If these were the best American short stories of 2011 then I'd have to say it was an off year. With a few notable exceptions, these were average at best. ( )

Some real gems in this collection: Foster by Claire Keegan, about a young Irish girl circa 1950s, farmed out to relatives when yet another child is born in her family; The Sleep by Caitlin Horrocks, about a dying town in North Dakota that decides to hibernate through the winter; Housewifely Arts by Megan Mayhew Bergman about a mother-daughter relationship linked by a parrot. Some lovely compact writing. ( )

I enjoy reading these collections because they introduce me to new authors. Geraldine Brooks has picked some wonderful stories from new-to-me authors, but also from some of my favorites. In general, I enjoyed all of the stories in the collection but these the best
Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie - Ceiling
Nathan Englander - Free fruit for young widows
Rebecca McCracken - Property
Joyce Carol Oates - ID
George Saunders - Escape from Spiderhead
Mark Slouka - the Hare's Mask
Looking forward to hearing Chimamanda speak in person later this week! ( )

Got solely to read George Saunders' "Escape from Spiderhead." ( )

This wonderful series is always a mixed bag by its nature, but kudos to the editors for always including a variety so there is something for every taste. That must be a challenge. There wasn't much to flat-out love here, but this year it was easy to see the talent and excellence in just about every selection.

My favorite was Claire Keegan's "Foster," an exceptional story that shows one of the best reasons to read this series - learning about great new voices. Keegan is clearly yet another in a long line of excellent Irish writers, and I can't wait to hunt down more by her. It was head and shoulders over the rest for me.

Sam Lipsyte's "The Dungeon Master" is an entertaining standout that helps keep the collection/series from being too earnest and stuffy.

Ehud Havazelet's "Gurov in Manhttan" is a triumph of narrative voice.

I also vote for Richard Powers's "To the Measures Fall," a passionate paean to book-love that is sure to be underrated and misunderstood.

The stories by Nathan Englander, Elizabeth McCracken, and George Saunders were also quite strong.

Sorry, but I thought the Nuila story was undercooked. It left me asking, Huh? The Bergman and Goodman stories had some nifty ideas but didn't quite convince. The Bissell and Row stories seemed more intellectually/politically well-meaning than convincing. And I've enjoyed Makkai well enough, but four in a row is quite enough. Are you really doing her a favor at this point? Time to give someone else the spotlight. There are a lot of new names in that list of other notables. And Egan won the Pulitzer for Goon Squad: was it really a good idea to include another story from that one? Defensible, of course. All the selections were. It's easy to nitpick, much harder to choose 20 that will please the crowd. Looking forward to next year! ( )