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Mar 16, 2009

Joseph rated it:

While I have read only 30% of the stories so far, I'd like to make a preliminary comment,while recognizing that such a way of judging a work of art is both dangerous and subject to change. However, since we are dealing with unrelated short stories ,the problem is not so severe.
To begin,all editor's are subject to their prejudices when selecting "the best" of anything. Rushdie admits as much in the introduction,which ,thankfully says a lot more than series editor,Heidi Pit More...

8 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 31, 2008

Karen rated it:

Despite two incredibly lame introductions from both editor Salman Rushdie and series editor Heidi Pitlor (exactly how many variations on "What is 'Best'?" "What is 'American'?" "What is 'Short'?" "What is 'The'?" will we have to read before they find some other solution for the opening pages?), this book was definitely one of the better ones in the series. Way to go Salman! It does seem strange, though, that among the thousands of stories that came out thi More...

1 comment like (9 people liked it)

Jan 28, 2009

Michael rated it:

What I like most about this collection is the variety. There are some insanely dark stories, and some happier stories, some rigidly realistic stories, and some fantastical stories. I think this shows the wide variety that good writing comes in and challenges the rigid genre boundaries that I hate, but that everyone seems compelled to impose on quality fiction. As far as I'm concerned, a good story is a good story and this year's anthology has plenty of those. Some notables include "The More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jan 21, 2009

Sarah Pi rated it:

There are only a handful of stories I enjoyed among those compiled here. My favorite was "The Worst You Ever Feel", by Rebecca Makkai, richly imagined and infused with music and history. Having just read Chabon's entreaty to put action back into fiction, which I fully support, I couldn't help but notice the preponderence of slice-of-life stories.
I put the book down, forgot about it, picked it up again. I went through the first lines of all of the stories, and the first paragrap More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 11, 2009

Chris rated it:

"What I learned from this book"... hmmm, that maybe there's a reason why the publishing industry is crashing along with every other industry - most modern short fiction (at least as represented here) is stylistically, linguistically, and thematically redundant. This could easily have been "The Best American Short Stories (fill in any year since 1987). I was much more impressed with the work in the "Best New American Voices." Good, well-crafted, well-written, polished st More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 06, 2012

Carl rated it:

This edition's guest editor was Salman Rushdie, who pared down the top 120 or so stories selected by Heidi Pitlor into just 20 stories. Unfortunately, that didn't make those 20 stories any better. Especially after a 2008 edition that had five or six truly amazing stories, with almost all the others impressing in one way or another, this one was pretty disappointing. There were several stories that definitely classified as “good”, but the majority of the collection was pretty head-scratch-inducin More...

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Jul 28, 2011

Allison added it

The best BASS collection in years, mainly due to the fact that Salman Rushdie is the editor. It's obvious that he chose these stories to form a book that culls from an incredible diversity of voices and styles, not merely stories that he "likes" or that are similar to his own work. Stephen King, last year's editor, could take a huge lesson from this. It certainly upped my enjoyment factor that some of my favorite writers are included this year: A.M. Homes, Alice Munro, Tobias Wolff, a More...

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Sep 17, 2010

Chantal rated it:

Since 1978, the best American short stories have been collected annually in a series plainly enough titled The Best American Short Stories. The Houghton Mifflin Company publishes it and Heidi Pitlor is the series editor. She does the heavy lifting, reading thousands of short stories published in such well-respected literary magazines as The New Yorker and in many more obscure publications, as well as the stories published by various university presses. It’s Pitlor’s job to whittle the colle More...

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Jun 15, 2009

Billie rated it:

The Best American Short Stories series is always worth reading as a digest of a year's good stories. However, some volumes are not nearly as good as others due to bad picks from the guest editor or the series editor, or just a bad year for published short stories in general. I don't know which was the cause for the quality of this volume, but few stories I would consider memorable, vivid, or enjoyable. Those that were really good, though, were Miroslav Penkov's "Buying Lenin;" Karen Ru More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 16, 2009

Darren rated it:

Eh..Most of these are instantly forgettable; creative/well researched but underwhelming. I don't think much is missed by skipping to The King of Sentences. The Wizard of West Orange is unique and one of the few that takes chances with voice but it requires endurance even for a short story. I think Vampires in the Lemon Grove and Nawabdin Electrician are by far the best in the collection - they are such different stories; Vampires because I think it succeeds with the quirky/humorous viewpoint More...

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Sep 29, 2009

Chad rated it:

As is the case with every volume of "Best American", this year's edition is filled with all quality writing. Not every story will appeal to every reader, nor did every story appeal to me, but I can't say anything in here just didn't work. Again, it's all quality writing.

That said, the stories from this series can usually be broken down into three categories, "Meh", "Decent", and "Great", and the 2008 edition is no different.

The Gr More...

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Aug 21, 2011

Kevin is currently reading it

REVIEW #1: I battled this morning's waking temptation to begin the day by watching an episode of Community (which ranks at a solid 9/10, tucked neatly behind the perfect 10/10 rated, Bo Derek of television comedies, Parks and Recreation) by reading a splendidly sad story in The Best American Short Stories 2008: Edited by Salman Rushdie, a little anthology I picked up for a single dollar's bill at the local used book shack. Karen Russell's story "Vampires in the Lemon Grove" can be foun More...

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Jul 06, 2009

Tani rated it:

I'm not generally a huge fan of short stories, and that held true for this collection as well. I won't say that they were bad stories, but too many of them were either depressing or slice of life, neither of which I really enjoy. It'd be really nice to read more short stories with characters who make the right choice, do the right thing, and change for the better. Reading about people screwing up their lives just makes me discontent.

Favorite stories:
1) "Buying Lenin" More...

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Nov 06, 2008

Anina rated it:

Read in bed while deliriously ill with bird flu or something. Pretty much 100 percent of the stories were depressing this year. I don't really like fall.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jan 23, 2009

Olivia rated it:

Is it a coincidence that the first handful of stories in this collection were my favorites? Or is this further evidence of my reaction to most short story collections - I read them earnestly and appreciatively at first, and then I sort of get bored with the format?

In any case, there were some amazing stories in here, a few duds, and some so-sos. The stories I was most impressed with, that stuck with me the most were:

Admiral - T.C. Boyle
The Year of Silence - Kevin Br More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 02, 2010

Meg rated it:

Salman Rushdie's editorial eye provides an impressive collection of stories for the 2008 edition of this long-running series, with many of the stories providing a welcome twist on the litfic mold. Katie Chase's "Man and Wife" contains a very interesting twist, Steven Millhauser's "The Wizard of West Orange" is a delightful look back to the awe of fin de siecle scientific discovery, and two absolutely exceptional stories (Kevin Brockmeier's "The Year of Silence" and More...

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Jul 16, 2009

Emily rated it:

Kevin Brockmeier's "The Year of Silence" is terrific -- a fantastically smart story that transcends what could be a gimmicky premise, and is as sincerely compelled by its imagined world as it is compelling. Check it out. Second runner-up would be "The Wizard of West Orange" by Steven Millhauser (in some ways, a literary kindred spirit to Brockmeier). Otherwise, this is a big yawn of a collection, ranging from the unobjectionable to the so-so to the ploddingly competent to More...

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Jun 23, 2010

Brandon rated it:

This was a pretty good set, but I liked the previous edition I read a bit better. No stories really stood out until the end. My favories this year:
The Year of Silence by Kevin Brockmeier was interesting about a few moments of silence and how that affected people.
The King of Sentences by Jonathan Lethem was weirdly entertaining about 2 young people obsessed with an obscure author.
Buying Lenin by Miroslav Penkov about a grandfather and grandson in post- More...

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Mar 09, 2009

Margaret rated it:

I really like this series. The different editors each year ensure that (across the series anyway) you don't get that sense that you're just rereading the same story over and over again. I have to admit that I accidentally left the book on an airplane, so I didn't read the last two stories. But, even if they were exceptionally good or exceptionally bad, my rating would probably still stand.

My one issue was with the story, "Missionaries". I'm OK with the fact that one e More...

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Jan 11, 2009

Michael rated it:

I read all 323 pages so you do not have to.

Here are, what I consider to be, the best of the Marginally Good American Short Stories:

Kevin Brockmeier "The Year of Silence" which originated in the lit. mag. Ecotone, whose Evolution contest resulted in the longest wait ever for a rejection letter. It is still a good magazine; I blame the guest judge.

Jonathan Lethem "The King of Sentences"

Steven Millhauser "The Wizard of West O More...

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Jan 05, 2010

Daniel rated it:

Kevin Brockmeier is always a treat--The Year Of Silence reminds me of the kind of dreamy supernatural short stories I wrote to get into Columbia.

Alice Munro's Child's Play is magnificent and devastatingly haunting. Eesh.

George Saunders's Puppy is perfect in its brevity, funny and unassuming.

But by far my outstanding favorite is Steven Millhauser's The Wizard of West Orange. An actual steampunk Edison/Tesla crazy invention lab story! In Best American! Written i More...

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Oct 25, 2009

Sarah rated it:

I guess my problem is that I'm not "literary" enough. But I like to think that I know a good story when I read one. And there were, probably 4 in this collection of 20. Maybe five. So I would have to go with 1/4th of the stories that I enjoyed. Or understood, maybe.

I've been taught maybe things about the art of crafting a short story, and because of that I've had the time to develop my own opinions based on the opinions and teachings of others. One thing that I believe must More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Apr 26, 2009

Nick rated it:

It's been my january ritual for the past several years to start the best short story anthology. ..this year it took 4 months of intermittent reading to complete. Salman Rushdie was the guest editor, and I must say, I liked his overall taste much more than last year's, Stephen King. There are rarely any "bad" stories in this long-running series, of course. The permanent editor reads thousands of submitted entries and transmits a fraction to the guest editor who makes the final choices, More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 10, 2009

Tiny Pants rated it:

Either I'm really procrastinating packing my stuff to move later this week, or this was the best Best American in a few years, because I read this in about three days flat. Yes, it was a bit heavy on the genocide, creepy and manipulative lovers, and cruelty to pets (I know, I'm going to hell for casually tossing off that as a list) but come on people, it's literary fiction, what do you expect. Depressing or not, this was a much stronger collection than 2006 or 2007, possibly the best of the '00s More...

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Jul 23, 2009

Harley rated it:

Jan 09: I keep all the editions of these when I buy them, and traveling would be too rough on this heavy paperback, so it waits for me at home.

July 20: One of the fun things about this series is that the guest editor flavors the final selections. There is a series editor who reads thousands of stories, and delivers at least 120 to the guest editor, who reads those and maybe others that he or she has found, and winnows it down to about twenty stories. I would say that a quarter of Rus More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 08, 2008

Sara rated it:

As typical with these sorts of collections, it's hit and miss. But luckily this year, more often there were hits and despite being a fan of lit mags, most of these were new to me which made for an exciting experience. Short stories are an unappreciated art, I think. When done well, they're about as close as literature can come to perfection. They require an author to do so much with minimal space and the best stories are those that get you right in the gut. Several this year did that for me. Bro More...

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Mar 09, 2009

Kevin rated it:

A short story compendium seems highly suitable given my daily reading diet of text messages, blog entries, and message board posts. Fortunately, these selected tales allow me to binge guilt free on carefully constructed narratives with themes ranging from the mundane (Alice Munro's "Closely Held") to the metaphysical realm ("The Year of Silence"). To be sure, this literary buffet is subject to your own tastes, and while I wasn't particularly compelled by "The Worst You More...

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May 11, 2009

Christine rated it:

Back to form. Standouts included "The Year of Silence," "Puppy" and "From the Desk of Daniel Varsky." Boyle is consistently good and I enjoy his short fiction more than his novel.

This year the forewords grabbed me with the interesting thoughts about what is "American" anymore. There are authors who have come from somewhere else to become American, or at least spend most of their time here. There are Americans now living other places. Are t

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Feb 09, 2010

Jon rated it:

The writing in this edition is good and all, but the stories don't seem varied enough for me to believe that this edition can be taken as a microcosm of American literature in the year 2008. Too many of the stories are about a guy and a girl gone astray in some form or another, and too many of them conclude with open-endings. The writing, as I said, is fine, but a frighteningly large number of the stories are not really that interesting.

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Sep 03, 2009

Thomas rated it:

This was an underwhelming year for BASS. Even the annual Alice Munro selection, normally so sublime, was subpar. "Child's Play" read like she'd written it on autopilot and the distant academic tone of the narrator, combined with a meandering chronology, left me cold. As in any given year there was also some standout stories in the collection.

I chose this book for my creative writing class. Stories I plan to teach from the selection include: Katie Chase's "Man and W More...

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