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Title: The Best American Short Stories of the Century (The Best American Series) by John Updike ISBN: 0-618-09320-6 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Pub. Date: 09 October, 2000 Format: Audio CD Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $40.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.32 (34 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Great Stories
Comment: I believe that most writers or short story readers will agree that these are not the "best" stories of the 20th century. Such a collection would include better known masterpieces like Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," and Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find." Instead, this a collection of brilliant, but lesser known stories by accomplished writers.
I think Updike makes it clear that his goal was to assemble great stories from all decades, but not necessarily the best stories. I believe there was a pointed effort made, in assembling these stories, not to include the well-known American standards that most college educated people have read. The New York Times sums up the result : "Finding wonderful stories that you don't already know is one of this collection's greatest pleasures . . Updike has made some surprising, even striking selections."
Most of Updike's surprising selections are very enjoyable. My only disappointment was the 1999 story by Pam Houston. There are too many great writers these days to include this contemporary mediocrity. What about Rick Bass, Charles Baxter, Mark Richard? Just my opinion.
Overall, I recommend this book without reservation.
Rating: 5
Summary: Totally brilliant!
Comment: After the much disputed list of America's best one hundred novels of the past century, Updike's "list" is pretty much immaculate--he's got all the good ones in here including the hot contemporary writers like loorie moore, thom jones and tim o'brian. Updike's intro, the placement of the stories and the quality of the work leaves little doubt that this anthology is one of the best short story anthologies you can get your hands on, now or in the much distant future. Buy this book now! You won't regret it.
Rating: 4
Summary: Doesn¿t (can¿t) live up to the title, but very worthwhile
Comment: Solely due to the way this book was assembled, it cannot live up to its title. This book is not an assemblage of the best short stories from the entire body of 20th century American literature; rather, this book is an anthology of the best stories that happened to have appeared in the annual Best American Short Story volumes. So, to make it into this book, a story would have had to be recognized when it was written as being one of the best of that year, as chosen by a single editor/reader.
I enjoy reading short stories, and every year I purchase both the O. Henry Prize Stories and the Best American Short Stories. When I first did this, I was amazed at how little overlap there is between 20 stories chosen for each anthology (usually, there are only one or two stories in common, and typically the story chosen by O. Henry as the best of the year does not appear in the other anthology). So once again we have evidence that beauty (and art and subjective opinions such as "best") are in the eye of the beholder.
So, can John Updike's selections be debated? Undoubtedly; every reader of this anthology will be able to cite stories and authors that they believe should have been included (as for me, I was most disappointed by the absence of Ray Bradbury). But is this anthology worth reading? Absolutely!
Reading this anthology cover-to-cover is like traveling through time, and provides an enriching perspective on the history of the 20th century in America. From the hardscrabble existence of immigrants and farmers, to the Depression, to the problems of racism, to the war, to the ennui that exists in a time of relative plenty, these stories do cover the broad American experience of the past century. Furthermore (aside from Ray Bradbury), many of our best authors are represented, so this book is a good way to get introduced to authors that one has heard about but not read before.
It's surprising to me that short story anthologies aren't more popular, given our busy society. A well written short story entertains, conveys a message, teaches something about the human condition, and can be enjoyed in one sitting, such as a short plane or train ride. I would highly recommend this anthology as a way for short story novices to get started, and then one can graduate to the annual O. Henry and Best American Short Story anthologies.
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Title: The Best American Short Stories 2003 by Katrina Kenison, Walter Mosley ISBN: 0618197338 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: 10 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Best American Essays of the Century by Joyce Carol Oates, Robert Atwan ISBN: 0618155872 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: 10 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: The Best American Short Stories 2002 by Sue Miller, Katrina Kenison ISBN: 0618131736 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: 15 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: 75 Short Masterpeices by Roger Goodman ISBN: 0553251414 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 January, 1985 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
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Title: The O. Henry Prize Stories 2003 by LAURA FURMAN ISBN: 1400031311 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 09 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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