2015 favorites

2015 Favorites

This short story thing went from something fun in 2014 to a borderline obsession in 2015. I read so much so fast that I started working six months ahead. Soon it was more like a year. Stories I’m reading now are being scheduled to post on the blog in 2018. It’s a little bit crazy but mostly awesome. I can’t believe I didn’t know short stories were this good until last year.

It’s been so much fun, and I’m so grateful to everyone who checks in on the website every now and then. It’s been a lot of fun, and I can’t wait to keep it going in the new year. Thanks so much for reading this year, and a very happy 2016 to you.

And because I’ve always been someone who likes a good and pointless list, I’m going to count down (it’s really more of a count-up) the stories I’ve read in 2015 ordered strictly by my own enjoyment – and possibly for my own enjoyment. Enjoy!

1. ‘The Dead’ by James Joyce
2. ‘The Semplica Girl Diaries’ by George Saunders
3. ‘Bullet In The Brain’ by Tobias Wolff
4. ‘Wash’ by William Faulkner
5. ‘A Rose For Emily’ by William Faulkner
6. ‘Reunion’ by John Cheever
7. ‘How I Met My Husband’ by Alice Munro
8. ‘Big Boy Leaves Home’ by Richard Wright
9. ‘The Crime Wave At Blandings’ by P.G. Wodehouse
10. ‘The Bishop’ by Anton Chekhov
11. ‘Araby’ by James Joyce
12. ‘Eveline’ by James Joyce
13. ‘The Kiss’ by Anton Chekhov
14. ‘A Silver Dish’ by Saul Bellow
15. ‘Dry In September’ by William Faulkner
16. ‘Paper Lantern’ by Stuart Dybek
17. ‘Adams’ by George Saunders
18. ‘The Beauties’ by Anton Chekhov
19. ‘Shingles For The Lord’ by William Faulkner
20. ‘The Horse Dealer’s Daughter’ by D.H. Lawrence
21. ‘Don’t Look Now’ by Daphne du Maurier
22. ‘The Cask Of Amontillado’ by Edgar Allan Poe
23. ‘Kneel To The Rising Sun’ by Erskine Caldwell
24. ‘A Conversation With My Father’ by Grace Paley
25. ‘Death In The Woods’ by Sherwood Anderson
26. ‘The Shawl’ by Cynthia Ozick
27. ‘Love’ by William Maxwell
28. ‘The Doll’s House’ by Katherine Mansfield
29. ‘Bardon Bus’ by Alice Munro
30. ‘The Open Boat’ by Stephen Crane
31. ‘If I Vanish’ by Stuart Dybek
32. ‘Medal From Jerusalem’ by Irwin Shaw
33. ‘Counterparts’ by James Joyce
34. ‘The Wind And The Snow Of Winter’ by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
35. ‘The Drunkard’ by Frank O’Connor
36. ‘Christmas Morning’ by Frank O’Connor
37. ‘Boys And Girls’ by Alice Munro
38. ‘Death Of A Traveling Salesman’ by Eudora Welty
39. ‘The Warm Fuzzies’ by Chris Adrian
40. ‘Walk In The Moon Shadows’ by Jesse Stuart
41. ‘Why Don’t You Dance?’ by Raymond Carver
42. ‘Hills Like White Elephants’ by Ernest Hemingway
43. ‘The Snows Of Kilimanjaro’ by Ernest Hemingway
44. ‘The Boarding House’ by James Joyce
45. ‘A Little Cloud’ by James Joyce
46. ‘Leiningen Versus The Ants’ by Carl Stephenson
47. ‘The Bath’ by Raymond Carver
48. ‘The Frozen Fields’ by Paul Bowles
49. ‘Kid MacArthur’ by Stephanie Vaughn
50. ‘Neighbors’ by Diane Oliver
51. ‘The Masque Of The Red Death’ by Edgar Allan Poe
52. ‘One Ordinary Day, With Peanuts’ by Shirley Jackson
53. ‘The Baby In The Icebox’ by James M. Cain
54. ‘Revelation’ by Flannery O’Connor
55. ‘The Darling’ by Anton Chekhov
56. ‘An Encounter’ by James Joyce
57. ‘A Painful Case’ by James Joyce
58. ‘Tenth Of December’ by George Saunders
59. ‘Drawing Names’ by Bobbie Ann Mason
60. ‘Over The River And Through The Wood’ by John O’Hara
61. ‘What You Pawn I Will Redeem’ by Sherman Alexie
62. ‘Victory Lap’ by George Saunders
63. ‘The Five-Forty-Eight’ by John Cheever
64. ‘The Keyhole Eye’ by John Stewart Carter
65. ‘Where I’m Calling From’ by Raymond Carver
66. ‘The Enormous Radio’ by John Cheever
67. ‘The Sisters’ by James Joyce
68. ‘The View From Castle Rock’ by Alice Munro
69. ‘One Off The Short List’ by Doris Lessing
70. ‘The Living’ by Mary Lavin
71. ‘To Build A Fire’ by Jack London
72. ‘Cheap In August’ by Graham Greene
73. ‘Flight’ by John O’Hara
74. ‘The Only Traffic Signal On The Reservation Doesn’t Flash Red Anymore’ by Sherman Alexie
75. ‘Debarking’ by Lorrie Moore
76. ‘Spring In Fialta’ by Vladimir Nabokov
77. ‘Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog’ by Stephanie Vaughn
78. ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ by W.W. Jacobs
79. ‘Strawberry Spring’ by Stephen King
80. ‘Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?’ by Joyce Carol Oates
81. ‘Christmas’ by Vladimir Nabokov
82. ‘The Birds For Christmas’ by Mark Richard
83. ‘Everyday Use’ by Alice Walker
84. ‘I Bought A Little City’ by Donald Barthelme
85. ‘The First Flower’ by Augusta Wallace Lyons
86. ‘Pigeon Feathers’ by John Updike
87. ‘Al Roosten’ by George Saunders
88. ‘Puppy’ by George Saunders
89. ‘The Skull’ by Philip K. Dick
90. ‘Harvey’s Dream’ by Stephen King
91. ‘The Juniper Tree’ by Lorrie Moore
92. ‘Train’ by Alice Munro
93. ‘Home’ by George Saunders
94. ‘Feathers’ by Raymond Carver
95. ‘Death Of A Right Fielder’ by Stuart Dybek
96. ‘Health Card’ by Frank Yerby
97. ‘Jeeves And The Song Of Songs’ by P.G. Wodehouse
98. ‘A Complicated Nature’ by William Trevor
99. ‘Two Pilgrims’ by Peter Taylor
100. ‘Everything Stuck To Him’ by Raymond Carver
101. ‘The Vertical Ladder’ by William Sansom
102. ‘The Manhunt’ by Daniel Curley
103. ‘Drenched In Light’ by Zora Neale Hurston
104. ‘Ivy Day In The Committee Room’ by James Joyce
105. ‘A Small, Good Thing’ by Raymond Carver
106. ‘The Patented Gate And The Mean Hamburger’ by Robert Penn Warren
107. ‘A Clean, Well-Lighted Place’ by Ernest Hemingway
108. ‘The Most Dangerous Game’ by Richard Connell
109. ‘We’re On TV In The Universe’ by Stephanie Vaughn
110. ‘Miriam’ by Truman Capote
111. ‘In The Red Room’ by Paul Bowles
112. ‘The Black Cat’ by Edgar Allan Poe
113. ‘Eli, The Fanatic’ by Philip Roth
114. ‘The Gift Of The Prodigal’ by Peter Taylor
115. ‘Going Ashore’ by Mavis Gallant
116. ‘Two Gallants’ by James Joyce
117. ‘Madame Zilensky And The King Of Finland’ by Carson McCullers
118. ‘Yao’s Chick’ by Max Apple
119. ‘The Battle Of Fallen Timbers’ by Stephanie Vaughn
120. ‘Collectors’ by Daniel Alarcon
121. ‘The Pedestrian’ by Ray Bradbury
122. ‘Game’ by Donald Barthelme
123. ‘The Standard Of Living’ by Dorothy Parker
124. ‘The Artificial N—–’ by Flannery O’Connor
125. ‘Referential’ by Lorrie Moore
126. ‘Every Little Hurricane’ by Sherman Alexie
127. ‘Silent Snow, Secret Snow’ by Conrad Aiken
128. ‘Becky’ by Jean Toomer
129. ‘The Great Mountains’ by John Steinbeck
130. ‘Seiche’ by Stuart Dybek
131. ‘One Throw’ by W.C. Heinz
132. ‘And The Rock Cried Out’ by Ray Bradbury
133. ‘The Huntsman’ by Anton Chekhov
134. ‘The Bridal Party’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald
135. ‘Chapter Two’ by Antonya Nelson
136. ‘Marjorie Daw’ by Thomas Bailey Aldrich
137. ‘The Angel In The Alcove’ by Tennessee Williams
138. ‘The Rescue’ by V.S. Pritchett
139. ‘Children Of The Sea’ by Edwidge Danticat
140. ‘The Provincials’ by Daniel Alarcon
141. ‘Eatonville Anthology’ by Zora Neale Hurston
142. ‘Birdsong’ by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
143. ‘Last Day In The Field’ by Caroline Gordon
144. ‘Ann Mary; Her Two Thanksgivings’ by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
145. ‘Clay’ by James Joyce
146. ‘A Mother’ by James Joyce
147. ‘One Gram Short’ by Etgar Keret
148. ‘Sweet Talk’ by Stephanie Vaughn
149. ‘Shall Not Perish’ by William Faulkner
150. ‘Grace’ by James Joyce
151. ‘Because My Father Said He Was The Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ At Woodstock by Sherman Alexie
152. ‘Nikishka’s Secrets’ by Yury Kazakov
153. ‘Death Drop’ by William Faulkner
154. ‘The Pelican’s Shadow’ by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
155. ‘Weekend’ by Ann Beattie
156. ‘This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona’ by Sherman Alexie
157. ‘The Letter Writers’ by Elizabeth Taylor
158. ‘Winter In Yalta’ by Antonya Nelson
159. ‘The Bowl’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald
160. ‘Death Constant Beyond Love’ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
161. ‘A Tree, A Rock, A Cloud’ by Carson McCullers
162. ‘The Jungle’ by Elizabeth Bowen
163. ‘Honeysuckle Cottage’ by P.G. Wodehouse
164. ‘Roy Spivey’ by Miranda July
165. ‘Escape From Spiderhead’ by George Saunders
166. ‘Jon’ by George Saunders
167. ‘Amusements’ by Sherman Alexie
168. ‘The Pit And The Pendulum’ by Edgar Allan Poe
169. ‘The Fall Of The House Of Usher’ by Edgar Allan Poe
170. ‘The Use Of Force’ by William Carlos Williams
171. ‘Christmas For Sassafrass, Cypress And Indigo’ by Ntozake Shange
172. ‘Breaking And Entering’ by Sherman Alexie
173. ‘The Sun, The Moon, The Stars’ by Junot Diaz
174. ‘Flight Patterns’ by Sherman Alexie
175. ‘Leave It To Jeeves’ by P.G. Wodehouse
176. ‘The There There’ by Antonya Nelson
177. ‘Talk To The Music’ by Arna Bontemps
178. ‘Funny Once’ by Antonya Nelson
179. ‘The New Order’ by Nancy Hale
180. ‘Che Ti Dice La Patria?’ by Ernest Hemingway
181. ‘Two Of A Kind’ by Sean O’Faolain
182. ‘The Lawnmower Man’ by Stephen King
183. ‘Family Christmas’ by Roxana Robinson
184. ‘Creche’ by Richard Ford
185. ‘Down To A Sunless Sea’ by Neil Gaiman
186. ‘Blowing Shades’ by Stuart Dybek
187. ‘After The Race’ by James Joyce
188. ‘The Rookie’ by Eliot Asinof
189. ‘Goodwood Comes Back’ by Robert Penn Warren
190. ‘Theft’ by Katherine Anne Porter
191. ‘The Contest For Aaron Gold’ by Philip Roth
192. ‘Hop-Frog’ by Edgar Allan Poe
193. ‘Zelig’ by Benjamin Rosenblatt
194. ‘Business Talk’ by Max Apple
195. ‘1408’ by Stephen King
196. ‘Waiting’ by Stuart Dybek
197. ‘The Lone Ranger And Tonto Fist Fight In Heaven’ by Sherman Alexie
198. ‘Brooklyns Lose’ by William Heuman
199. ‘The Fun House’ by Sherman Alexie
200. ‘Thank You For Having Me’ by Lorrie Moore
201. ‘Sticks’ by George Saunders
202. ‘Foes’ by Lorrie Moore
203. ‘The NRACP’ by George P. Elliott
204. ‘The Other Foot’ by Ray Bradbury
205. ‘The Old Army Game’ by George Garrett
206. ‘Tosca’ by Stuart Dybek
207. ‘The Hector Quesadilla Story’ by T. Coraghessan Boyle
208. ‘Liquor Makes You Smart’ by Anita Loos
209. ‘When The Light Gets Green’ by Robert Penn Warren
210. ‘The Dead Fiddler’ by Isaac Bashevis Singer
211. ‘La Belle Zoraide’ by Kate Chopin
212. ‘The Unicorn In The Garden’ by James Thurber
213. ‘Literally’ by Antonya Nelson
214. ‘A Visit From Saint Nicholas (In The Ernest Hemingway Manner)’ by James Thurber
215. ‘Quality Time’ by Richard Ford
216. ‘The Gully’ by Russell Banks
217. ‘Exhortation’ by George Saunders
218. ‘Indian Education’ by Sherman Alexie
219. ‘Alma’ by Junot Diaz
220. ‘Tell Me A Riddle’ by Tillie Olsen
221. ‘Three Million Yen’ by Yukio Mishima
222. ‘The Supper’ by Tadeusz Borowski
223. ‘The Man From Mars’ by Margaret Atwood
224. ‘The Interior Castle’ by Jean Stafford
225. ‘The Christmas Tree’ by Charles Dickens
226. ‘A Simple Enquiry’ by Ernest Hemingway
227. ‘Xmas’ by Thomas M. Disch
228. ‘An Old-Time Christmas’ by Paul Laurence Dunbar
229. ‘Janus’ by Ann Beattie
230. ‘Family Portrait’ by Sherman Alexie
231. ‘How I Contemplated The World From The Detroit House Of Correction And Began My Life Again’ by Joyce Carol Oates
232. ‘Children Are Bored On Sunday’ by Jean Stafford
233. ‘Alibi Ike’ by Ring W. Lardner
234. ‘Smoke’ by Michael Chabon
235. ‘The Jewbird’ by Bernard Malamud
236. ‘The Boogeyman’ by Stephen King
237. ‘Brothers And Sisters Around The World’ by Andrea Lee
238. ‘The Kitchen Baby’ by Angela Carter
239. ‘Aunt Agatha Takes The Count’ by P.G. Wodehouse
240. ‘Northerners Can Be So Smug’ by Alice Childress
241. ‘The Hedgehog’ by Saki
242. ‘Here There Be Tygers’ by Stephen King
243. ‘The Best Girlfriend You Never Had’ by Pam Houston
244. ‘The Case Of Four And Twenty Blackbirds’ by Neil Gaiman
245. ‘Jokester’ by Isaac Asimov
246. ‘The Star’ by Arthur C. Clarke
247. ‘Tony’s Wife’ by Alice Dunbar-Nelson
248. ‘Champion’ by Ring Lardner
249. ‘Reeling For The Empire’ by Karen Russell
250. ‘Inventing Wampanoag, 1672’ by Ben Shattuck
251. ‘The Pitcher And The Plutocrat’ by P.G. Wodehouse
252. ‘The Hitchhiking Game’ by Milan Kundera
253. ‘Cinnamon’ by Neil Gaiman
254. ‘Auggie Wren’s Christmas Story’ by Paul Auster
255. ‘A Long Day’s Dying’ by William Eastlake
256. ‘To The Wilderness I Wander’ by Frank Butler
257. ‘Mammon And The Archer’ by O. Henry
258. ‘Christmas Every Day’ by William Dean Howells
259. ‘A Kidnapped Santa Claus’ by L. Frank Baum
260. ‘The End Of The World’ by Dino Buzzati
261. ‘The Speech Of Polly Baker’ by Benjamin Franklin
262. ‘The Man Who Saw Through Heaven’ by Wilbur Daniel Steele
263. ‘Falalalalalalalala’ by Nikki Giovanni
264. ‘Old Christmas’ by Stephen Merion