4.6/5 ( )

Really enjoyed these -- read them preparatory to reading Saunders' new book on Russian authors (into that now, & excellent as expected), and the practice does seem to have toned my brain a bit!

I'm a sucker for this series of anthologies, and I've read more by a number of authors I first learned about in the short story series. This one got off to a slow start for me. I very much liked the opening story by T.C. Boyle ("Are We Not Men?"), though I've been sort of meh about a lot of his stuff. Then I didn't much love anything in the collection until "Ugly" by Mary Gordon, which I liked a lot. Apparently authors in the last half of the alphabet really did the trick for me in 2016, as I dog-eared these stories after that early drought:

- "Ancient Rome" by Kyle McCarthy
- "Last Day on Earth" by Erick Puchner
- "Novostroika" by Maria Reva
- "Gender Studies" by Curtis Sittenfeld
- "Famous Actor" by Jess Walter

None of these made me think "I must go out right away and acquire all of this author's work" but I found these worthwhile or fun. Others in the collection ranged from "pretty good" to "meh" to "well 25 minutes sure did go by while I read that." ( )

I especially liked the stories by Danielle Evans, Mary Gordon, Lauren Groff, Sonya Larson, Maria Reva, Jim Shepard, Curtis Sittenfeld, and Jess Walter. Others were wel-written by didn't cover new ground (TC Boyle, Eric Puchner, Emma Cline). ( )

I have been reading this series since 1990. I receive it each Christmas from my wife and slowly pick my way through it until June or July. I always enjoy the diversity of topics and styles. Some of the authors are old friends from previous years, others are new. I like some of the stories better than others but seldom do I dislike one. A favorite from this year was the last story in the volume, Famous Actor by Jess Walter. A woman meets a famous actor at a party. They go to her home for a one-night stand and in her thoughts she reviews his films. Another was Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain, by Danielle Evans, about an on-again off-again wedding. A third was Hog for Sorrow by Leopoldine Core. Two young women with an uneasy friendship work in a massage parlor. Other than this volume I do not read many short stories. But if novels are coffee, short stories are espresso, short, intense and flavorful. ( )