The Best American Short Stories 2008 edited by Salman Rushdie

More great short stories! I had to buy this book for a class I was taking—then I lost the book and bought another one—then I found the first one—so, I donated one of my two copies to the COHS library. I’ve read many of the stories and they really are the best!

Some stories such as “Man and Wife” will shock you by taking as very ordinary situations that are taboo. Others speak to the difficulties of growing up, such as “Virgins.” Still others deal with the supernatural as a part of ordinary life as in “Vampires in the Lemon Grove.” (By the way, the author of “Vampires in the Lemon Grove”—Karen Russell—also has a great short story in the 2007 Best book—about girls raised by werewolves. You’ll love both of these stories!)

If your teacher assigns short story reading—or if you just like to read them—you can’t go wrong with this volume. In addition, if you are an emerging author yourself, you may like the contributors’ notes at the end, in which the authors discuss the inspiration for writing the story.