The Best American Short Stories 2023

De: Min Jin Lee, Heidi Pitlor

Narrado por: Laura Copland, Jeena Yi, Pascale Armand, Korey Jackson, Will Tulin, Katharine Chin, Mirai, Micky Shiloah, Nikki Massoud, Dylan Moore, Thabang Makhubelak, Elyse Dinh, Johnny Rey Diaz, Yelena Shmulenson, full cast

A collection of the year’s best short stories, selected by National Book Award finalist Min Jin Lee and series editor Heidi Pitlor.

“Without stories, we cannot live well,” shares guest editor Min Jin Lee, describing how storytelling affects and nurtures readers. The Best American Short Stories 2023 features twenty pieces of short fiction that reflect a world full of fractured relationships, but also wondrous hope. A lifelong friendship may become a casualty of the Russia-Ukraine war. Rejected by his lover, a man seeks to reconcile with his family. Twitter users miraculously muster enough empathy to help a lost cat find a forever home. Enlightening, poignant, and undeniably human, the stories in this anthology bravely confront societal darkness and offer, in Lee’s words, “our emotional truths, restoring our sanity and providing comfort for the days ahead.”

The Best American Short Stories 2023 includes Cherline Bazile • Maya Binyam • Tom Bissell • Taryn Bowe • Da-Lin • Benjamin Ehrlich• Sara Freeman • Lauren Groff • Nathan Harris • Jared Jackson • Sana Krasikov • Danica Li • Ling Ma • Manuel Muñoz • Joanna Pearson • Souvankham Thammavongsa • Kosiso Ugwueze • Corinna Vallianatos • Azareen Van Der Vliet Oloomi • Esther Yi

Narrators:

• Laura Copland
• Jeena Yi
• Pascale Armand
• Korey Jackson
• Will Tulin
• Katharine Chin
• Mirai
• Micky Shiloah
• Nikki Massoud
• Dylan Moore
• Thabang Makhubelak
• Elyse Dinh
• Johnny Rey Diaz
• Em Grosland
• Elena Rey
• Yelena Shmulenson

©2023 Heidi Pitlor and Min Jin Lee (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

Another Great Year of Shorts

I have been reading this series since the 1980s and look forward to the new volume each year.
Although there are only a few GREAT stories in each volume, I have found this series has the best curation of any of the annual short story collections I read. Each volume has 20 of the best American short stories of the year. Audible now has all the volumes since 2019.

In this volume Annunciation by Lauren Groff was my favorite. There are a handful of other very good stories, along with a dozen not-bad to good stories.

RANT: This is a curated collection of American shorts. It is not really a “Best” collection because diversity and inclusion appear to be an important editorial factor. Inclusive curated collections are great but are a different thing from a true “best of” collection.

One nice thing that is different from past years, is there is an afterword with short comments from each of the authors about their story. This was a great addition.

The narration varies but overall good to excellent.

Very Good Collection

This is a very good collection of stories. The selections are inclusive and varied. As with any anthology, some stories will appeal to any given reader while others may not resonate. Of the 20 stories, I would highlight and recommend these seven as my favorites of this collection:
Tender, Camp Emeline, The Company of Others, Bebo, Peking Duck, Grand Mal, and This Isn't The Actual Sea. Don't miss the Contributor's Notes. In addition to the author biographies, the authors provide insight into the specific selected story.

Layers and layers

If you like short stories with layers and layers of meaning and connection, then this is the collection for you. Aside from three duds ("The Master Mourner," "Treasure Island Alley," "His Finest Moment"), the rest are WONDERFUL.

My favorites were "Annunciation," "Peking Duck," "The Company of Others," and "Bebo," but all of them (save the three listed above) were fantastic.