Best American Short Stories (2012)

I love the short story format. I think it more challenging for the author to fashion his characters, creative some type of conflict or drama, and then wrap the whole thing in a limited time. The pitfalls can be great: we may not relate to the characters, we may not fully invest ourselves in the conflict, and we may want to know more, more, more about the people we just got interested in. But a short, concise, well written piece of prose is very satisfying for the soul. This series of Best American Short Stories continues to scan thousands of submissions to come up with the very, very best. Cannot recommend highly enough.