It's time to select the 2009 New Yorker Story of the Year. The process is a little different this year. In previous years I have nominated a top ten and then narrowed the list to five on the basis of reader feedback. This year I received reader feedback first in order to select a Top Ten, and the voting (in the poll in the sidebar at right) will include all ten stories.
Below are the top ten New Yorker stories of 2009 as determined by the readers of Perpetual Folly. The story title links to the date. The link following the author's name links to the discussion here at Perpetual Folly.
Vote! (Polls close at midnight on December 31.) [Note: votes in the comments section will NOT be counted; vote in the poll on the sidebar at right!]
March 23, 2009: “She’s the One” by Tessa Hadley -- PF Discussion
April 20, 2009: “A Tiny Feast” by Chris Adrian -- PF Discussion
April 27, 2009: “Vast Hell” by Guillermo Martínez -- PF Discussion
June 8 & 15, 2009: “Good Neighbors” by Jonathan Franzen -- PF Discussion
June 22, 2009: “Idols” by Tim Gautreaux -- PF Discussion
September 28, 2009: “Temporary” by Marisa Silver -- PF Discussion
October 5, 2009: “Victory Lap” by George Saunders -- PF Discussion
October 19, 2009: “Complicity” by Julian Barnes -- PF Discussion
November 2, 2009: “While the Women are Sleeping” by Javier Marías -- PF Discussion
November 30, 2009: “Midnight in Dostoevsky” by Don DeLillo -- PF Discussion
Idols
ReplyDeleteI also pick "Idols", but looking back on this list there are others that I think are nearly as deserving. In the end, though, "Idols" gets my vote.
ReplyDeleteI thought "She's the One" and "A Tiny Feast" were terrific, but so was "Idols." Both Tessa Hadley and Chris Adrian leave me in awe -- I wonder how they do it.
ReplyDeleteVictory Lap!
ReplyDeleteI have little patience for the grammar police, but I'll now do an appropriate head-slap for the dangling modifier in my previous comment!
ReplyDeleteVictory Lap. Come on, Saunders is a short fiction genius.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet no one has voted for Victory Lap yet.
ReplyDeleteI just voted for Temporary.
ReplyDeleteVictory Lap! Brilliant, surprising, and (spoiler alert) a non-tragic ending.
ReplyDeleteDo you vote, Cliff?
ReplyDeleteRavi,
ReplyDeleteI haven't yet this year, but I usually do.
"Victory Lap", all the way! (I'm the Anonymous who posted in that story's thread).
ReplyDeleteis it fair to vote if you haven't read all of the finalists?
ReplyDeletePamela,
ReplyDeleteall's fair in love and literature
"A Tiny Feast" has stuck with me since I read it, so it gets y vote.
ReplyDeleteIn that case... Victory Lap!
ReplyDelete