The Best American Short Stories 2024

De: Lauren Groff, Heidi Pitlor

Narrado por: Christina Delaine, Vikas Adam, Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Korey Jackson, Raymond J. Lee, Gilli Messer

A collection of the year’s best short stories, selected by celebrated bestselling author Lauren Groff, author of Matrix and The Vaster Wilds, and series editor Heidi Pitlor.

“There have never been as many exquisitely built stories in existence than there are now,” proclaims guest editor Lauren Groff in her introduction. This abundance led to a volume of robust stories with the nerve to push against narrative expectations. The Best American Short Stories 2024 boasts a collection of twenty stories that “buzz with their own strange logic.” A man becomes a tourist in his own hometown. An unemployed jeweler sails in an antique slave ship. A therapist decides to call an ex-patient years after their last session. Daring and resonant, the stories in this volume invite in Groff “a feeling that both the author and I were simultaneously discovering something together.”

The Best American Short Stories 2024 includes JAMEL BRINKLEY • ALEXANDRA CHANG • LAURIE COLWIN • MOLLY DEKTAR • TAISIA KITAISKAIA • DANIEL MASON • JIM SHEPARD • AZAREEN VAN DER VLIET OLOOMI • PAUL YOON • and others

©2024 Lauren Groff and Heidi Pitlor (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers

Magnificent Collection

I love this book! The stories are vast, well-crafted, compelling, and entertaining. I met several writers that I put on my Audible wish list for further reading. The stories are so good. There is not a clunker in the whole bunch. I listened to several stories twice, such as Shepherd’s “Privilege.” I will definitely return to this series in 2025.

Best of the Best

Lauren Groff’s is probably the best BASS collection I’ve read. Sometimes you just wonder what the editor was thinking, but these were all punch-in-the-gut stories, even the ones from speculative genres that don’t generally float my boat. They were very human, very true.

Another great collection of short stories

Although there are only a few GREAT stories in each volume, I have found this series has the best curation of any of the annual short story collections I read. Each volume has 20 of the best American short stories of the year. Audible now has all the volumes since 2019.

RANT: This is a curated collection of American shorts. It is not really a “Best of” collection because diversity and inclusion appear to be an important editorial factor. Inclusive curated collections are great, but are a different thing from a true “best of” collection.

My favorite stories this year were: Mall of America, A Case Study, P’s Parties, Seeing Through Maps, Dorchester, and Evensong.

The narration varies but is overall is generally good to excellent.