یک سرباز ساده ملکه: مجموعه داستان برگزیدگان جایزه اُ. هنری ۲۰۰۹

by Laura Furman, شیما الهی (Translator)

نود سال از جایزه اُ. هنری می­گذرد. جایزه­ای که در آن بنیاد اُ. هنری و بعدها به همراهی انجمن پن در ایالات متحده برترین داستان منتشر شده به زبان انگلیسی در ایالات متحده و در مجلات ادبی را انتخاب و پس از اهدای هدایایی به داستان برگزیده، مجموعه­ای از آنها را در هر سال در قالب یک کتاب منتشر می­کند. گرچه این پروسه در ادبیات آمریکا و در میان نویسندگان آن امری شناخته شده و به اصطلاح ایرانی؛ جا افتاده است اما برای ادیبانی غیر انگلیسی زبان از جمله برای پیگیران ادبیات در ایران این جایزه و آنچه در آن رخ می­دهد همواره تؤام با تازگی­های فراوانی از منظر تکنیک و کشف دنیاهای تازه­ای از معنا در داستان­نویسی است.

مجموعه داستان «یک سرباز ساده ملکه» مجموعه­ای از داستان­های برگزیده جایزه اُ. هنری در سال ۲۰۰۹ است که با ترجمه شیما الهی منتشر شده است. در این مجموعه ۱۷ داستان برگزیده در این جایزه به همراه مقدمه لائرا فرمن سردبیر انتشار این مجموعه درج شده است.

داستان­های این مجموعه را می­توان بازتابی از موقعیت اندیشه و تفکر اجتماعی جغرافیای تألیف آن دانست و به همین دلیل است که می­توان گفت بحران انسانیت و کشف تازه­ای از روابط انسانی و تعریف دقیق از ساختار خانواده در مقیاس جامعه انگلیسی زبان به طور عمده ساکن ایالات متحده است که محور اصلی این کتاب را شکل می­دهد که با کمی تامل می­توان آن را مسئله روز اجتماعی در تمامی جوامع مدرن نیز به شمار آورد.

مسئله جنگ به عنوان یکی از مهمترین رویدادهای دست ساخته بشر که انسان در قرن­های گذشته همواره در زیست بوم خود با آن مواجه بوده و شخصیتی که این پدیده از انسان می­سازد یکی از موضوعات محوری این مجموعه به شمار می­رود که به نوعی در بستر آن سعی شده رابطه طبیعی میان انسان و جهان طبیعی و جهان مصنوعی ساخته شده به دست وی نیز در بستر آن معنا می­شود.

در کنار این مسئله بخشی از داستان­های این مجموعه روایت­های بی­پروایی از چگونگی تلاش انسان برای حرکت از موقعیت اجتماعی به سمت موقعیت اجتماعی دیگری را نشان می­دهد. چگونگی تلاش دختری برای نجات از افکار مالیخولیایی مادرش، و یا تفسیر معنای عشق در رابطه میان یک کودک و والدینش و نیز واژه­های محاوره­ای که در ادبیات عموم از آن به عنوان بدبختی و یا شوربختی و ناامیدی یاد می­کنیم نیز بخش دیگری از موضوعات محوری داستان­های این مجموعه است.

اما شاید یکی از مهمترین و قابل اعتنا­ترین موضوعات محوری قابل توجه در این مجموعه را بتوان تلاش برای بیان این واقعیت عنوان کرد که چطور می­توان به واسطه داستان زندگی را شناخت. به عبارت ساده­تر تلاش برای زندگی با داستان و چیستی و چگونگی آن در ساختار زیستی مدرن امروزی یکی از شاهکارهایی است که در قالب یک ایده در خلال روایت­های داستانی این مجموعه به مخاطبان ارائه می­شود.

در کنار این مسئله داستان­های این مجموعه را می­توان یک داستان واحد در هفده بخش یا هفده داستان به هم پیوسته در یک مجموعه دانست که به مخاطب این امکان را همواره می­دهد که بخش از آنها که بیش از پیش برای او محل تامل و تفکر اوست انتخاب و ارائه کند. به عبارت دیگر داستان­های این مجموعه را می­توان موجودات زنده­ای به شمار آورد که نوع برخورد با خودشان را به مخاطبانشان نشان می­دهند.

در ترجمه اثر هم که توسط شیما الهی انجام شده، سعی شده روان­ترین زبان برای بازنمایی حال درونی و کیفیت نخواندنی متون ارائه شود. به این معنا که مترجم، بدون آن که دیده شود، واسطه­ای زیبا و دلنشین برای انتقال حس و حال صاحب اثر به مخاطب زبان دیگر شده است.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Adult Fiction

456 pages, Paperback

First published May 5, 2009

About the author

Laura J. Furman (born 1945) is an American author best known for her role as series editor for the O. Henry Awards prize story collection. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Mirabella, Ploughshares, Southwest Review.

She has written three collections of stories (The Glass House, Watch Time Fly, and Drinking with the Cook), two novels (The Shadow Line and Tuxedo Park), and a memoir (Ordinary Paradise).

She founded American Short Fiction, which was a three-time finalist for the National Magazine Award. She is currently Professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in writing. Most recently, she has announced that she has submitted a collection of short stories to her agent, and the subsequent collection will be her first new work to follow the release of 2001's Drinking with the Cook.

Reviews

[Adele · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many of this year's crop of stories are incredibly well-done and worthy of their place in this book. I wasn't in love with the prize-prize story (one that two of the three editors, AS Byatt and Tim O'Brien chose as their favorite) Graham Joyce's An Ordinary Soldier of the Queen. I mean, of course O'Brien picked it because it's about a British soldier who's suffered in the war in Iraq, and is possibly crazy and delusional (or no, wait! maybe he's really the only sane person left!) The story felt very done-before, by O'Brien and others, and it bothers me that Joyce himself hasn't actually been to war-- a distinction between him and O'Brien, which lends the latter credibility. Or maybe I just don't like war stories. I don't think I do. Often times I get bored, or, as in the case with Joyce's story, it's just a little hard to take from someone who hasn't experienced war firsthand. If you haven't actually experienced something, to some degree, it's just derivative.

My favorite stories were Icebergs (Alistair Morgan) This is Not Your City (Caitlin Horrocks) Twenty-Two Stories (Paul Theroux) Darkness (Andrew Sean Greer) and Wildwood (Junot Diaz). These stories share compelling narrative, are beautifully told, and all made me feel like I was reading something new, unlike something I'd heard before. Short story reading should be effortless-- it's not like tackling a gargantuan novel that starts off slow but gets better, and there's payoff for the dull bits. When I read a short story, I want to be taken by the first sentence, not notice how long it takes me to read, and be satisfied yet a little sad when it's over. The five stories mentioned meet this criteria in vastly different ways, and are the best in the book.

[Daniel Clausen · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is no better way to learn about the craft of short story writing than to read some great ones. Great efforts all around. The standouts were "Nursery" "The Bell Ringer" "Icebergs" "Darkness" and "Wildwood."

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good edition of "O. Henry", with plenty of good/great stories. The first story 'An Ordinary Soldier of the Queen' -- the most lauded by the guest editors -- wasn't the best in here in my opinion. Some common themes of this edition include mother/daughter relationships, motherhood, daughter/mother/grandmother relationships, mother/son relationships, and more.

What follows is a blurb about each story, which equals spoilers for those who like to be surprised, with my favourites preceded by an * (asterisk).

... ... ...

1) 'An Ordinary Soldier of the Queen' -- Graham Joyce
- An English soldier recounts a memorable and perhaps supernatural experience during the 1991 Iraq War. Mental health, trauma, anti-war.

*2) 'The Nursery' -- Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum
- A mother reflects on her son, David, and working in the family plant business. David, a wrestler, accidentally kills another boy, works with a man similar to his father (rough and manly) at the nursery, leaves. Mother/son relationship.

*3) 'Purple Bamboo Park' -- E.V. Slate
- Slow start, surprise ending. A Chinese Nanny works for a crappy wife and a decent husband, looking after their bratty kid. An interesting look at late 2000s China.

*4) 'The Bell Ringer' -- John Burnside
- A woman, and women in Scotland trapped in a boring town in loveless marriages. The narrator vaguely considers an affair after learning her husband's sister is having one, only to discovers the sister is with the young man she could entertain cheating with. Nothing happens though.Quiet desperation is the... Scottish way? Nice story, though a bit slow and empty.

*5) 'Uncle Musto Takes a Mistress' -- Mohan Sikka
- A North-Indian drama. The narrator's newly-wealthy uncle has a young, Christian mistress while his wife is still alive (and sick). This brings shame to the narrator's domineering grandmother. Fun, dramatic. Pride, honour, ostracization, community justice.

*6) 'Kind' -- L.E. Miller
- The narrator, Ann (77), runs into a former neighbour's daughter by random chance. A flood of memories about the fascinating, eccentric, and kind neighbours she had in her early 20s come back to her and the reader. Interesting characters, immigration, poverty, art, marrying a starving artist, the power and prison of kindness...

*7) 'Icebergs' -- Alistair Morgan
- A retired ad agency owner lives on the coast of Cape Town, S.A., with memories of his recently-deceased wife. An interesting new African neighbour appears. "Icebergs" a reference to the end of the Titanic, which the narrator's house was described as similar to by his brother. His neighbour/their relationship or the initial trouble that appears are kind of icebergs leading to the narrator's artist daughter being seduced by the neighbour and her running away on foolish love.

8) 'The Camera and the Cobra' -- Roger Nash
- A doctor helping folks in rural Egypt talks about sand a lot. Not the best writing, but short and different.

9) 'Tell Him About Brother John' -- Manuel Munoz
- A 26 year old comes home to his house in the US, and his small Mexican community full of relatives and 'Brother John' -- an orphan of sorts. LGBTQ. Small town gossip. Words left unsaid.

10) 'This is Not Your City' -- Caitlin Horrocks
- A Russian mail order bride and her teenage daughter live in Finland. Her daughter disappears with a local boy, and there is a tragedy. Concludes with: no regrets.

11) 'The House Behind a Weeping Cherry' -- Ha Jin
- A Chinese man in Canada (?) lives in a house with three, mostly Chinese prostitutes. He falls in love with one. Surprisingly-boring.

12) 'Twenty-Two Stories' -- Paul Therroux
- 22 OK micro stories presented as a short story.

*13) 'The Order of Things' -- Judy Troy
- A Pastor has an affair in a small town, with basically his soulmate. A passionate, consuming love. She dies, randomly, and it's back to his unhappy old life with nobody knowing what happened but him. But he learns to love... Love, sex, scandal, tragedy.

*14) 'A Beneficiary' -- Nadine Gordimer
- Good, though odd writing style. A woman's actress mother dies, and she accidentally learns her Neurologist father may not be her biological dad. Instead, it might be a famous stage actor.

*15) 'Substitutes' -- Viet Dinh
- A student from a family too poor to flee war is taught by various substitute teachers who disappear, one after another. Takes place in South Vietnam after the fall of Saigon, in a small village.
Pretty cool, and scary.

*16) 'Isabel's Daughter' -- Karen Brown
- An 80s heavy metal band tour guy remembers Isabel, a stripper who showed up at his place one day, and her daughter. Mostly about unspoken love for tragic, tragic Isabel.

**17) 'The Visitor' -- Maria Silver
- A 22 year old daughter of a dead drug addict mother, mostly raised by her grandmother. She works as a nurse's aid, is kind of cold and messed up, and becomes intrigued by her latest patient -- a mean-seeming Mexican casualty of an unnamed war. She watched her mother deteriorate as a child and now watches her grandmother suffer. Trauma, injures obvious and invisible, pain, 'ghosts'. Heartbreaking.

It was sad. Of course it was sad. But she didn't feel sad. Sad was what people said they were in the face of tragedies as serious as suicide bombings or as minor as a lost earring. It was a word that people used to tidy up and put the problem out of sight.

-296

...but their gazes were like those of old dogs: hope combined with the absence of hope.

-299

18) 'And We Will be Here' -- Paul Yoon
- A Japanese (?) orphan woman looks after patients in a war hospital (again...?) in South Korea, during the Korean War. She is half-asleep, or drugged, or something... Patients, and her, are lost and confused, tired. Unreliable narrator, victim of multiple traumas. A bit dull.

19) 'Darkness' -- Andrew Sean Greer
- Something has blotted out the sun. What will a Lesbian couple of professorial soulmates do? Alternative writing style (Q/A), nice similes. LGBTQ.

*20) 'Wildwood' -- Junot Diaz
- A Dominican daughter is dominated by her intense and domineering mother. She runs away with a boy to Wildwood, New Jersey, hates that, and ends up being sent to the Dominican Republic. Coming of age, mother/daughter relationships, immigrant experience. Teen-appropriate despite some sex.

[David]

i'm not crazy about this years edition. it seems like in the selection process of this year's award winners preference was given to stories that deal with timely political issues. not that this is necessarily a bad thing, but political story after political story kills the variety that i look for in story collections and gets a little dull. reading this begins to feel like being beaten in the head by some leftist moral authority. maybe next year keith olbermann and rachel maddow can edit the volume... probably wouldn't turn out much different than this years edition.

[Starry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love short story collections that draw from many authors: they showcase innovative ways to shake up the story form, and each story is deliciously different from the one before it. This collection included some memorable pieces but also had several that didn't seem worthy of a writing prize. I especially liked Paul Theroux's "Twenty-two Stories", Graham Joyce's "An Ordinary Soldier of the Queen", and Junot Díaz's "Wildwood".

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Junot Diaz story was excellent, as expected. The rest were a mixed bag, but all were well-constructed with unique point of view.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy reading short stories to indulge in more of the work by authors I like as well as to discover my next favorite writer. That being said, this year’s collection left me a little lukewarm. I thought about abandoning it, but didn’t think that seemed fair. (Kind of like when you’re in school and you have to do a group project, and there are a few kids who pull their weight and have great stuff to offer and others … well, not so much. The whole group shouldn’t be judged on a few, and that’s how I feel about this.)

It’s a very multicultural collection. The 20 stories contained within are literally all over the map – from Egypt, to Cape Town, to war zones (there are several stories about war), to Washington State. I will confess to not having a dearth of multi-cultural reading in my repertoire, something I am not necessarily proud of and which I am trying to remedy by trying to broaden my literary horizons. (Another reason why I didn’t want to abandon the book.) So, it is possible that my personal unfamiliarity with reading about certain places or cultures, or both, might have come into play regarding my appreciation of the stories, and I admit that.

That being said, I did like several of the stories, especially:

“The Nursery” by Kristen Sundberg Lunstrom
“Tell Him About Brother John” by Manual Munoz
“This is Not Your City” by Caitlin Horrocks

(maybe I should have just read the stories beginning with the letter T?)

“The House Behind a Weeping Cherry” by Ha Jin
“Twenty-Two Stories” by Paul Theroux

(damn, that “t” thing is really kind of weird, now that I look at the titles!)

My favorite line among all the lines in these stories comes from Andrew Sean Greer’s story, “Darkness”:

“Astounding how life is, how it will shift ever so slightly and reveal something in the fold of its garment that you hadn’t noticed before, something there all along, how it will turn just like a person turns and show you a face you once had memorized amid the chatter of a tedious party, memorized as if for a test, and here it comes, years after you expected it: the test.”

A nice bonus to this collection, as with others in this series, is the author commentaries at the end. They explain the origins of the stories and the inspiration behind them, which is always fun to read (at least, it is to me), and there’s usually a little biographical info on the authors. (For example, “Tell Him About Brother John” started from a comment that a homeless man said to Mr. Munoz, proving that writing inspiration can be found anywhere and from anybody. And, thanks to the back section I learned that one of the authors lives within 45 minutes of my house!) There are also lists of the author’s previous work and where his or her stories have been published.

With a few exceptions, many of the authors included in The Pen/O. Henry Prize Stories 2009 were new to me. Graham Joyce, Kristen Sundberg Lundstrom, E.V. Slate, John Burnside, Mohan Sikka, L.E. Miller, Alistair Morgan, Roger Nash, Manual Munoz, Caitlin Horrocks, Ha Jin, Paul Theroux, Judy Troy, Nadine Gordimer, Viet Dinh, Karen Brown, Marisa Silver, Paul Yoon, Andrew Sean Greer, and Junot Diaz all have stories in this collection.

If you’re not into short stories or the works of the authors above, this may not be the collection for you. (I wouldn’t recommend it for someone new to the genre or who wants to read more short stories.) But, if you enjoy the work of any of the authors above, then it is worth picking up a copy of this (borrow it from the library) to read their work.

Who knows, maybe there will even be a new favorite discovered in the process.

[Bahman Bahman · Rating 2 out of 5]

داستان های این مجموعه را می توان بازتابی از موقعیت اندیشه و تفکر اجتماعی جغرافیای تألیف آن دانست و به همین دلیل است که می توان گفت بحران انسانیت و کشف تازه ای از روابط انسانی و تعریف دقیق از ساختار خانواده در مقیاس جامعه انگلیسی زبان به طور عمده ساکن ایالات متحده است که محور اصلی این کتاب را شکل می دهد که با کمی تامل می توان آن را مسئله روز اجتماعی در تمامی جوامع مدرن نیز به شمار آورد.
مسئله جنگ به عنوان یکی از مهمترین رویدادهای دست ساخته بشر که انسان در قرن های گذشته همواره در زیست بوم خود با آن مواجه بوده و شخصیتی که این پدیده از انسان می سازد یکی از موضوعات محوری این مجموعه به شمار می رود که به نوعی در بستر آن سعی شده رابطه طبیعی میان انسان و جهان طبیعی و جهان مصنوعی ساخته شده به دست وی نیز در بستر آن معنا می شود.
در کنار این مسئله بخشی از داستان های این مجموعه روایت های بی پروایی از چگونگی تلاش انسان برای حرکت از موقعیت اجتماعی به سمت موقعیت اجتماعی دیگری را نشان می دهد. چگونگی تلاش دختری برای نجات از افکار مالیخولیایی مادرش، و یا تفسیر معنای عشق در رابطه میان یک کودک و والدینش و نیز واژه های محاوره ای که در ادبیات عموم از آن به عنوان بدبختی و یا شوربختی و ناامیدی یاد می کنیم نیز بخش دیگری از موضوعات محوری داستان های این مجموعه است.

[Mr.Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Graham Joyce, “An Ordinary Soldier of the Queen” - 9/10
Kristen Sundberg Lunstrum, “The Nursery” - 8/10
E. V. Slate, “Purple Bamboo Park” n/a
John Burnside, “The Bell Ringer” 10/10
Mohan Sikka, “Uncle Musto Takes a Mistress” 8/10
L. E. Miller, “Kind” 8/10
Alistair Morgan, “Icebergs” 10/10
Roger Nash, “The Camera and the Cobra” 5/10
Manuel Muñoz, “Tell Him about Brother John” 6/10
Caitlin Horrocks, “This Is Not Your City” 6/10
Ha Jin, “The House Behind a Weeping Cherry” 8/10
Paul Theroux, “Twenty-Two Stories” 6/10
Judy Troy, “The Order of Things” 8/10
Nadine Gordimer, “A Beneficiary” n/a
Viet Dinh, “Substitutes” n/a
Karen Brown, “Isabel’s Daughter” 8/10
Marisa Silver, “The Visitor” 8/10
Paul Yoon, “And We Will Be Here” n/a
Andrew Sean Greer, “Darkness” n/a
Junot Díaz, “Wildwood” n/a

[Steven Decknick · Rating 1 out of 5]

*DNF* Painfully disappointing.

The first story “An Ordinary Soldier of the Queen” is an uninteresting tale strung together with F-bombs… I could only get a few pages in before deciding to abandon it.

The second, “The Nursery,” appears very unfair to the main character. The Mom and nursery owner is portrayed as if she were smothering and harsh. Although she lacks the ability to show her love for her son in encouragement and praise, she certainly tries to do what she feels is best for him in actions. The end of The Nursery falls flat with unresolved relationship issues.

After these two opening short stories—which should’ve been the best of the collection—I’m ready to call this book an unfortunate waste of ink and paper. Not recommended.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved “The Order of Things”, not a fan of Slate’s “Purple Bamboo Park” - her expat eyes miss a lot of Beijing.

[Tiny Pants · Rating 2 out of 5]

I keep not reviewing books in a timely manner, so I'm not 100% sure on the exact date I finished this one. But after a decent streak of really enjoying annual short story anthologies once again, this O.Henry was kind of a dud. A lot that was familiar from other places, and nothing that I was really excited to re-read (though I did, being a habitual completer of tasks... er, non-dissertative tasks, that is).

Probably "Isabel's Daughter" (Karen Brown) was my favorite, because I always like that sort of creepy, dismal Americana. "This is Not Your City" has that flavor as well, though in a different way. I also liked Paul Theroux's "Twenty-two Stories," though it felt less like what it claimed to be than like a bunch of ideas for short stories that never got written (like when you hand in a piece about your own procrastination/writer's block in a creative writing class).

Mostly though I just wasn't feeling this one. Too many I'd read before ("Wildwood", "Darkness", "The House Behind a Weeping Cherry", "The Bell Ringer"), and too many others I more or less hated the protagonist or simply found the damned thing too depressing ("Purple Bamboo Park", "The Camera and the Cobra", e.g.). I don't know.

[Karima · Rating 3 out of 5]

The award was first presented in 1918 and funded by the Society of Arts and Sciences.[1][2] As of 2012, the series editor chooses twenty short stories, each one an O. Henry Prize story. All stories originally written in the English language and published in an American or Canadian periodical are eligible for consideration. Three jurors are appointed annually. The jurors receive the twenty prize stories in manuscript form, with no identification of author or publication. Each juror, acting independently, chooses a short story of special interest and merit, and comments on that story.

The goal of the annual publication of The O. Henry Prize Stories is to strengthen the art of the short story. 20 stories are picked by three jurors fro a variety of periodicals. All stories are either from the States or Canada. I got this collection because one of the jurors was Anthony Doerr I was a bit miffed by some of the selections and couldn't help but wonder what the criteria was that won them inclusion.
Most we not memorable, even though (possibly) well-written. A few that I WILL remember are :
~"This is Not Your City" by Caitlin Horrocks
~"And We Will Be Here" by Paul Yoon
~"Wildwood" by Junot Diaz

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad edition of the annual collection, but this is not one of the O. Henry Prize's best efforts. Several of the stories are very fine -- the standouts are "An Ordinary Soldier of the Queen" by Graham Joyce; "Icebergs" by Alistair Morgan; "Tell Him about Brother John" by Manual Munoz; and "Twenty-Two Stories" by Paul Theroux. But many of them left me either cold, shrugging my shoulders, or skipping them after reading the first third or so. Really, none of the stories submitted to the jury was any better than "The House Behind a Weeping Cherry," Ha Jin's middling effort here? I find that hard to believe. And don't even get me started on "The Bell Ringer" by John Burnside, a prolix, static affair that was slightly less interesting than a reading of the P-Q section of the Queens phone book. (I know, because I actually read the P-Q section of the Queens phone book right after I finished the Burnside story, just to perk me up a bit, and it worked like a charm.)

Anyhow, not a waste of time, but nothing that shouldn't be missed, either.

[Thiszine · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Pen/O.Henry Prize Stories are twenty short stories from literary magazines as well established as The New Yorker to the lesser-known Grain and Five Points. It's always risky to pick up a collection of short stories by various authors because, unlike collections by a single author, the quality across the collection isn't guaranteed. Different writers, different styles, different ways of telling a story can mean a wildly varied hodgepodge similar to those Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Jellybeans: one handful tastes like delicious cotton candy, popcorn at first and then you realize you're also eating the unappetizing snot and dirt beans too. Fear not: from Junot Diaz's lingering "Wildwood," about a daughter coming to terms with herself and her mother; to Andrew Sean Greer's "Darkness," about what is burned, and therefore lost, in a postapocalyptic world; to Marisa Silver's "The Visitor," about a young woman and her grandmother working to repair failed relationships, these stories are undeniably terrific from start to finish.
--review by Lacey Dunham

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Furman has chosen stories that take place in such exotic locales as Africa, Asia, Europe, Scandinavia, and various borderlands. But an exotic setting is no excuse for the fact that in some of these stories nothing really happens. Thank goodness for those with physical action, such as the selections from Ha Jin, Andrew Sean Greer, and Caitlin Horrocks (who just happens to be a friend...hooray, Caitlin!).

As for the jury selections; while I appreciated the haunting, Shakespearean pacing of Graham Joyce's piece, chosen by both A.S. Byatt and Tim O'Brien, I was viscerally joy-enfused by by Anthony Doerr's pick, which featured a truly unique and energetic voice written to perfection by Junot Diaz.

[Harley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh goody! Another annual series. Yesterday I went to Henderson's Books and bought two more volumes, 2006 and 1997.

It's interesting that these selections don't seem to overlap with the Best American Short Stories selections. So far in checking the table of contents of the three volumes I have, I've only run across one.

The most interesting story here is the Paul Theroux "Twenty-two Stories" because that's what it is. It's like a collection of microfiction, all the stories suggesting much more. It has me thinking about a "story" of my own that I might work on putting together.

I also enjoyed "Icebergs," a story placed in South Africa, and there's coincidentally a Nadine Gordimer story. "Darkness" is nicely odd, and "An Ordinary Soldier of the Queen" is decidedly so.

[Wesley]

This book is a compendium of short stories from various author whose genres range from comedy to drama.
I really enjoyed this book because of the fact that it allowed for wiggle room for the reader. By this I mean that if I did not like a certain story in the book, I could just find another one that suited my interests. Furthermore, I found most of the stories really easy to get into because of the fact that they were short enough to keep your attention and the plots were complex in their brevity.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys short stories or who finds it hard to get into a novel due to its length.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me, this was a pretty blah installment in a series I usually really enjoy. This one seemed to take out most of what I usually like, stories that are outside the mainstream because they are in some way formally inventive, and instead put in stories that are unusual because they aren't set in the US.

I recognize, as far as that goes, that writing things set in other countries, is commercially risky, and of course I think that's important work. But otherwise, many of the stories were disappointingly traditional in structure and style. Oh well.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading over lunch - hmm, a little worried about the low rating. Especially since I really liked the first story - several other people who gave it a low reading liked that story too.

Yeah, it was really not a good installment. Quite bored by most of the stories, a few standout exceptions.. 'An Ordinary Soldier of the Queen' was quite good. I didn't finish the collection after 3 duds in a row.

[Candace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Especially enjoyed the stories by Lunstrum ("The Nursery") and Morgan ("Icebergs"), which share the themes of isolation, geographical and emotional. I couldn't finish a few of the stories that got rave reviews from others, such as Theroux's "Twenty-two stories." That could mean that this collection appeals to a range of readers, those who identify with character, plot, or setting, etc., or that the selection is spotty this time.

[Rabbitoh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection contains stories of twin'd creative and philosophical force: "An Ordinary Soldier of the Queen," "Uncle Musto Takes a Mistress" and "Twenty-two Stories." Of course there are duds: "A Beneficiary," and "Tell Him About Brother John."

The most surprising -- or, the story I had to read twice for feeling lost -- is "This Is Not Your City." Whether a feeling of reader alienation is intentional, I don't know.

[Laura]

I loved "The Bell Ringer" by John Burnside - for the language, and for the bells.

Others I particularly enjoyed:

The camera and the cobra by Roger Nash
Darkness by Andrew Sean Greer
An ordinary soldier of the queen by Graham Joyce
Twenty-two stories by Paul Theroux

[Coral Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean read much more loosely when referring to a book of varied short stories like this one. I read most of them, skimmed all of them, and only skipped ones having to do with war. Which I don't read about if I can help it right now.

[rory · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of these I really liked, some I despised, and many I hope to learn from. My favorites, in order of favoritism:
An Ordinary Soldier of the Queen, by Graham Joyce
Wildwood, by Junot Diaz
Purple Bamboo Park, by E.V. Slate

[Leigh Ann]

Although I'm not finished with this book, I love the short stories. Each and every story has been thought-provoking. My favorite so far? "Twenty Two Stories"....wow! I'm definitely going to have to search out other 'years' of the series.

[Peter Anagnostos · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories are wonderful. Many seem to end with psychological twist. I'll sum them up and review them in more detail when I finish the collection.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

sheeeeeeeeeeeeesh

[Beth Pratt · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the stories in this are admittedly "literary" I found this a very enjoyable collection. I definitely want to buy next year's edition when it comes out.

[Anina · Rating 4 out of 5]

favorite story: Icebergs by Allistair Morgan

also: An ordinary soldier of the queen by Graham Joyce
Twenty-two stories by Paul Theroux

quality of stories in this varies widely