stories of Amy Hempel (2006)
Tell Me: 30 Stories by Mary Robison (2002)
Don’t Cry (& others) by Mary Gaitskill (2009)
MYSTERY, SUSPENSE, GHOSTS, & HORROR
We’re in Trouble by Christopher Coake (2005)
Coronado by Dennis Lehane (2006)
The Selected Stories of Patricia Highsmith (2001)
Count Magnus and Other Ghost Stories by M. R. James
Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe
Just After Sunset (and others) by Stephen King (2008)
Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie
The Sherlock Holmes Stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Lord Peter: The Complete Lord Peter Wimsey Stories by Dorothy Sayers (1972)
20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill (2007)
The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton
Tales by H. P. Lovecraft
Best American Noir of the Century edited by James Ellroy (2010)
Akashic Noir series (Brooklyn Noir, Los Angeles Noir, New Orleans Noir, etc)
McSweeney’s Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales edited by Michael Chabon (2003)
McSweeney’s Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories edited by Michael Chabon (2004)
Best American Mystery Series
ALL ABOUT STYLE (great writing)
A Model World (1991) & Werewolves in Their Youth (1999) by Michael Chabon
Where the God of Love Hangs Out (2009); Come to Me (1993); A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You (2000)
by Amy Bloom
Gryphon: New and Selected Stories by Charles Baxter (2011)
Memory Wall (2010) & The Shell Collector (2002) by Anthony Doerr
Coast of Chicago (1990) & I Sailed With Magellan (2003) by Stuart Dybek
The Collected Stories of Deborah Eisenberg (2010)
The Dead Fish Museum (2006) & The Point (1995) by Charles D’Ambrosio
Selected Stories (& others) by Andre Dubus (1988)
The Collected Stories of Richard Yates (2001)
Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower (2009)
In This Light: New and Selected Stories by Melanie Rae Thon (2011)
Here’s Your Hat, What’s Your Hurry by Elizabeth McCracken (1993)
The Red Convertible: Selected and New Stories by Louise Erdrich (2009)
Binocular Vision: New and Selected Stories by Edith Pearlman (2011)
Reasons For and Advantages of Breathing by Lydia Peelle (2009)
ANIMAL STORIES
The Greatest Dog Stories Ever Told edited by Patricia Sherwood (2004)
Animal Crackers by Hannah Tinti (2004)
Greatest Horse Stories Ever Told edited by Steven Price (2001)
Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary by David Sedaris (2010)
All Creatures Great and Small (& others) by James Herriot (1972)
SHORT NONFICTION
The White Album (1979), Slouching Toward Bethlehem (1968) & others by Joan Didion
Consider the Lobster (2005) & A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again (1998) by David Foster Wallace
Small Wonder (2002) & High Tide in Tucson (1995) by Barbara Kingsolver
Traveling Mercies (1999), Plan B (2005) & Grace Eventually (2007) by Anne Lamott
Partly Cloudy Patriot (2002) & Take the Cannoli (2000) by Sarah Vowell
Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader (1998) & At Large and at Small (2007) by Anne Fadiman
Maps and Legends (2008) Manhood for Amateurs (2009) by Michael Chabon
Bad Mother by Ayelet Waldman (2009)
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard (1974)
Up in the Old Hotel by Joseph Mitchell (1943-1965)
Songbook (2002),The Polysyllabic Spree (2004), Housekeeping vs. the Dirt (2006), & Shakespeare Wrote for
Money (2008) by Nick Hornby
How to Be Alone by Jonathan Franzen (2002)
The Braindead Megaphone by George Saunders (2007)
Changing My Mind by Zadie Smith (2009)
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin (1963)
Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs by Wallace Stegner (1992)
Terrains of the Heart by Willie Morris (1981)
I Feel Bad About My Neck and Other Thoughts on Being a Woman (2006) & I Remember Nothing ( 2010) by Nora
Ephron
Mama Makes Up Her Mind and Other Dangers of Southern Living by Bailey White (1994)
Something to Declare by Julia Alvarez (1998)
Loud and Clear (& others) by Anna Quindlen (2004)
American Stories (1994), Quite Enough of Calvin Trillin (2011) & others by Calvin Trillin
Andy Rooney: 60 Years of Wisdom and Wit by Andy Rooney (2009)
The Fiddler in the Subway by Gene Weingarten (2010)
The Woman at the Washington Zoo (2007) & Reputation: Portraits in Power (2009) by Marjorie Williams
One More Time: the Best of Mike Royko (1999) & For the Love of Mike: More of the Best of Mike Royko (2001) by
Mike Royko
Meditations from a Moveable Chair by Andre Dubus (1999)
ANTHOLOGIES
Best American Essays/Best American Magazine/Travel/Science and Nature/Spiritual/Sports Writing
The Best American Essays of the Century edited by Joyce Carol Oates (2000)
Touchstone Anthology of Contemporary Creative Nonfiction edited by Lex Williford and Michael Martone (2007)
The Art of the Personal Essay edited by Phillip Lopate (1994)
In Fact: The Best of Creative Nonfiction edited by Lee Gutkind (2005)
The New Kings of Nonfiction edited by Ira Glass (2007)
I Thought My Father Was God edited by Paul Auster (2001)
In Short: A Collection of Brief Creative Nonfiction edited by Judith Kitchen and Mary Paumier Jones (1996)
Listening is an Act of Love; A Celebration of American Life from the Storycorps Project edited by David Isay (2007)
New Yorker Collections: Fierce Pajamas & Disquiet Please (humor), Nothing But You (love stories), Secret
Ingredients (food)
AUDIO
Selected Shorts—short stories read and performed by professional actors, recorded in front of a live audience; listen live
on the radio, subscribe to the podcast, or CDs available for purchase (or borrowing from the library)
http://www.symphonyspace.org/shorts
New Yorker fiction podcast—monthly podcast featuring current New Yorker short story writers selecting, reading, and
discussing a story from another author from the New Yorker’s archives
http://www.newyorker.com/online/podcasts/fiction
The Moth—true stories told live http://themoth.org/
Storycorps-- StoryCorps is an independent nonprofit whose mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and
beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives.http://storycorps.org/listen/
This American Life http://www.thisamericanlife.org/
Others with a storytelling bent: Unfictional, Snap Judgment, Wiretap, APM: The Story, and Risk (R-rated).
PRIZES
PEN/Malamud Award—http://www.penfaulkner.org/pen_malamud_award.php
The Rea Award for the Short Story— (since 1986) awarded annually to a writer (American or Canadian) who has made a
significant contribution to the discipline of short stories as an art form http://www.reaaward.org/
Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award—(since 2005) an international award for the year’s best short story
collection; includes the current year’s shortlist and longlist; great source for discovering international short story
collections http://www.munsterlit.ie/
The Story Prize—(since 2004) awarded to an outstanding collection of short stories published in the United States;
includes detailed descriptions of finalists and other notable collections during the year, as well as a blog for short story
news http://www.thestoryprize.org/
WEB RESOURCES
The Guardian’s Brief Survey of the Short Story—profiles and reading guides for major short story writers
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/series/abriefsurveyoftheshortstory
The Short Review—reviews of short stories http://www.theshortreview.com/
Reading the Short Story—reviews and analysis of short stories by an English professor http://may-on-the-shortstory.blogspot.com/
The Story Prize blog—interviews with short story writers and short story news http://thestoryprize.blogspot.com/
The Quivering Pen—general book blog that frequently features short stories http://davidabramsbooks.blogspot.com/
The Short Story Reader—reviews short stories published online; blogroll of where to fine short stories online
http://shortstoryreader.blogspot.com/
Five Chapters—new short story each week, published in 5 parts http://www.fivechapters.com/
Narrative—online publisher of short stories http://www.narrativemagazine.com/
Fifty-Two Stories—new story published each week http://www.fiftytwostories.com/
Byliner**—online aggregator of longform journalism/short non-fiction; Byliner spotlights collect the best articles to read
on themed, timely subjects http://byliner.com/
Longform.org**—online aggregator of longform journalism/short non-fiction http://longform.org
Longreads**—online aggregator of longform journalism/short non-fiction; ability to search and filter by time it takes to
read http://longreads.com/
Instafiction**—highlights an individual story available online each day http://www.instafiction.org
Browser—online aggregator of longform journalism/short non-fiction http://thebrowser.com/
**can follow on Twitter or Facebook, subscribe by email, or visit the website
SHORT STORY & SHORT NON-FICTION MIXTAPE
“Builders” by Richard Yates (The Collected Stories of Richard Yates)
“Blowing Up On the Spot” by Kevin Wilson (Tunneling to the Center of the Earth
“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin (The Awakening and Stories)
“A Small, Good Thing” by Raymond Carver (Where I’m Calling From)
“What We Save” by Julie Orringer (How to Breathe Underwater)
“Pet Milk” by Stuart Dybek (The Coast of Chicago)
“Bullet in the Brain” by Tobias Wolff (Our Story Begins)
“A Single Awe” by Christopher Coake (We’re In Trouble)
“What You Pawn, I Shall Redeem” by Sherman Alexie (Ten Little Indians)
“The Noble Truths of Suffering” by Aleksandar Hemon (Love and Obstacles)
“It’s Bad Luck to Die” by Elizabeth McCracken (Here’s Your Hat, What’s Your Hurry)
“Some Other, Better Otto” by Deborah Eisenberg (Twilight of the Superheroes)
“Brokeback Mountain” by Annie Proulx (Close Range: Wyoming Stories)
“Orange Line Train to Ballston” by Edward P. Jones (Lost in the City)
“Silver Water” by Amy Bloom (Come to Me)
“In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried” by Amy Hempel (The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel)
“The Solutions to Brian’s Problem” by Bonnie Jo Campbell (American Salvage)
“After Gwen” by Dennis Lehane (Coronado)
“Accomplice” by Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum (Ms. Hempel Chronicles)
“Dance in America” by Lorrie Moore (Birds of America)
“The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien (The Things They Carried)
“Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin (Going to Meet the Man)
“Fuck With Kayla And You Die” by Louise Erdrich
“The Briefcase” by Rebecca Makkai (Best American Short Stories 2009)
“The Traveler” by Wallace Stegner (Collected Stories)
“Big Me” by Dan Chaon (Among the Missing)
“Surprised by Joy” by Charles Baxter (Gryphon)
“Differently” by Alice Munro (Selected Stories)
“Contributor’s Notes” by John McNally (Ghosts of Chicago)
“Horseman” by Richard Russo (Best American Short Stories 2007)
“Florianne” by Daniel Woodrell (The Outlaw Album)
“Memory Wall” by Anthony Doerr (Memory Wall)
“Leave” by Siobhan Fallon (You Know When the Men Are Gone)
“Good in a Crisis” by Alethea Black (I Knew You’d Be Lovely)
“In the Gulf of Aden, Past the Guardafui” by Caitlin Horrocks (This Is Not Your City)
“Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned” by Wells Tower (Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned)
“Makedonija” by Miroslav Penkov (East of the West: A Country in Stories)
“Pulse” by Julian Barnes (Pulse)
“Gold Boy, Emerald Girl” by Yiyun Li (Gold Boy, Emerald Girl)
“Refresh, Refresh” by Benjamin Percy (Refresh, Refresh)
“Stone Animals” by Kelly Link (Magic for Beginners)
“Binocular Vision” by Edith Pearlman (Binocular Vision)
“Sexy” by Jhumpa Lahiri (Interpreter of Maladies)
“Strike Anywhere” by Antonya Nelson (Some Fun)
“The Thing Around Your Neck” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
“Repeat After Me” by David Sedaris (NF, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim)
“Torch Song” by Charles Bowden (NF, Best American Essays 1999)
“The Nerd Voice” by Sarah Vowell (NF, Partly Cloudy Patriot)
“Consider the Lobster” by David Foster Wallace (NF, Consider the Lobster)
“Marrying Libraries” by Anne Fadiman (NF, Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader)
“Fatal Distraction” by Gene Weingarten (NF, The Fiddler in the Subway)
“Hit by Lightning: A Cancer Memoir” by Marjorie Williams (NF, A Woman at the Washington Zoo)