The Top Ten Short Stories according to The Second Pass. Ten is an impossibly small number, so I cannot gripe that they left out some of my favorites, such as: “The Woman in the Rose-Colored Dress” by Gina Berriault, “A&P” by John Updike, “That in Aleppo Once…” by Vladimir Nabokov, “Kew Gardens” by Virginia Woolf, and “A Dog’s Tale” by Mark Twain. I’ll stop at five.
For one on their list, check out the excellent “Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot” by Robert Olen Butler. (Narrative Magazine)
Janet Potter, staffer at The Millions, picks Richard Feynman‘s “Six Easy Pieces”. Excellent. I should re-read it, again.
Kinna Reads rounds up the latest literary awards news.
Kevin From Canada glowingly reviews “Montana 1948” by Larry Watson, reminding me I need to read it. The Mookse and The Gripes has previously endorsed Watson’s novel as “a special book” and included it on his year-end top 10 list.
“Fascinating books in lovely bodies.” (Caustic Cover Critic on Notting Hill Editions)
June is Dutch Literature Month at Iris on Books. Lizzie’s Literary Life has a nice stack of books for the occasion. (Maybe I should finally get to The Twin by Gerbrand Bakker.)
Hungry Like the Woolf 
Montana 1948 is a fabulous read. I taught it to high schoolers and they LOVED it.
Thank you! I had not been considering it for a father-daughter read, but now you have me thinking that maybe my daughter would enjoy it too. I won’t push, but I will make it available…..
I have heard really good things about The Twin. I do hope you will participate! (Though I know how impossible it can be to read everything you want to read on time). Thank you for the link and nice to meet you! I will visit again, I am sure.
I am going to try. It’s a good excuse to read something I want to read (but who needs an excuse for that…..) and something that has been on the TBR for awhile (along with lots of others…). Thanks for stopping by and I’ll be watching your project with envy.
I loved The Twin, and hope you don’t mind my offering my link to a post on it:
http://whirlbooks.blogspot.com/2010/11/twin-by-gerbrand-bakker.html
I also enjoyed Montana 1948; it reminded me of To Kill A Mockingbird, even the story is completely different. I think it’s the “coming of age” quality about them both.
Liz,
Thanks for the link to your post on The Twin. I am looking forward to The Twin, even more so after reading your take.
Your comparison of Montana 1948 to the universally-loved To Kill a Mockingbird is interesting and intriguing. I look forward to reading both and comparing reactions. Thanks for taking the time to share!
(Btw, sorry for the delay in approval/responding, as you can see from my lack of posts, I have been busy with non-blog things. I saw your comment when it came in and made a mental note to respond, but the note got lost. Mea culpa.)
The problem with top ten lists are…. they’re too limited. I struggle to name my top ten Beatles songs, or my top ten Pink Floyd songs…. So, with all the short stories out in the world, how can you create a list of just ten… what about all the ones that you haven’t read? Or, what about all the ones that have slipped out of your mind, simply because time ensures memory-loss?
Thanks for the link to Iris On Books’ Dutch Literature Month. I struggle to remember the last Dutch book I read, so…. I probably should join in.
While I’m joining in in things, I should add Montana 1948 to my list?
You are exactly right about the top ten short stories list and they acknowledge the list is essentially an arbitrary list of the many very good short stories. They did what they wanted, at least with me, because I did go and read Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot which, while not one of my all-time favorites, is very good.
I am not sure I actually have read a Dutch book…..
Yes, you should add Montana 1948 to your list. At least, I am definitely bumping it up the queue on the strength of Kevin’s and Trevor’s recommendations.