Okay, so, the other day I was thinking about reading something new. I’ve been stuck in a rut, reading the same old stuff, you know? Then it hit me – why not try to find some fresh short stories? So, I started poking around for the best American short stories of 2024.
First things first, I did a bit of searching to figure out what this “Best American Short Stories 2024” thing even was. Turns out, it’s this yearly collection, and they get a different guest editor each time to pick out their favorites. This year, it was this author Lauren Groff, who apparently wrote some books called “Matrix” and “The Vaster Wilds.” She teamed up with the usual series editor, Heidi Pitlor. They went through a ton of stories and narrowed it down to the best twenty, at least in their humble opinion.
Then I dug a little deeper, you know, trying to get a feel for what these stories were all about. The descriptions I found made them sound pretty interesting – stuff about a guy becoming a tourist in his own hometown, some unemployed jeweler, and even a therapist who decides to call up an old patient out of the blue. They talked about how these stories all had their own “strange logic,” which I thought sounded pretty cool.
I also stumbled upon a little side note about different short story styles, like lyrical, flash fiction, and vignette. Made me think about those classic authors I’ve read before – Hemingway, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, you know, the usual suspects. This whole process got me thinking about how short stories can pack such a punch in just a few pages.
Here’s a rough list of what I did to get to this point:
- Started with a general search about “Best American Short Stories 2024.”
- Figured out it’s an annual collection with a guest editor.
- Learned this year’s guest editor is Lauren Groff, who worked with Heidi Pitlor.
- Found some descriptions of the stories – a tourist in his hometown, an unemployed jeweler, a therapist calling an ex-patient.
- Read a bit about different short story styles.
- Thought about classic short story authors.
So, after all that, I decided to give this collection a shot. I mean, twenty stories, hand-picked by some author I hadn’t heard of before but who seemed to know her stuff? Why not, right? I am still in the middle of reading now. I will share my reviews once I finished them all.
