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Since I began commenting each week on the fiction in the New Yorker, at year’s end I have come up with a “Story of the Year.” Once again, I will let readers vote from a list of finalists, which I will determine from my own preferences and the nominations of readers.
To see a discussion of last year’s winner (Claire Keegan’s “Foster”), go HERE.
All you have to do to nominate is to leave a comment here on Perpetual Folly with the name of your choice. I will then compile a list of the top stories and create a poll. All very simple.
Forgot about the stories? No problem. Review them all by browsing through the posts from the whole year: New Yorker 2011.
>Coover's "Going for a Beer"
>The Other Place – Mary Gaitskill
>Ben Marcus' "What Have You Done?"
>Alice Munro, "Leaving Maverly," does what good fiction should — keeps you in its world after you've read it.
>"U.F.O. in Kushiro" by Haruki Murakami
>"Town of Cats" by Haruki Murakami
>I see that some wise person already nominated "What Have I Done" by Ben Marcus–which kicked ass.
>I also loved "Home" by George Saunders. (Can I nominate more than one?)
>Dog Run Moon
When I looked over the list, I remembered this one.
But there were others I liked almost as well. "Going for a Beer" was one.
>George Saunders, "Tenth of December"
Hello, Clifford, I am Zin! I began reading New Yorker stories religiously (in addition to the other sources I read) last January because of this poll, because I wanted to put in my favorites! And now I can! Thank you for the inspiration!
I hated "Tenth od December" when I first read it, I gave up about two pages in! But then I read a review on Mookse and Gripes and realized I had missed it entirely, so went back and now it is one of my favorites! So that is what blogging stories does for me! It helps me pick up things I would have missed!
Most of my favorites have already been mentioned so I will just add this one. If I can add a second nomination, it would be Robert Coover, "Matinee."
>M. Gaitskill, "The Other Place"
R. Rash, "The Trusty"
D.F.Wallace's "Backbone" was very memorable!
>"Homage to Hemingway," by Julian Barnes.
>First of all, your link to browsing all the stories was a great help.
"An Anonymous Island" by Yi Mun-Yol is the one that I remember the most.
If I can get a 2nd vote I vote for Julian Barnes "Homage to Hemingway"
>I'm torn between "What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank" and "Miracle Polish." But–I'll have to go with "What We Talk About, etc."
>"Reverting to a Wild State" by Justin Torres
hands down
>Thanks all for your nominations. Many of you have identified stories that were already on my preliminary list of 14 favorites, although you've added 8 more. So now I'll whittle those 22 (plus any special stories that appear in the next 2 weeks) down to 10 for voting.
The Murakami UFO story first appeared in TNY in 2001, so I might exclude it because of that. And his "Town of Cats" is a novel excerpt, so I might leave it off, too. And there are multiple Alice Munro, George Saunders, Ben Marcus, and Robert Coover stories among the 22, so I might pick just one from each of those authors.