Best Books of 2009: Collections

Well, this is unusual. I only read a handful of short story collections this year, possibly because I spent a good amount of time working on The Great Short Story Collection Purge, reading one or two stories from my unread collections. (And there are an awful lot of them. I'm currently still on authors whose names begin with D.)

So here's what I can recommend to you from this year's completed collections:


Last Evenings on Earth (2006) - Roberto Bolano

Chilean writer Bolano died in 2003 at age 50, but not before writing what many consider his magnum opus, 2666. I still haven't read 2666, but wanted to get a taste of Bolano's writing before diving into a 900-page novel, so I was pleased to find Last Evenings on Earth in our library.

Like Bolano, most of the characters in these stories suffer early deaths and nearly every story has something to do with writing poetry or literature. The stories also center on an intense desire by these characters to be something more than they are. These are haunting stories, sometimes featuring elements of the fantastic. Seek this one out.


Pretty Monsters: Stories (2008) - Kelly Link

If you've never read Kelly Link, this is a good place to start. Several of these stories have appeared in other collections, but even if you're a seasoned Link fan, don't let that put you off. No two Kelly Link stories are alike and she's unlike any other writer you've ever read. Link's stories are filled with hilarity, absurdity, fantasy, myth, weirdness, horror, uncertainty, unexpectedness, delight, humanity... Just read the collection, okay?

Pretty Monsters is marketed as YA, but don't let that stop you either. Buy it. Read it. Loan it out to friends. Then buy it again. (Because you won't get it back.)


Secret Lives (2008) - Jeff VanderMeer

An absolutely delightful collection. I read this one in anticipation of VanderMeer's new Ambergris novel Finch, which I hope to get for Christmas (subtle hint). As the title implies, these are short little biographies of fictional people, their secret lives that the author graciously allows us to peek into. Often beautiful, often laugh out loud, these stories are filled with VanderMeer's wonderfully rich imagination, a true gift to readers everywhere. Each story is excellent, but the final two are stunningly beautiful.

Three categories left:

Mystery
General/Speculative Fiction
YA/J-Fiction