May 2024 favorites

May 2024

The May stories ordered solely by my personal tastes.

  1. ‘This Is Salvaged’ by Vauhini Vara
  2. ‘Making Friends’ by Joy Williams
  3. ‘Martha, Martha’ by Zadie Smith
  4. ‘The New Englander’ by Sherwood Anderson
  5. ‘A Penny Short’ by Pete Hsu
  6. ‘The Choc-Ice Woman’ by Mary Costello
  7. Coyotes’ by Andrew Porter
  8. ‘Admirals’ by Michael Chabon
  9. ‘Control Negro’ by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson
  10. ‘The Colonel’s Daughter’ by Robert Coover
  11. ‘Julia’ by Ada Zhang
  12. ‘An Actor Prepares’ by Donald Antrim
  13. ‘Comfort’ by Jamel Brinkley
  14. ‘Bad Behavior’ by Alexia Arthurs
  15. ‘What Feminism Is’ by Louise Nealon
  16. ‘Keats At Twenty-Four’ by Caleb Crain
  17. ‘You Are Not Alone’ by Vauhini Vara
  18. ‘Foster’ by Bryan Washington
  19. ‘Annunciation’ by Clare Sestanovich
  20. ‘Alvin The Typesetter’ by Lydia Davis
  21. ‘Bayonne’ by John Cheever
  22. ‘William Wei’ by Amie Barrodale
  23. ‘Thataway’ by Thomas McGuane
  24. ‘Tickets, Please!’ by D.H. Lawrence
  25. ‘Referent’ by Ray Bradbury
  26. ‘The Body’s Defenses Against Itself’ by Nafissa Thompson-Spires
  27. ‘The Ends’ by Peter Ho Davies
  28. ‘The Treasure In The Forest’ by H.G. Wells
  29. ‘Five Weddings’ by Kevin Maloney
  30. ‘The Breaking Up Of The Winships’ by James Thurber
  31. ‘What Stumped The Blue-Jays’ by Mark Twain

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March 2024 favorites

March 2024

The March stories ordered solely by my personal tastes.

  1. ‘Torch Song’ by John Cheever
  2. ‘You Never Get It Back’ by Cara Blue Adams
  3. ‘Three Women Of Chuck’s Donuts’ by Anthony Veasna So
  4. ‘The Worm In Philly’ by Sam Lipsyte
  5. ‘Brigid’ by Mary Lavin
  6. ‘Chance’ by Alice Munro
  7. ‘Departure’ by Andrew Porter
  8. ‘The Long Black Line’ by John L’Heureux
  9. ‘The Run Of Yourself’ by Richard Ford
  10. ‘The Slip-Up’ by John McGahern
  11. ‘The Maths Tutor’ by Tessa Hadley
  12. ‘Hearts Of Oak And Bellies Of Brass’ by John McGahern
  13. ‘Take Half, Leave Half’ by Thomas McGuane
  14. ‘What Feels Like The World’ by Richard Bausch
  15. ‘Seeing Ershadi’ by Nicole Krauss
  16. ‘The Triumph Of Night’ by Edith Wharton
  17. ‘Ocracoke Island’ by Alice Adams
  18. ‘Those As Are Brothers’ by Nancy Hale
  19. ‘The Man Who Saw The Flood’ by Richard Wright
  20. ‘Envoy’ by Caleb Crain
  21. ‘Rumm Road’ by Alice Elliott Dark
  22. ‘The Glass House’ by Chris Adrian
  23. ‘A Story Without A Title’ by Anton Chekhov
  24. ‘Beach Town’ by Amy Hempel
  25. ‘The Help’ by Mary Robison
  26. ‘Korean Jesus’ by Pete Hsu
  27. ‘So Late In The Day’ by Claire Keegan
  28. ‘The Kid Nobody Could Handle’ by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
  29. ‘Xífù’ by K-Ming Chang
  30. ‘Miss Mary Pask’ by Edith Wharton
  31. ‘You Tell Me’ by Clare Sestanovich

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September 2023 favorites

September 2023

The September stories ordered solely by my personal tastes.

  1. ‘The Pretty Daughters’ by John O’Hara
  2. ‘Concord 34’ by Sally Rooney
  3. ‘Mojave Rats’ by Kirstin Valdez Quade
  4. ‘Ordinary Sins’ by Kirstin Valdez Quade
  5. ‘Miss Anna’s Asleep’ by Jesse Stuart
  6. ‘Bestiary’ by Julio Cortázar
  7. ‘The Strength Of God’ by Sherwood Anderson
  8. ‘On The Agenda’ by Lore Segal
  9. ‘This Farm For Sale’ by Jesse Stuart
  10. ‘Wrens And Starling’ by J.F. Powers
  11. ‘The Teacher’ by Sherwood Anderson
  12. ‘The Boundary’ by Jhumpa Lahiri
  13. ‘Adventure’ by Sherwood Anderson
  14. ‘My Girls’ by John O’Hara
  15. ‘Turn Back The Bed’ by Wendell Berry
  16. ‘Roy’ by Timothy Willis Sanders
  17. ‘The Boy Upstairs’ by Joshua Ferris
  18. ‘The Thinker’ by Sherwood Anderson
  19. ‘Battle With The Bees’ by Jesse Stuart
  20. ‘As Ye Sows, So Shall Ye Reap’ by Jesse Stuart
  21. ‘A Big Night’ by Leslie Norris
  22. ‘Old Hope’ by Clare Sestanovich
  23. ‘You’ll Enjoy It When You Get There’ by Elizabeth Taylor
  24. ‘The Discovery Of Kentucky’ by Wendell Berry
  25. ‘Trash’ by Souvankham Thammavongsa
  26. ‘The Woman The Book Read’ by Sarah Hall
  27. ‘Respectability’ by Sherwood Anderson
  28. ‘Tandy’ by Sherwood Anderson
  29. ‘A Ribbon For Baldy’ by Jesse Stuart
  30. ‘Loneliness’ by Sherwood Anderson

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August 2023 favorites

August 2023

The August stories ordered solely on my personal tastes.

  1. ‘All Will Be Well’ by Yiyun Li
  2. ‘Virginia City’ by Claire Vaye Watkins
  3. ‘A Consent’ by Wendell Berry
  4. ‘The Hurt Man’ by Wendell Berry
  5. ‘A Sandstone Farmhouse’ by John Updike
  6. ‘Wednesday’s Child’ by Yiyun Li
  7. ‘After The Theatre’ by Anton Chekhov
  8. ‘Don’t Send A Boy To Do A Man’s Work’ by Wendell Berry
  9. ‘The Devastating Boys’ by Elizabeth Taylor
  10. ‘The Bride’ by Maeve Brennan
  11. ‘The First Kiss’ by Clarice Lispector
  12. ‘Exit Zero’ by Marie-Helene Bertino
  13. ‘The Lost Bet’ by Wendell Berry
  14. ‘Home Sickness’ by George Moore
  15. ‘Bettering Myself’ by Ottessa Moshfegh
  16. ‘The Management Of Grief’ by Bharati Mukherjee
  17. ‘Brawler’ by Lauren Groff
  18. ‘Plan Of The Peak Cavern’ by Emily Temple
  19. ‘Three Days’ by Samantha Hunt
  20. ‘Gryphon’ by Charles Baxter
  21. ‘Cords’ by Edna O’Brien
  22. ‘The Archivist’ by Claire Vaye Watkins
  23. ‘Moon Rocket’ by Elizabeth Spencer
  24. ‘Separation’ by Clare Sestanovich
  25. ‘Thicker Than Liquor’ by Wendell Berry
  26. ‘The Cult Of Mary’ by Laura Van Den Berg
  27. ‘You Are Now Entering The Human Heart’ by Janet Frame
  28. ‘Wide Spot’ by Thomas McGuane
  29. ‘A Prize For Every Player’ by A.M. Homes
  30. ‘Lord Emsworth And The Girlfriend’ by P.G. Wodehouse
  31. ‘Resistance’ by Stephan Enter

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March 2023 favorites

March 2023

The March stories ordered solely on my personal tastes.

  1. ‘The Past Perfect, The Past Continuous, The Simple Past’ by Claire Vaye Watkins
  2. ‘When Mr. Pirzada Came To Dine’ by Jhumpa Lahiri
  3. ‘Sliding’ by Leslie Norris
  4. ‘Different People’ by Clare Sestanovich
  5. ‘A Choice Of Butchers’ by William Trevor
  6. ‘Rondine Al Nido’ by Claire Vaye Watkins
  7. ‘The Stain’ by Tessa Hadley
  8. ‘Sarah’ by Mary Lavin
  9. ‘Matrilineal’ by Tessa Hadley
  10. ‘Bad Boy’ by Kristen Roupenian
  11. ‘The Widow’s Son’ by Mary Lavin
  12. ‘The Piano Teacher’s Pupil’ by William Trevor
  13. ‘Wife Wooing’ by John Updike
  14. ‘In The Middle Of The Fields’ by Mary Lavin
  15. ‘The Adulterous Woman’ by Albert Camus
  16. ‘Coda’ by Tessa Hadley
  17. ‘Encounters With Unexpected Animals’ by Bret Anthony Johnston
  18. ‘Brother Boniface’ by Mary Lavin
  19. ‘The Bunty Club’ by Tessa Hadley
  20. ‘Happiness’ by Mary Lavin
  21. ‘The Ormulu Clock’ by Muriel Spark
  22. ‘An Upheaval’ by Anton Chekhov
  23. ‘The Itch’ by Don DeLillo
  24. ‘Ceil’ by Harold Brodkey
  25. ‘Look At Your Game, Girl’ by Kristen Roupenian
  26. ‘One Sun Only’ by Camille Bordas
  27. ‘After The Funeral’ by Tessa Hadley
  28. ‘The Ugliest Babies In The World’ by Vanessa Chan
  29. ‘The Night We All Had Grippe’ by Shirley Jackson
  30. ‘The Father’ by Raymond Carver
  31. ‘Head Over Knees’ by Eric Schlich

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