The Best American Essays 2020 by André Aciman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've read every issue of this series. And I look forward to next year's selections. I especially enjoyed the intros to this year's edition.

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Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This may be the best of the founding fathers biographies published over the past 30 years. Poor Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, et al. come away more than a bit tarnished, not to mention Veep Burr, but he tarnished himself enough during his own lifetime.

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Review: Best American Short Stories 2020

The Best American Short Stories 2020 by Curtis Sittenfeld
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

33 years and counting. Reading this series has been one of my great joys, and this year's edition didn't let me down.

When I was young, I thought one short story was pretty much the same as another. Sure, some were better or more fun to read, but mostly a short story was a specific thing. Then when I was in college, people tried to nail down what a short story is, that if you could figure that out, you could write one yourself. But I've read 660 short stories just from this series, not to mention all the other short stories I've read over three-quarters of a century, and the thing I've noticed that they all have in common is that they are shorter than a novel. And the best ones shimmer like jewels.

Back when I was in graduate school, I remember a writer saying that today's short stories were the equivalent of epic poems. I don't think I'd go that far, but the language of the best stories are poetic in the very best sense of that word. This year's edition of BASS fits that description.

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