The Best Anthologies, or a Mash Note to Anthony Doerr

You know how you idly (see obsessively) click on anything written by certain people?  Anthony Doerr is one of these for me.  He is so smart and personable and such a wonderful writer.  There’s a piece he wrote for the Lit Pub called “A Universe That’s Three Inches Tall and Weighs Three Pounds” I read last year that talks about his love of books, in particular one thick anthology of short stories that he lugged all the way across New Zealand.  Well, of course, I immediately went out and got a copy.

Oh, man.  It is one of the two best anthologies I have ever read.  It’s called The Story and Its Writer, edited by Ann Charters, and it has all the greats ~ everything from “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” to “Tiny, Smiling Daddy.”  The best stories by the best writers of all time.  (The other anthology that is just as great ~ for that very same reason ~ is The Ecco Anthology of Contemporary American Short Fiction.)

I am about a third of the way through, with a glorious two-thirds left to read.  I alternately gobble and savor, ravage and caress this volume!  I spend my day looking forward to running a hot bubble bath and cracking it open at the next jewel of a story, wending my way night by night through a fantastic journey of words.

So, if you’re a short story buff, take note and get a copy of each of these. Oh, and give Tony a hug for me when you see him!