John Updike has selected enduring stories from the eighty-four annual volumes of THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES, and the result is "a spectacular tapestry of fictional achievement" (Entertainment Weekly). Available for the first time on compact disc, this extraordinary collection features a wide variety of contemporary writers reading classics of the genre, along with authors reading from their own work. Containing twenty-two unabridged stories in all, the expanded audio edition includes a new story from THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 1999 to round out the century. Contents: The Other Woman by Sherwood Anderson, read by John Updike. Theft by Katherine Anne Porter, read by Jill McCorkle. Crazy Sunday by F. Scott Fitzgerald, read by George Plimpton. The Interior Castle by Jean Stafford, read by Mary Gordon. Gold Coast by James Alan McPherson, read by James Alan McPherson. The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick, read by Cynthia Ozick. How to Win by Rosellen Brown, read by Rosellen Brown. I Want to Live! by Thom Jones, read by Thom Jones. Birthmates by Gish Jen, read by Gish Jen. Wild Plums by Grace Stone Coates, read by Ashley Warlick. Here We Are by Dorothy Parker, read by Meg Wolitzer. Christmas Gift by Robert Penn Warren, read by Christopher Tilghman. The Hitch-Hikers by Eudora Welty, read by Jill McCorkle. The Second Tree from the Corner by E. B. White, read by Donald Hall. The German Refugee by Bernard Malamud, read by Alan Cheuse. A City of Churches by Donald Barthelme, read by Rick Moody. Where I'm Calling From by Raymond Carver, read by Charles Baxter. You're Ugly, Too by Lorrie Moore, read by Lorrie Moore. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, read by Tim O'Brien. Proper Library by Carolyn Ferrell, read by Carolyn Ferrell.