Sinners of Sanction County (Appalachian Writing)

by Charles Dodd White

[jamiereadthis]

This is one of my favorite books of short stories this year. I don’t even have to look to see what short stories I’m comparing it to. It doesn’t matter. This is up there.

Maybe it’s my own fault, my own lack of exposure, maybe they’re out there and I haven’t found them yet, but I can find plenty of stories set in Tennessee, in Kentucky, in Georgia, in Alabama. I’ve got books titled “Arkansas.” I’ve got short stories named “Mississippi.” But the ones in my own specific place, in western Carolina, are few and far between. I almost don’t mind it. They’re all the more precious that way.

This one, I can see reading again and again. Each story is short, it ends with a punch, and I love getting punched by stories. I love it when I want to sit there and absorb the blow for a minute, but also scramble right up into the next one.