A couple of absolute standout collections I’ve read in the past few weeks have just blown me away. The titles and some summaries from the books’ covers:

Chad Simpson’s Tell Everyone I Said Hi (The John Simmons Award in Short Fiction)

“Poignant, fresh, and convincing, the stories in Tell Everyone I Said Hi portray the emotionally complications lives of women who smell of hairspray and beer, landscapers who worry about their livers, and people who remain loyal to sports teams that always lose.”

Bob Shacochis’s Easy in the Islands (National Book Award for First Fiction)

“Infused with the rhythms and the beat of the Caribbean, these vivid tales of paradise sought and paradise lost are as lush, steamy, and invigorating as the islands themselves.”

Yiyun Li’s A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award)

“In this prize-winning collection of short stories, Yiyun Li brings us a modern China facing up to a complex history of repression and guilt.”