THE CAEDMON SHORT STORY COLLECTION

The roster of authors and readers is a good indication of the caliber of this fine assembly of classic and modern short stories, which range from Bierce’s "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and de Maupassant’s "The Diamond Necklace" to Updike’s "Persistence of Desire" and Kingsolver’s "Homeland." The collection’s high points are the author readings by Updike, Kingsolver, and Welty, whose recent death makes her Caedmon recordings all the more treasured. Welty’s reading of her "Why I Live Over the P.O." seems especially unpracticed--heavy in its Southern accent, rushed, uninflected; yet you feel you are hearing the essential voice of the story. Next to her, Keir Dullea’s performance of Philip K. Dick’s "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale," the basis for the film TOTAL RECALL, seems too much a performance--until you fall under the spell of the story, for which his seems the essential voice. A collection this large offers plenty of room--Kingsolver, for example, has an entire CD for her performance of "Homeland"--and there are a number of standouts here, including Shirley Jackson’s "The Lottery," performed by Maureen Stapleton, and "A Hunger Artist" by Lotte Lenya. The selection of titles, culled from other Caedmon collections; the production quality; and the range and aptness of the readers--and their accents--to the individual titles make this one of the best, if not the best, anthologies of short fiction now available on audio. D.A.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award. 2002 Audie Award Finalist. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 02]