THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES OF THE CENTURY (2000)Editor: John Updike(22 unabridged short stories)Read by . . : John Updike, Tim O'Brien, Rosellen Brown, Lorrie Moore, George Plimpton, othersPublisher . : Houghton Mifflin (2000) #6-98125 (also Mariner Books)ISBN . . . .: ISBN-10 0618093206 ISBN-13: 9780618093205Format . . .: MP3. 30 tracks, 490 MBBitrate . . : ~85 kbps (iTunes 9, VBR, Mono, 44.1 kHz)Source . . .: 10 CDs (12.7 hours)Genre . . . : Fiction, Short stories, Literary CollectionsUnabridged .: UnabridgedJohn Updike has selected enduring stories from the eighty-four annual volumes of THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES, and the result is "a spectacular tapestry of fictional achievement". This extraordinary collection features a wide variety of contemporary writers reading classics of the genre, along with authors reading from their own work. Containing twenty-two unabridged stories in all, the expanded CD audio edition includes a new story from THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 1999 to round out the century.Author Title ReaderSherwood Anderson "The Other Woman" John UpdikeCatherine Ann Porter "Theft" Jill McCorkleF. Scott Fitzgerald "Crazy Sunday" George PlimptonJames Alan McPherson "Gold Coast" -the authorJean Stafford "The Interior Castle" Mary GordonBernard Malamud "The German Refugee" Alan CheuseCynthia Ozick "The Shawl" -the authorRoseleen Brown "How to Win" -the authorThom Jones "I Want to Live!" -the authorGish Jen "Birthmates" -the authorGrace Stone Coates "Wild Plumbs" Ashley WarlickDorothy Parker "Here We Are" Meg WolitzerRobert Penn Warren "Christmas Gift" Christopher TilghmanEudora Welty "The Hitch-Hikers" Jill McCorkleE. B. White "The Second Tree from the Corner" Donald HallJohn Updike "Gesturing" -the authorDonald Barthelme "A City of Churches" Rick MoodyTim O'Brian "The Things They Carried" -the authorRaymond Carver "Where I'm Calling From" Charles BaxterLorrie Moore "You're Ugly Too" -the authorCarolyn Ferrell "Proper Library" -the authorPam Houston "The Best Girlfriend You Never Had" -the authorNicely tagged and labeled, original CD tracks, cover scan included.Thanks for sharing & caring.Cheers, FerraBitJanuary 2010Links:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_American_Short_Storieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Updikehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherwood_Andersonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Anne_Porterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F_Scott_FitzgeraldetcOriginally posted:http://thepiratebay.org/user/FerraBithttp://www.demonoid.com/users/FerraBitTaken the time to read this? Take some more and leave me a nice note of encouragement there._____________________________________________________From AudioFileEach year a guest editor carefully selects the best stories from the nation's literary magazines to be published together in The Best American Short Stories. One does not envy John Updike the agonizing task of choosing the best of the best--the most enduring stories from the 84 annual volumes published through 1999. Happily, he ably fielded the challenge, selecting the work of authors running the gamut from F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sherwood Anderson to Tim O'Brien and Lorrie Moore. Late authors are read by other writers; living authors read their own works.Cynthia Ozick's 2,000-word masterpiece of the Holocaust, "The Shawl," combines stark brutality with story elements that border on magical realism. Ozick's flat, unrelenting reading, in a tone that echoes the very experience of physical and spiritual starvation, sears this story into one's soul. Rosellen Brown, who often writes of love and dysfunction in family life, reads "How to Win," a mother's perspective on her clinically hyperactive child. (Anyone thinking of becoming a new parent should either avoid this story--or listen to it right away.) Brown reads with the intensity of one trying to bridge the unfathomable distance among us all--even mother and child. -AudioFile 2001
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