Most of these stories have appeared in other "best-of" collections covering the same time period; in particular there's a ton of overlap with Best American Short Stories 2009. Even skipping the ones I'd already read, this was a slog. The contributor's comments in the back are interesting, but the jurors' comments are surprisingly brief and generic-seeming to me. Maybe there really are only 30 or 35 really great short stories published in a given year, but I hate to think that, and I hate to think that if it's true, these are they. (The Adiche, Galgut, and Munro stories are exceptions; though I love Brad Watson, I think the story of his that was chosen isn't one of his better recent stories.) ( )