Best American Short Stories 2011

The Best American Short Stories 2011. Guest editor Geraldine Brooks and series editor Heidi Pitlor

I can't believe I only found out about this series a few years ago, I feel genuinely cheated. The Best American series has quickly become one of my favorite annual traditions one that I hope continues till I'm done walking this earth. Geraldine Brooks was a great guest editor choosing fantastic stories from those presented by Heidi Pitlor and writing a hilarious introduction. This years edition includes the following 20 stories;

CHIMAMANDA MGOZI ADICHIE. Ceiling
This story is about a successful married man in Latos who gets a letter from his college girlfriend who is clearly his one true love that got away.

MEGAN MAYHEW BERGMAN. Housewifely Arts
Fantastic story about a single mom who is trying to deal with the grief of losing her mom by driving cross country to a zoo where her mom's parrot is now in the hopes that she'll hear her mom's voice through the parrot. Sad & great.

TOM BISSELL. A Bridge Under Water
Funny & powerful story about a honeymooning couple and faith. The dude may or may not get kicked out of a temple in Rome for pitching a fit about wearing the hat.

JENNIFER EGAN. Out of Body
The first of many stories in this edition I've already read. I actually really enjoyed rereading all of them including this one as it's fantastic. This one was included in A Visit From the Goon Squad and involves one of the main character's college years. One of her friends had tried to commit suicide and the challenges that creates among their circle of friends.

NATHAN ENGLANDER. Free Fruit for Young Widows
He's a genius. This is a story about a fruit vendor, his son and a complex relationship with someone he knew from the war.

ALLEGRA GOODMAN. La Vita Nuova
Amazing story about a very complex woman going through some stuff. I know that sounds insanely vague but this one's a hard one to summarize without giving away too much.

EHUD HAVAZELET. Gurov in Manhattan
Powerful, really short story about a Russian cancer survivor and his dog in the winter in NY. Loved the dog.

CAITLIN HORROCKS. The Sleep
A small town hibernated the winters away. Going into winter, it sounds kind of awesome, curl up and sleep all cozy and warm until spring.

BRET ANTHONY JOHNSTON. Soldier of Fortune
Great story about a 14 year old boy with a crush on a girl who's family is dealing with a crisis when her baby brother is badly hurt in an accident.

CLAIRE KEEGAN. Foster
The story of a young girl who comes from a poor & not so good family sent to live with relatives on her mom's side who are amazing people dealing with the loss of a son.

SAM LIPSYTE. The Dungeon Master
Dungeons and Dragons kids are weird and messed up? That's odd.

REBECCA MAKKAI. Peter Torrelli, Falling Apart
Holy crap is Rebecca Makkai an amazing author. 4th year in a row she's in here and it's another standout story. This one's about an actor who's lost the ability to act. One of the things I most admire is that she is so versatile with each story I've read from her being completely different and yet all fantastic.

ELIZABETH MCCRACKEN. Property
Man loses wife, man moves to shit hole in Maine. Man makes shit hole home and woman who owns home upset man thinks place is shit hole as she is also dealing with loss. Lot's of loss in this issue and I'm missing telling that this is another good story.

STEVEN MILLHAUSER. Phantoms
This is another one I've read before and he's another one of my favorite authors. So creative and awesome. This one's about a small town that has regular ghost sightings.

RICARDO NUILA. Dog Bites
Read it. Reread it here and it was ok, not my favorite despite being from McSweeney's. Kid's messed up, dad's mess up. Kid does some messing up at a party and dad gets concussed.

JOYCE CAROL OATES. ID
Christ on Toast was this one great. This tackled a bunch of issues centering around a 13 year old girl and her single mom. I don't want to give away the plot of the story but this was one of my absolute favorites of the issue.

RICHARD POWERS. To the Measures Fall
This story is a story for authors. It's about a book. Seriously. A physical book. Book is found, book might be autographed by someone famous, sometimes book gets good reviews, sometimes bad, main character tells friends book is awesome, friends disagree.

JESS ROW. The Call of Blood
I liked this one about a private male nurse taking care of an elderly Korean woman who has Alzheimer. Sad & great social commentary about race issues in NY/America. Left me thinking after I finished the story.

GEORGE SAUNDERS. Escape from Spiderhead
I'd read this early last year when I had a subscription to the New Yorker on my Kindle. It's a strange story about human experimentation on inmates through chemicals. I loved it.

MARK SLOUKA. The Hare's Mask
I liked this one but it wasn't my favorite in the issue. It's about a family told from the son's point of view telling the story about how his dad's family hid a jew in the rabbit pen when he was a young boy.